Factors Associated With The Receipt Of Treatment Following Detoxification

More than 18 million people who use alcohol and almost 5 million who use illicit drugs need substance abuse treatment, while, overall, less than one fourth of those needing treatment actually get it. Substance abuse treatment usually proceeds in three stages: acute intervention (including emergency treatment and detoxification), rehabilitation (outpatient, residential or inpatient primary and extended care), and maintenance (aftercare, relapse prevention, or domicile care).

Each year at least 300,000 patients obtain inpatient detoxification in general hospitals and additional numbers obtain detoxification in other settings. Detoxification is the medical management or monitoring of acute alcohol or illicit drug intoxication and withdrawal. While detoxification may offer a gateway for patients into a substance abuse treatment program, detoxification alone will not lead to lasting improvements. The receipt of continuing treatment/rehabilitation services following substance abuse detoxification is considered to be essential for successful recovery. Research has shown that patients who receive such services after detoxification have better outcomes in terms of drug abstinence and re-admission rates than those who do not enter treatment.

Because the need for detoxification identifies persons who are substance dependent, detoxification presents an opportunity to link such persons to continuing substance abuse treatment services so that they may be able to attain sobriety and recover.

This paper starts with the premise that persons receiving inpatient detoxification, alone or with inpatient rehabilitation, should receive continuing rehabilitation treatment services after they are discharged. Data from both efficacy and effectiveness studies have shown that patients who participate in continuing specialized outpatient substance abuse treatment after being discharged from treatment for substance abuse tend to have better long-term outcomes

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