Does Drug Rehab Have To Be So Maudlin

I was reading some of the blogs created by treatment facilities that employ the disease model of addiction, meaning that they believe that addiction is a chronic and progressive disease, which means that it goes on forever (once an addict, always an addict) and it gets worse, even if you quit using. In other words, these centers believe that there are NO cures for this "disease".

I tried to put myself in the shoes of a suffering addict and I could see that a message of this kind would make me want to escape confronting my "chronic disease" rather than go to treatment and find support groups that can help me stay clean while my disease progresses and is getting worse every day. I thought how depressing and maudlin are the attitudes of treatment facilities that use this clinical approached. Wouldn't it be better to let people know that anything is possible if you believe it to be so and when your intentions are clearly targeted to make something different happen in your lives, it happens. How about all of the "miracle" stories of people that have cured incurable cancer? If those are real, can't addicted persons also find support that doesn't diagnosis them sicker than they knew themselves to be? I have yet to find an addict that believes that he has a addictive disease unless he has been previously indoctrinated into the disease concept. In my review of over 150 treatment centers over 20 years of time, I found that all but a handful of centers subscribe to this disease model. I also found that those centers that believe in the disease model have the lowest outcomes. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy and when the staff is faced with frustrating resistance from their clients, they will often say that the "disease in that person is really bad" or something of that type of resignation.

The poor outcomes from residential alcohol and drug treatment has led the public into apathy about seeking treatment for their loved ones since they feel that they are throwing more good money after bad, and who can blame them?

I feel that a program that did nothing other than convince an addict that he is in total control and is totally responsible for all of the conditions in his life would have a higher success than a program based on the idea that this addiction can only be arrested and only in a few of those who try.

Most families that I talk to about treatment are very reluctant to invest in something that has proven to be unsuccessful in the past and if they don't have person experience with the failures of treatment, they usually have heard the same from others.

HERE COMES THE ALCOHOL, DRUGS AND POLITICS SEGMENT:

Part of the strategy of those who are wanting to legalize drugs is to support treatment for all on demand, with the idea that once society has invested in treatment and it is shown that it is only about 10% successful, that they will have a public that will give up on the idea of treatment chose to quit wasting money on the hopes that an addict will rehabilitate, so therefore, the public can look to legalization as a cost, and life savings answer. With the financial crisis that we are facing for the next few years, at least, the ideas that we can make tax money on legalized drugs and save money on stopping the support of a rehabilitation process that is so flawed that its own leaders state that addiction is a "disease of relapse", you can see where this is headed.

Think about it.. I have massive amount of data showing people can overcome addiction and live happy successful lives without believing that they could relapse at any minute. Find out more data about the different types of drug and alcohol treatment from www.drug-rehab-colorado.com or www.rehab-drug.net