Issues of Treatment by Special Treatment Requirements

Secular and Religious

A study in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment suggests that people in recovery often describe themselves as spiritual, rather than affiliating with one particular type of religion. Even so, there are a number of people who feel quite strongly that their religious traditions should pervade everything they do, while there are people on the other side of the spectrum who become offended or even angry when they’re provided with any sort of statement they find religious in nature.

It’s important to take these preferences into account, when choosing a therapy for a patient, as many addiction treatment programs incorporate spiritual practices into their work. Patients who want a specific tradition followed might need very different programs than people who want a completely secular experience.

Therapies Offered

Some patients prefer to participate in treatment programs that provide traditional, scientifically proven forms of care. However, the Mayo Clinic suggests that about 40 percent of adults are comfortable with the use of alternative care techniques. These patients might be more pleased with programs that offer:

• Meditation
• Biofeedback
• Acupuncture
• Aromatherapy
• Nutritional supplementation
• Adventure therapy

For these patients, these other methods seem less intrusive, and they might be more likely to participate in programs that tap into an alternate form of healing. The program chosen should always provide some level of science-based care, of course, but looking for facilities that augment and enhance treatment with a few different therapies could be ideal for these patients.

Setting of Care

Not all treatment programs have the same internal look and feel. Some are similar to hospitals or public health clinics, as they have a similar industrial or institutional vibe. Other facilities, including so-called luxury rehab clinics, provide patients with lovely settings, including beautifully manicured grounds and professionally decorated interiors. These luxury programs may provide the same kind of intensive help for addiction, but the luxurious setting might make some patients feel more comfortable and nurtured and that might encourage some patients to stay enrolled instead of dropping out.

Finding Out More

No medical professional is expected to know about all of the addiction therapies available, and it’s unreasonable to expect that a doctor would know patients so well that matching would be a snap. However, those doctors who do take the time to really think about what their patients might want, and who are willing to spend a few moments researching treatment options patients might like to investigate further, may be going a long way toward helping an addiction to abate.

If you’d like to conduct your own research on the options available in the Foundations Recovery Network, please call us. We’re happy to walk you through our programs and help you come up with some facility suggestions you can share with your patients.