Modality | Duration and characteristics of care | Clientele |
---|---|---|
Detoxification | Alcohol – 3 to 5 days inpatient. Usually with benzodiazepine tapering. Opioids – 10 to 180 days outpatient using methadone or buprenorphine. | Those displaying or at risk for severe alcohol or opioid withdrawal distress. |
Intensive Outpatient Therapy (IOP) | 3 to 5 weeks. Patients live off-site and attend therapy for 4 to 6 hours per day. | Those recently discharged from detoxification protocols or who require aggressive initiation of therapy |
Individual, Group, and Family Outpatient Therapy | 6 to 24 months. Clients attend hourly sessions once a week to discover and deal with issues related to their disease. The least intrusive modality for patients with chemical dependence. | Those discharged from IOP and need continued recovery support (most patients) and those deemed able to establish sobriety with minimal intervention. |
Education and Information Programs | 4 to 6 weeks. Classes run in cycles providing information about substance abuse and its varied consequences | Substance abusers not diagnosed chemically dependent who may respond to information and reason |
Therapeutic Community | 12 to 36 months. Clients reside at the facility entering with no status and earning privileges as their recovery matures | Individuals are often court referred or otherwise coerced into treatment by parents or authorities. Clients have usually failed more conventional therapeutic approaches. |
Inpatient Treatment Center | Typically 1 to 4 weeks (although some individuals may stay longer). Live-in facility where patients are steeped in recovery activities and philosophy. Alcohol or opioid detoxification may be done on premises. | Chemically dependent patients with or without physical dependence. Clients may have been unsuccessful in outpatient treatment or are first time admissions deemed to be unlikely to succeed in outpatient care. |
Half-Way facility | 1 year or longer. Recovery centered housing where housemates gain mutual support from each other's sobriety. Many are based on 12-step recovery traditions | Clients in recovery who have been unable to sustain sobriety in standard community housing or who are homeless. |
Opioid Maintenance in certified treatment programs | Greater than 180 days of daily oral dosing with methadone or buprenorphine, or every-other-day dosing with LAAM or buprenorphine. | Patients who are > 18 years of age, have at least a 1 year history of addiction, and are physically dependent on an opioid. |
Opioid maintenance in office based practices | Buprenorphine prescribed by authorized primary care physicians and dispensed by local pharmacies. | Patients who are deemed by the physician to be in need of pharmacotherapy for opioid dependence. |