Drug Rehab (or drug rehabilitation) is a general term to describe the treatment for people addicted to cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. It can also be applied to people being treated for dependency on alcohol or prescription drugs.

The end desire is to assist the patient in ceasing their substance abuse and obtaining a life without drug dependency.

Many people addicted to drugs face physical and psychological impacts from their use of these drugs. It also has legal, financial and social consequences.

Often people addicted to drugs resort to crime to fund their addictions. And people will often spend everything they have to continue getting the drugs they are addicted to without regard to their welfare or the welfare of their families.

Often drug rehabilitation tries to address both the physical and psychological aspects of dependency.

With regular use, the body becomes used to the drug and often times more and more of the drug is required to obtain the desired effect.

Detoxification is the process to eliminate the use of the drug. Sometimes this is done by complete elimination and other times substitute drugs are used and gradually reduced during the detoxification process.

This is particularly true when treating addiction to opoids suchs as heroin, morphine or oxycodone. The most widely used substitutes are the opoid medications methadone and buprenorphine.

During this time there are often withdrawal symtoms. It may take weeks or months, depending on the involved drug, for the body to detoxify.

Some drug rehabilitation programs attempt address psychological dependency also. They attempt to show the patient new ways of acting, interacting and thinking. Quite often an addict will go through the rehabilitation and detoxification process but then think they can take the drug in moderation. This almost always leads to a new case of addiction. This is why complete abstention is recommended.

Often-times the person will resume their former lifestyle that includes friends and family who are still using drugs. This influence from people who seem to be able to take the drug without becomming addicted oftens leads the person back to drug use. Part of the psychological treatment of drug rehab is to encourage people to form new relationships with people who do not use drugs.

It is important to know what approach any program you are considering uses. Some professionals question the model used by many rehab facilities that treat the addicted person as a sick person. They believe this reinforces the attitude that the addiction is not something that they can control.

They also believe that this type of treatment reinforces the feelings of depression, powerlessness, worthlessness. These professionals believe that unless proper treatment of the psychological issues is provided in addition to the treatment of physical dependency that the person will go back to their addictive behavior even after treatment because they will not be prepared to handle future issues that arise. This will lead them right back to seeking refuge in their chosen drug.

Most rehabilitation programs treat the addict as a sick person and do not provide good psychological treatment to help the person with psychological issues.

There are many types of programs for drug rehabilitation. It is often difficult to know which type of treatment to seek. This is made more difficult by the fact that many of these program are limited in the number of people they can treat. Many facilities receive more requests than they can handle. And often the person seeking treatment does not have the money or insurance to cover their treatment which limits their options.

Drug rehab includes in-patient treatment, out-patient treatment, local support groups, extended care centers and recovery (or sober) houses. Some offer gender specific programs. And some even offer age specific programs. Many hospital have drug rehabilitation facilities although these are often of very short duration.

Be sure to get as much information as you can before choosing a drug rehabilitation program.