When you’re ready to seek help for alcohol abuse, you may have reached the point that you don’t believe you have many options left. But in fact, you have a wealth of treatment choices, from residential community facilities to outpatient centers and partial hospitalization programs. As you compare facilities, you’ll find that each alcohol treatment center takes a different approach to recovery, based on a different set of values, principles and treatment strategies. No single approach to treatment is appropriate for everyone who suffers from alcohol dependence. These warning signs may indicate that a program you’re considering isn’t right for you:

• Inflated recovery rates. Most facilities can provide statistics on the success rates of their programs, but these numbers don’t necessarily reflect your own chances of achieving long-term sobriety. Ideally, the data should be collected by an independent agency, not by the facility itself, and the statistics shouldn’t seem exaggerated. According to the journal Addiction, between 20 and 50 percent of alcoholics who receive treatment for their disease will remain sober for three years after treatment. If a treatment center provides data showing that 70 to 80 percent or more of its clients remain sober after graduation, you may be looking at distorted numbers.

• Conflicts in treatment principles. In order for treatment to be effective, the program should mesh with your personal beliefs and values. If you don’t identify with any specific religion, for instance, a faith-based program that requires attendance at worship sessions may clash with your belief system. If you disagree with the principles of the 12 steps, a program that relies heavily on participation in 12-step groups may not be right for you. You don’t have to agree with every aspect of your treatment plan, but you should feel comfortable expressing and observing your own beliefs while you’re going through rehab.

• Confrontational therapy. “Alcoholism is a moral failing.” “Drunks lack willpower.” “All you need to get sober is a little strength of character.” These confrontational statements used to characterize alcohol treatment; today, many therapists and addiction specialists reject these attitudes as destructive and self-defeating. Therapeutic approaches like motivational interviewing, which engages the therapist and client in a collaborative effort to overcome alcoholism, are more popular now than the aggressive, old-school treatment strategies.

In a study published in Alcohol and Alcoholism, the client-centered strategies of motivational interviewing helped a group of students minimize harmful behaviors like drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and using cannabis. Unless you believe you could benefit from an aggressive, confrontational therapeutic style, you may be more successful at reaching your recovery goals if you avoid facilities that use this approach.

• Excessive isolation. To some extent, separating the alcoholic from the stresses and triggers of the outside world is important to recovery. A rehab center should provide a comfortable, safe environment where you can fully focus on rehab without worrying about the demands of the outside world. The supervision and structure of a rehab center are helpful to many alcoholics who might otherwise be tempted to relapse. But if a facility goes overboard in isolating its clients from the outside world, you may feel alienated and cut off from your external support system.

Isolation may take the form of preventing you from leaving the building at any time, restricting all contact with people outside of the facility, depriving you of the use of a telephone or internet connection, or severely restricting your reading material. Most facilities impose limits on your activities or communication when you’re going through rehab, but if you feel like you’re in prison instead of in treatment, you may need a program that offers more flexibility.

Here at Axis, we offer treatment that is conducive to an addict’s recovery. Contact us today for more information on our offerings.