Although it is the high-profile celebrity cases of failed stints in drug rehabs that we most often hear about from the ever watchful and celebrity-hungry media—the ones which result in relapse or arrest or overdose–it is the every-day families and parents and loved ones who suffer the most, quietly and alone with the all-too-common results of failed drug rehabilitation treatment.
The Purpose of Drug Rehab
In its most basic purpose, a drug rehab is supposed to provide a safe environment and workable program of treatment—free of harm—which enables a substance abuser to get sober, and to successfully maintain sobriety upon returning to life in the world at large.
The recent death of actor Corey Monteith, who died of a toxic overdoes of alcohol and heroin just weeks after having been through a rehab treatment program for his substance abuse, once again brings to light the consequences of failed drug rehab.
As with so many addicts, Corey tried more than once to get clean, and stay clean. He was trapped in the potentially deadly cycle of substance abuse-rehab-relapse, and although he had expressed his desire to be sober and made the effort, he failed. And it cost him his life.
So what happens? Why does a drug rehab fail? Let’s take a look a 5 ways rehab can fail.
Drug Substitution
The practice of drug substitution, replacing the addiction of one drug with the use of another, does not result in true rehabilitation or sobriety. It leaves the addict with drug dependency, and the unchanged underlying reasons for which he or she originally turned to substance abuse for a solution. A successful rehab must provide a drug-free approach.
Drug Residuals Remain in the Body
Drug residuals remain in the body, along with other toxins, and unless they are removed through a proven and valid detoxification program designed specifically to remove them, they will act as a source of drug cravings and generate the impulse to use again, resulting in relapse. For more information on ridding the body of drug residuals and toxins, see the Narconon New Life Detoxification Program. A successful rehab must provide valid and proven detoxification.
No Workable Life Skills
A person falls into the trap of substance abuse as a solution to dealing with problems in life for which he or she has no solution, and no tools or skills with which to solve it. Whether it is an inability to study which will prevent the person from achieving their goals or supporting themselves in the work-a-day world, an inability to communicate which bars the person from having good relationships with others, an inability to choose friends or peers who will enhance survival rather than harm it, or any of a myriad of other problems which life presents to be faced and dealt with. A successful rehab program must provide workable and useful life skills tools.
Damaged Relationships Not Repaired
Family and loved ones are a major part of one’s life, and are part of defining who we are and from whence we came. In the descent into substance abuse, the abuser inevitably hurts those he or she loves the most. For a person to successfully return to living life while remaining sober, he or she needs to have faced and rectified the damage done to others, to have done what is necessary to make-up any damage, and to have restored personal relationships to the best of his or her ability. A successful rehab must provide workable tools to repair relationships.
Punitive and Harmful Treatment
In 2007 and 2008, investigations by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found dozens of deaths related to abuse at residential programs for “troubled teens”. GAO investigators posing as parents also discovered, in addition to abuse, widespread use of fraudulent marketing practices. There are instances of such residential programs for teens, “alternative programs for troubled teens”, which evidence suggests are not only ineffective but potentially harmful. In late 2011, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2011 was sponsored in the House by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and in the Senate by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), which legislation would prohibit sexual, physical and emotional abuse and would ban the use of deprivation — of food, sleep, clothing and shelter, for example — as punishment or for any other reason. Successful rehabilitation does not punish or harm.
By ensuring the above factors are thoroughly researched and are indeed part of the rehab treatment program for yourself or a loved one, your chances of success and sobriety are real. For more information on workable treatment that is measured by results see our new Narconon Outcome Studies.