How Many Days Should I Spend in Rehab?
If you are considering rehab for an addiction, you will have some important concerns. These might include what the process of rehab involves, or how much it might cost you to do?
One of the most popular questions, however, regards how long rehab takes.
In order to commit to treatment, you might need to know how much time you will need to take away from work, or how long you may need to go without seeing your family and friends.
How many days do you spend in rehab?
The answer to this question is annoyingly simple: it depends.
How long an individual might spend in rehab will depend on their specific circumstances. Factors that may have an influence include:
- What substances have been used?
- How long the substances have been used
- How long an individual can afford to spend in rehab
- Whether the individual has any other mental or physical health conditions
- The effects of the addiction on the individual’s mental and physical health
Your time in rehab could be as little as a week or last for a year. On average, an individual tends to spend 28 days in rehab.
More severe addictions – which involve years of using heavy drugs, for example – will require longer periods of rehab than those which are relatively new or have not yet started to damage the health of the individual.
How to determine the length of your rehab
Treatment begins with a conversation. Either with your GP or a specialised organisation, you can discuss the details of your situation and decide what path is most appropriate going forward.
During this conversation, the factors listed above with be discussed.
The length of rehab most suitable will be decided so that you can make a decision as to whether you are able to commit to it.
When determining how many days of rehab you will undergo, things to consider might include:
- How much time you can have away from work
- Where your closest rehabilitation centre is
- How long your GP recommends you go for
- Family or social commitments
Of course, it will be important to be willing to sacrifice some things in order to seek effective medical help, but discussing as many factors as possible will help you come to a sound decision.
Common questions about rehab length
During the conversation with your GP, you may have doubts.
You might be concerned when it comes to the duration of rehab, or you may want to know what options are available for making the process easier.
When looking into rehab, you will want to know all of your options. Here are some commonly asked questions that you may be considering:
1. Can I go to rehab for a week?
Going to rehab for seven days is very common. Its effectiveness will depend on the circumstances of your addiction, but it can be helpful.
This duration works best if you don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to rehab, or if the addiction has only developed recently.
It often takes the form of short-term detoxification. This involves suddenly stopping the use of a substance, abruptly weening the body, and eliminating its dependency on it.
The drawback of one-week rehab, however, is that such short treatment may leave you susceptible to relapse. Entering short-term rehab, you must be committed to taking it seriously and learning as much as possible in the limited time.
2. Can I do rehab part-time?
If you are unable to take a lot of time away from work, another option you may look into is part-time rehab.
While this may fit better around your day-to-day schedule, it is important to note that it will take longer for the effects of rehab to manifest.
Only receiving treatment at the weekends or in the evenings will mean there is less time to work on healthy thought processes and behaviours, and your mindset may not be as focused on rehab when it is being juggled alongside work commitments.
When considering part-time, factor in the likelihood that, while you will have time to still attend work, you will be spending longer in rehab over time.
3. Can I go to rehab for a gambling addiction?
When you think of rehab, you may assume that it is only for substance addictions, such as drugs or alcohol. However, this is not the case.
Rehab is also a viable treatment method for addictions to certain activities, such as gambling or sex.
Behavioural addictions can be helped through rehab which looks to amend unhealthy patterns of thinking, but these may take longer than addictions which look to reduce an individual’s physical dependence on a drug.
Learning to think and behave differently can take time, and so the duration of potential rehab maybe longer.
4. What are the benefits of spending more time in rehab?
Taking time off work can be a gamble, so you may be wondering why you would dedicate more than a week to rehab.
The longer you spend in rehab, the better equipped you will become in tackling your addiction going forward.
Having consistent sessions with a medical professional, learning and practising healthier ways of thinking and behaving, will mean that the routines you develop will be stronger.
The more time you put into rebuilding your life away from a certain substance or activity, the more secure that life will be. The less time you spend, therefore, the more vulnerable you will be to relapsing.
5. What might prolong my rehab?
Looking ahead at rehab, you may want to know if it could take longer than originally expected.
Your time in rehab may lengthen for a number of reasons. You may not connect with the chosen treatment method, your withdrawal symptoms may be worse than expected, or your work-rehab balance may not be very manageable.
Often, rehab tends to take longer when a mental health condition is discovered to be at the heart of the addiction.
Untangling things such as depression and anxiety from addiction is a complicated and sensitive process, and may mean your treatment takes a bit longer.
6. The importance of aftercare
While it is good to look into the possible duration of rehab, you need to remember that the process of recovery does not end there.
When your time in rehab has come to an end, it is important to factor elements of aftercare into your life. It may become part of your schedule for the foreseeable future, so you need to understand its role in recovery just as much as rehabs.
7. What is aftercare?
When you complete rehab, you will need to reinforce and build upon the healthy routines and thought processes you have developed.
Your time in rehab is all about setting you on the right path, but it is up to you to continue with what you have learned and incorporate beneficial activities into your life.
Activities that emphasise the lessons of rehab might include:
- Support groups – regularly meeting a group of people in a similar situation to yourself can help you pick up useful coping tips, as well as give you a chance to help others with what you have learned
- Counselling – it is good to continue speaking about your addiction and mental health, and counselling can be a good way to express negative emotions and maintain emotional stability
Aftercare is as much a part of recovery as initial rehab. While your time in rehab can be adjusted to fit around your life, it will only be as effective as you are committed to keeping up with what you have learned.
When judging how long you are willing to commit to rehab, factor in the long-term commitment of incorporating aftercare into your life.
