We all think we know what residential drug rehab programs look like. The antiseptic hallways, the shuffling patients in dirty hospital gowns, the apathetic orderlies who bully patients, all of these are the images we’ve collectively created for such places in our imaginations due to countless movies and TV shows. 

Yet there are very good reasons to enter residential drug rehab, and not just because the movies aren’t exactly selling the truth of the matter here. There are in fact more reasons for addicts to enter rehab on an inpatient basis than not. By understanding the benefits of residential drug rehab programs, addicts can discover why it’s the right choice for them on the journey to recovery.

Residential rehab programs offer many advantages that outpatient care cannot match. The advantage of outpatient care, of course, lies in flexibility; you can continue to work and live your everyday life, only attending rehab sessions when it fits your schedule. But this flexibility also comes with a cost — your success lies more in your own hands, as it’s up to you to attend sessions and no one is there to help you through rough periods.

In a residential program, the patient is under observation at all times, which makes it safer and, frequently, more likely to succeed. This becomes obvious early, during one of the most precarious times of addiction treatment: detox.

The detox process, in which the patient seeks to rid the system of addictive substances in order to start therapy without it within them, can be rough. Withdrawal symptoms can start quickly after the last dose of drugs or alcohol and the worst of it can last for days, while extended symptoms can last for a year or more. In an inpatient setting, the patient has doctors and nurses monitoring them, observing their vital signs, helping ease the worst of those symptoms and, importantly, making it more difficult for the patient to seek out more substance abuse in an effort to curtail withdrawal.

This second part is an important aspect of residential treatment. In outpatient rehab, giving up on treatment and seeking out drugs or alcohol is a simple process, one the patient may regret later, but with little penalties at the time. Inpatient care makes this a much more difficult process. The patient is cut off from easy access to drugs or alcohol and is in an environment separated from those substances within the patient’s mind.

Studies show, therefore, that patients in an inpatient capacity usually complete detox and initial treatment at a higher rate than those receiving outpatient care. Relapse is also less common later.

At Good Landing Recovery, patients receive all the benefits of residential drug rehab treatment, as they are introduced to a community of people dedicated to their success and working to make it happen. The patient who enters Good Landing’s inpatient treatment facility can be assured they are getting the best possible care with the best possible chances of successful recovery.

There are good reasons for a patient to try outpatient care, and it has a commendable success rate for those patients who go that route. But the benefits of residential drug rehab treatment are even more considerable and, for those who opt for inpatient care, have an even greater success rate.

When the time for addiction treatment comes, give residential care a try and call Good Landing to get started. They can get you those benefits and get you started on the road to recovery.