An estimated 43 percent of all people who go to drug rehab successfully complete their treatment programs, while another 16 percent are transferred to other rehabilitation centers for additional treatment. The rehabilitation success rates for those who complete drug and alcohol detoxification are 68 percent combined. Unfortunately, less than 42% of people who enter treatment for drug and alcohol abuse complete it. Current relapse rates show that there is a 40-60% chance that people attending rehabilitation will relapse.
However, this does not mean that pharmacological rehabilitation is not effective. It is estimated that 1 in 3 people who complete drug or alcohol treatment will remain sober. Relapse rates decrease as a person progresses through their treatment programs. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 40 to 60 percent of patients undergoing addiction treatment relapse.
Like any chronic medical illness, addiction requires ongoing care and symptoms may return after treatment. Relapse doesn't always mean treatment has failed. Sometimes a person makes a lot of progress, but they need more time to fully heal. Sometimes they relapse, but they can sober up on their own thanks to the skills they learned in rehabilitation.
The NIDA notes that “recovering from drug addiction is a long-term process and often requires multiple episodes of treatment. Most people also need ongoing care after completing a drug rehabilitation program. Aftercare often includes substance use counseling or support groups to keep the person in contact with others who understand their struggle. So, when many addicts recognize that they have a problem and enter rehab, their habit of taking prescription pills has turned into a total drug addiction.
If you're looking for addiction treatment programs for yourself or a loved one, you've probably run into a dearth of concrete data on rehabilitation success rates. According to a recent study, outpatient rehabilitation has an enormous impact on success rates among recovering addicts. Residential drug treatment, or inpatient treatment, is an excellent option for addicts who have time to live on-site at an addiction treatment center during the first few days of sobriety. Long-term drug rehabilitation allows people in recovery to have time to resolve deep-seated problems related to addiction.
If you are an addict or alcoholic, there is an alteration in the functioning of the brain that causes you to react differently to alcohol or drugs compared to someone who is not an addict or alcoholic. Success rates in rehabilitation for prescription opioid addiction are much higher than those for addiction to other substances such as heroin or cocaine. Spontaneous remission of drug or alcohol addiction refers to the phenomenon in which a person with a substance use disorder (SUD) stops using drugs or alcohol without any formal treatment or forced rehabilitation. The statistics of successful recovery from heroin addiction are scary to see, especially if you are the loved one of a heroin or opioid addict.
