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A Better Understanding of the Levels of Care in Addiction Treatment

When it comes to treatment for substance abuse, there’s not one size that fits everyone. What type of care you’ll receive, mostly depends on your current situation and your needs. Figuring this out can be quite overwhelming to some. This is particularly the case with individuals who’ve never been to these places before. They immediately think that they won’t have enough time for other things, that they’ll neglect other aspects of their lives, etc. If you would like to know how all of this works, then stay tuned and you’ll be provided with all the right information.

Determining The Level Of Care

This is something that you must leave up to the providers because they know exactly what each patient needs. Keep in mind that all these addiction treatment programs are intended to help people overcome addiction and get their lives back on track. Before you begin with the treatment, these experts will first make an assessment to see what level of care is most suitable for you. For starters, they’ll collect all the useful information concerning your substance use disorder and they’ll begin considering different treatments. During this process, you’ll be asked some of these questions:

– Have you ever been part of a similar treatment before?
– How long have you been using these substances?
– Have you ever struggled with a particular mental health condition?
– Do you suffer from a specific medical issue, and if so, are you taking any medicines for it?

All of these aforementioned questions are only here to help these professionals determine which type of treatment is currently the best for you. Now, by all means, this isn’t supposed to replace any concrete evaluation but simply serves as a tool to get a grasp on the level of care you need.

Various Levels Of Care

There are five levels of care that are intended for substance use disorder and these were established by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. They include the following:

– Level 0.5: Early intervention treatment – This one is intended for people who would like to be more educated on this topic, yet who do not meet the diagnostic criteria.
– Level I: Outpatient treatment – Normally includes around nine hours per week for adults and up to six hours per week for adolescents. These sessions usually take place at nonresidential treatment centers and are provided by seasoned experts in this field.
– Level II: Intensive outpatient – In these instances, patients receive care for at least nine hours a week (adults) and at least six hours for adolescents, during which they receive thorough counseling, and relapse prevention programming, and are provided with beneficial information related to drug and alcohol abuse.
– Level III: Residential/inpatient treatment – This one is split into several levels 3.1, 3.3, 3.5, and 3.7, depending on your current situation and needs.
– Level IV: Medically managed intensive inpatient treatment – Intended for people who’ve been dealing with substance abuse for a longer period of time, or suffer from different emotional, medical, and behavioral problems.

Today, we briefly discussed all the options a person has in terms of rehab. The whole point is to remember that there’s a solution to every person who is struggling at the moment, you just have to pick what is the best option for you right now.

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