Best Alternatives to Mainstream Rehab Treatment Programs

About the Author: Charles L Watson is a willing writer contributing in the health and addiction arena. If you don’t catch him at a local Detroit Tigers game, you will see him reading updated material from his favorite author Tim Ferriss. Currently he is a freelance writer at http://www.eliterehabplacement.com.

Alternative treatments or holistic care have been getting a bad rap because of misplaced fear. Since we were young, it’s been inculcated in our minds that when we are sick, we always buy branded medicines or go to doctors inside clinics or hospitals. As a result, we view with suspicion any treatment option that doesn’t involve a doctor.

However, conventional medicine is increasing more receptive toward the alternative options. In fact, it’s entered the industry lexicon as complementary and alternative medicine or CAM.

In essence, it remains to be holistic or an alternative if it doesn’t have enough documented scientific basis to support its claims. With CAM, it’s a compromise of sorts as doctors found that conventional treatment options mixed with holistic methods seem to produce more effective results.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), about 38% of American adults and 12% of kids are using holistic treatment for their condition. Surprisingly, the survey said that those who typically try alternative methods have higher education and higher income.

Then there’s America’s obsession with everything organic as part of its effort toward healthier living, which is understandable considering that it has one of the highest rates of children and adults obesity in the world. So they are already exposed to natural home remedies, meditation, exercise, yoga, and massage therapy.

So in drug or alcohol rehab, they are more receptive to alternative treatments to complement the institutional therapies employed by US treatment facilities.

Helping Drug and Alcohol Dependents Cope
The relapse rate in the US is between 40% and 60%. It’s especially crucial during the first year after finishing the treatment program in the rehab facilities. This is when the danger is most high for a recovering patient to go back to his bad habits.
The purpose of alternative treatments is to equip the person with the right tools in order to control the cravings and manage the addiction. Unfortunately, for some people, they are going to be fighting off the urge to go back to the bottle or do drugs all their lives.

While counseling and psychotherapy will help them get to the root of the problem—as most experts agree that addiction is mostly a symptom of a deep-seated issue—holistic therapy will help them manage their physical and mental cravings.
We can all agree that addiction is a multi-layered problem. So it’s logical to also think that it will take a multi-layered approach to control it.

Alternative Therapy Options to Treat Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Several holistic therapies are now employed by the best drug rehab facilities in the U.S. to complement detox, counseling, group therapy, and behavioral modification.

Below are some of the more popular options:
Acupuncture – This ancient Chinese art is based on the belief that our bodies are composed of vital energies known as qis. When those passageways are blocked, it will cause an imbalance, which may explain some of the destructive behaviors of people with addiction problems.

Meditation – This Hindu tradition has a long history as its practice can be traced back to the 1500 B.C. Through breathing exercises, you become one with your mind, body, and soul. It reinforces self-awareness.

Yoga – Meditation is but a part of yoga. This Hindu tradition is even older as it dates back to more than 5,000 years ago. Through a series of stretching and body positions, and meditation, you are supposed to tap into a higher consciousness.

Neurofeedback – It may sound like pseudo-science but some rehab centers swear by its efficacy. Basically, you are going to be hooked to an EEG device to monitor your brain waves. By stimulating some areas in your mind, it will alter some of the waves and, possibly, your behavior.

Massage therapy – While the patient is under the influence, it will obstruct the natural chemical balance in the body. During the therapy, dopamine levels will drop while the level of stress increases. Massage will stimulate your body’s production of feel-good chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and endorphin.

VR therapy – Drug rehab facilities also employ the latest technology to support their treatment methods. While the use of virtual therapy to monitor the level of cravings is not widely used due to lack of studies, it’s being successfully adopted by Chinese drug rehab programs with great success.

Garden therapy – Granted that some patients may find this boring, but garden therapy has been proven to be very effective in motivating the recovering addict. If done right, the patient will be driven to turn their lives around because they’ve been given a newfound purpose—to see their garden bloom and grow.

Pet therapy – The use of therapy animals, especially in children’s hospitals, is already an accepted method of accelerating recovery. Pets elicit a positive reaction from the patient and they always feel good after the interaction. In drug and alcohol rehab treatment, pet therapy operates on the belief that given the right motivation—which is to care for a creature that is helpless—the nurturing side of the patient will come out. Just like garden therapy, you are given a higher purpose and meaning.

Getting Back to the Basics of Healthcare
How young are you when you heard the advice, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away?” Or how about the phrase, “an ounce of prevention is better than cure?” It used to be when we put stock on preventive measures in our approach to healthcare, which by its definition means that you are free from disease.

It’s not clear what went wrong but in the past two decades, however, the concept of natural remedy or holistic therapy has been viewed in a negative light. We should note, however, that most of the alternative methods listed above are very much Eastern concepts. Perhaps, that’s where the doubts lie. While some have been successfully practiced for millennia, all they have are testimonial evidence to prove the efficacy of the methods.

Nevertheless, the best drug rehab facilities in the US have adopted them with great success, which really means that these facilities are not above experimenting with other methods to achieve the same purpose, and that is to wean the patient from drugs and alcohol.