Outpatient Treatment Options

Outpatient treatment options are ideal if you have a relatively mild drug and alcohol abuse problem but still need some help in overcoming this condition before it gets worse. It will give you the freedom and flexibility you need to continue meeting your obligations at home, work, and school while also getting help with your addiction.

What Does The Treatment Program/Process Address?

The goal of outpatient treatment options is to ensure that you stop abusing the addictive substances that you have been taking. If you have a mild substance use disorder that has not been ongoing for long, this type of treatment might be ideal.

However, it might also be the recommended form of care that you take once you have been through a short or long term inpatient treatment program. In such a case, you would use the outpatient treatments to help you maintain your ongoing sobriety as well as continue working through your addiction so that you do not relapse.

If you have a severe substance use disorder involving drugs like oxycodone or heroin, you may be better off in an inpatient drug rehab program. This is because you are going to need to be in a controlled environment especially during the initial stages of treatment that involve medically managed detox.

That said, if your substance abuse problem is still mild or relatively new and it has been caught in its early phases, you may be able to recover through various outpatient treatment options.

Outpatient treatment is also ideal because it will allow you to schedule your recovery and treatment sessions to take place for a couple of hours each week. Due to this schedule, you may be able to continue meeting your regular responsibilities at home, work, and school. However, you will still have to keep checking into the treatment center to get help through counseling and medication management.

How Long Does It Take?

The duration of time you spend in an outpatient treatment program will vary widely based on the types of drugs that you were abusing, the severity of your substance use disorder, and the stage you have reached in your recovery.

That said, the following are the most common outpatient treatment options that you may be able to find today:

• Continuing care programs
• Day treatment programs
• Intensive outpatient programs (IOPs)
• Partial hospitalization programs (PHPs)

On average, you can expect to spend anywhere between 30 and 90 days in such a program. However, some of them might take much longer than 90 days. The time you spend will largely depend on the progress you make in your recovery.

How Much Does It Cost On Average?

In general, outpatient treatment options often tend to cost less than residential or inpatient treatment programs. However, they will still provide you with the same level of care and attention. Most of them also accept insurance, and you can use this to pay for some or all of your treatment costs.

That said, the cost of outpatient treatment options will vary widely depending on the type of program you choose, the intensity of treatment, the duration of the program, and the location. For instance, spending 5 hours in the center would cost you more than if you only spent 2 hours a day.

On average, these options will cost anywhere from $100 to $500 for every session of treatment. Even so, you should know that the total cost will change based on the frequency of your meetings and the duration of the entire program. To this end, it might be cheaper for you to choose a longer lasting program.

What Are The Typical Day To Day Routines During Treatment?

Based on your individual needs and preferences, outpatient treatment options may be the right way for you to get help with your substance abuse and addiction. These options are also ideal if your condition is relatively new, mild, or stable such that you do not need to go through inpatient treatment.

That said, you can receive treatment from any of the following outpatient options:

• At local health departments
• At therapist's offices
• By telephone
• In community mental health clinics
• In hospital clinics

You can also get your daily schedule in an outpatient treatment program to be adjusted so that you have enough time to meet your daily commitments at work, home, and school.

Even so, you can expect most outpatient treatment options to provide the following services:

• 12-step meetings
• Aftercare planning
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (or CBT)
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (or DBT)
• Family therapy
• Group therapy
• Individual therapy
• Medically managed and supervised detox
• Mental health therapy
• Mental health treatment
• Motivational Interviewing (or MI)

How Successful Is It?

Outpatient treatment options would allow you to continue pursuing an independent lifestyle outside of the treatment setting. At the same time, you will be provided with weekly counseling and therapeutic support to ensure that you do not relapse when you are not going for treatment.

Today, this form of treatment is considered to be effective as much as an inpatient drug rehab. However, it might only prove to be successful if you have a mild or a relatively new substance abuse problem that has been caught while in its early stages.

However, outpatient treatment options may also be ideal if you have already been through a short or a long term inpatient addiction recovery program. In such a situation, you would continue with your care on an outpatient basis to ensure that you do not relapse after checking out of the inpatient or residential treatment program.

Who Should Get This Type Of Treatment?

Your choice of outpatient treatment options will largely depend on your answers to the following questions:

• Are there other mental health disorders present that should also be treated?
• Do I have other medical issues and diseases that need to be addressed alongside by substance abuse?
• How long have I been abusing substances?
• How much of my preferred substances was I taking at any given time?
• Was I abusing more than one addictive substance?

Overall, outpatient treatment options would be ideal if you have a relatively new or mild addiction or if you have already been through an inpatient treatment program but still need additional support to ensure that you do not relapse.

CITATIONS

https://www.cigna.com/individuals-families/health-wellness/hw/medical-topics/inpatient-and-outpatient-treatment-for-substance-ad1101

https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/provgovpart/Documents/DMC-ODS_Waiver/DMC_ODS_Partial_Hospitalization_FAQ_06.30.16.pdf

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-adolescent-substance-use-disorder-treatment-research-based-guide/treatment-settings

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/drug-addiction-treatment-in-united-states/types-treatment-programs

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/drug-addiction-treatment-in-united-states/types-treatment-programs

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/principles-effective-treatment

https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/mental-health-care-partial-hospitalization

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64094/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3268841/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4152944/

https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FRR1-2014/NSDUH-FRR1-2014.pdf