A rehab center is not the same as a nursing home since the focus on nursing homes is long-term health care for the elderly or severely ill, but rehabilitation centers are for short-term treatment in order to help the individual through various addictions. Other ways in which rehabilitation centers help people are those suffering from illnesses or individuals that have been in accidents that need help in regaining the ability to walk or speak.
Addicts require a drug rehab
or an alcohol rehab in order for the person to go through detoxification and
learn to live without the substance. Many of the rehabilitation centers support
group and individual therapy so that fellow addicts together can help each
other understand why they fall victim to abuse in the first place. This is a
crucial aspect of the rehab centers because if an individual
does not know the reason they have the addiction, they are likely to return to
their drug of choice once released.
Children of alcoholic or
substance abuse parents often fall into the same pattern. Researchers believe
that addiction is two-fold. First, it is environmental; the child may learn
early to depend on a substance to make it through the day. Secondly, it can be
genetic as far as the child inheriting an additive personality. Children of
addicted parents normally hate what their parents are doing at the time, but
exposure to drugs and alcohol at such a young age, introduces the child to the
road to abusing drugs that can continue into adulthood.
A staggering trend in today's
society is that children make up a large percentage of those entering a drug or
alcohol rehab center. In 2000, it was estimated that of the 14 million
Americans abusing drugs or alcohol, 6.3 percent of those were 12 years of age
or older. A staggering 9.7 percent of youths between the ages of 12 and 17
years of age have used illicit drugs at least one time. Men appear to have the
higher rate of illicit drug use consisting of 7.7 percent compared to women at
5 percent. However, prescription drug abuse in the form of pain medications,
tranquilizers, sedatives and stimulants were comparable between men and women.
Another drug that is often
overlooked by parents is inhalants. Kids of any age can purchase these legal
substances at a variety of stores. For instance, compressed air and spray
paints are often abused. Females are more likely to use compressed air since it
leaves no residue on their mouths and no one can detect the smell when in their
presence. Inhaling compressed cans of substances intentionally is called
huffing. The high lasts only moments, so the abuser continues huffing many
times throughout the day to maintain the high, which can quickly cause brain
damage or death.
A drug rehab center for such
abusers of illegal and legal substances is many times the last hope because if
the abuser continues using, death will follow at some point. Alcohol rehab
centers are also often the last chance for alcoholics to become sober, because
abusing alcohol over a long period will eventually cause cirrhosis of the liver
and ultimately a premature death.
