Who Is a Good Candidate for Outpatient Opiate Detox?

When it comes to addiction treatment, residential treatment is by far the most popular option. It’s really the only viable solution for someone who has a substantial addiction to substances like heroin, meth, and alcohol.

While residential treatment might be heavily preferred, it’s not an option that works for everyone. That’s why so many of today’s rehab centers offer outpatient options. With an outpatient option, clients are typically required to spend a certain amount of time each week in therapy. When not in therapy, they are permitted to live at home.

The question is, “who is a good candidate for outpatient treatment?” That sometimes includes outpatient detox treatment. Helping clients detox on an outpatient basis is a complicated process. It’s an option reserved for very people with very specific circumstances.

In the sections below, the discussion will drive towards outpatient detox and move into a further discussion about outpatient treatment programs.

About Outpatient Detox Programs

Detox programs exist for the purpose of keeping clients safe while they go through withdrawal. This is necessary with a lot of addictions because of the dangerous nature of some withdrawal symptoms. For instance, opiate addictions can result in withdrawal symptoms like:

  • Difficulty breathing normally
  • Increase in heart rate and blood pressure
  • Inability to control motor functions and concentrate on normal tasks
  • Nightmares and hallucinations that make it difficult to sleep
  • Vomiting and nausea
  • Body convulsions and tremors in the arms and legs
  • Severe cramping in the stomach region
  • High levels of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts

Given this set of symptoms, it’s easy to understand why detox specialists prefer treating clients in house. Unfortunately, there are some people who simply can’t submit to an inpatient detox program. For these folks, there needs to be an outpatient option.

To clarify what reasons a client might qualify for an outpatient detox program, here’s a list of the most popular reasons:

  • The addiction is mild enough to remove concerns about the client-facing dangerous circumstances
  • Inability of the client to afford an inpatient detox program
  • The likelihood work/school responsibilities would make it impossible for the client to miss time
  • Primary care responsibilities for children or elderly parents

In most cases, an outpatient detox program is going to be manageable for both the client and the facility’s detox professionals with the right safeguards put in place. When the client has a substantial addiction issue and simply cannot submit to an inpatient detox program, the facility’s medical staff has no choice but to issue relief medications to the outpatient detox client and hope for the best.

As long as a client gets through an outpatient detox program, there’s a basis for allowing them to move forward with outpatient therapy. Below is a quick discussion about the three primary outpatient options, which include:

  • Partial hospitalization
  • Intensive outpatient care
  • Standard outpatient care

Partial Hospitalization

The distinguishing factor among the outpatient options is the amount of time the client is required to attend therapy sessions. With partial hospitalization, the client will typically need to report for treatment at least 5 days and for as many as 7 days a week, spending 6 to 8 hours a day in therapy. Therapy could include individual, family and group therapy sessions.

Intensive Outpatient

At the next level down on the restrictiveness scale is intensive outpatient treatment. With this option, the client will be required to spend at least 3 days and up to 5 days a week in therapy. Each day, they could be required to spend as much as 2 hours up to 4 hours a day in therapy. Therapy will generally focus on individual therapy with an occasional group session.

Standard Outpatient

If the client has good control over their addiction issues, they might be able to get by with a standard outpatient option. In such cases, they would only need to report for treatment a couple of times a week for an hour or two a day.

If for any reason, you don’t think you can submit to an inpatient detox program and inpatient therapy, you can rest easy that we do have some outpatient options we can offer you. The first thing you need to do is call us at 844-639-8371. From there, we would be glad to discuss your treatment options.

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