Rehab facilities exist all over the world for alcohol and drug addiction, eating disorders, nymphomania, self-harm, and so much more. They’ve become a major part of our cultural lexicon, especially as we’ve become so used to hearing about celebrity stints in high-profile facilities. Still, few really know much about the facilities that have become so popular. Here, we’ll do our best to de-mystify the industry.

Rehab Facilities Are Fairly New

They have their roots in the Prohibition Era and the Temperence Movement. Advocates of the Temperence movement reasoned that alcohol addiction was a danger to society, and the only way to eliminate alcoholism was to eliminate alcohol. Their organization created the first “Sober Houses” in the 1840s, where men could get away from the temptation of spirituous beverages. Still, addiction was being treated as a personal failure instead of a medical condition, and it wasn’t until the 1980s that rehab as we now know it began to take shape. Clinics began to appear in the wake of the War on Drugs, first called “sanitariums” and finding housing in the psychiatric wards of hospitals. Over time, addiction was recognized as an area of medicine in and of itself, and the rehab facilities we know today were built.

How Rehab Facilities Work

There is quite a lot of variety among rehab programs. Some are provided at prisons, while others resemble island resorts, complete with bright sun and crashing waves. They also offer different types of treatment.

• Inpatient treatment involves constant supervision and care, and can be offered either short term (about a month) or long term (six months or more). Long term inpatient treatment is usually court ordered and includes resocialization, a process involving the reintroduction of patients into society
• Outpatient treatment involves regular visits to a facility for attendance at support groups, receipt of medication, and counseling. Patients still go about their daily lives and sleep at home.
• Partial-hospitalization is a combination of both inpatient and outpatient treatments. Patients receive treatment during the day and go home at night.

Rehab facilities are plentiful, and they vary widely. Their treatments are often very effective for helping patients with alcohol and drug addiction symptoms or trouble with other addictive behaviors. Though they haven’t been around long, there’s little question that alcohol and drug addiction treatment centers serve an important purpose in our society.