Overcoming the disease of alcoholism is not easy. Most people cannot do it without help. The best way to obtain and maintain recovery from alcoholism is to start with alcohol abuse treatment. There is no question the process of learning about staying sober and the disease of alcoholism improves one's chances of long term recovery. By going to alcohol abuse treatment, a person gains the knowledge, tools and assistance to help them be successful. Few people ever even consider going to alcohol abuse treatment unless or until they have suffered some serious consequences as a result of their alcohol abuse. Consequences usually include legal, martial, emotional, job, financial and/or physical.
Detox is the medical monitoring and managing of the symptoms of withdrawal of the alcohol from the body.
Outpatient consists of attending group and individual counseling sessions several times per week.
Partial programs usually take place in a hospital setting. You are asked to attend rehab all morning or all afternoon and go home.
Which is full time rehabilitation in a free standing, hospital or residential environment.
Enrollment in the right program at the right level is crucial to the ultimate success of that person's recovery from alcohol abuse.
It starts with proper medical detox, followed by a thorough evaluation and assessment. Based on the outcome of the assessment the person enrolls in the first stage of the treatment and rehabilitation process.
Over the years, the alcohol abuse treatment industry has evolved into a more successful process. Although people have been abusing alcohol since alcohol was discovered, treating the disease of alcoholism really unofficially began when Swedish physician Magnus Huss first coined the term "alcoholism" in 1848. Medical doctors, psychiatrists, counselors, family members and friends have been doing their best to treat people with alcoholism for a long time. The real breakthrough, however, came when Bill G. Wilson met Dr. Bob Smith met in Akron Ohio in 1939 and together founded Alcoholics Anonymous.
The alcohol abuse treatment industry has grown dramatically in the past 50 years. In the United States, there are more than 10,000 alcohol abuse treatment programs. As far back as the early 1800's, cases of alcoholism are well documented. But it wasn't until the late 1920's when alcoholism was actually diagnosed and better understood as a medical rather than moral issue. Many people have made great contributions to the alcohol abuse treatment industry. For example, a gentleman by the name of "Curly" Feron made an instrumental contribution when he become the test case for whether alcoholism was a treatable disease that could be cured by putting it into remission. Curly was a low bottom drunk in Minnesota. By practicing the principles of alcohol abuse treatment and AA, Curly was able to be successful in turning his life completely around and establishing the precedent for the medical industry to support the rehab process.
- In 2007, the number of persons aged 12 or older needing treatment for an alcohol use problem was 19.3 million (7.8 percent of the population aged 12 or older). Of these, 1.6 million (0.6 percent of the total population and 8.1 percent of the people who needed treatment for an alcohol use problem) received alcohol use treatment at a specialty facility. Thus, there were 17.7 million people who needed treatment but did not receive treatment at a specialty facility for an alcohol use problem. None of these estimates changed significantly between 2006 and 2007 and between 2002 and 2007.
- Among the 17.7 million people aged 12 or older who needed but did not receive treatment for an alcohol use problem in 2007, there were 859,000 (4.8 percent) who felt they needed treatment for their alcohol use problem. The number and the percentage were higher than those reported in 2006 (541,000 persons and 3.0 percent, respectively), but were similar to those reported in 2002 (761,000 persons and 4.5 percent, respectively). Of these, 619,000 (72.1 percent) did not make an effort to get treatment, and 240,000 (27.9 percent) made an effort but were unable to get treatment in 2007.
- In 2007, there were 1.4 million youths (5.5 percent) aged 12 to 17 who needed treatment for an alcohol use problem. Of this group only 82,000 received treatment at a specialty facility (0.3 percent of all youths and 5.9 percent of youths who needed treatment), leaving 1.3 million youths who needed but did not receive treatment.
