Recovering from an addiction to drugs or alcohol remains one of the most difficult endeavors a person might face, and the odds are stacked against the average addict who wants to stay clean from drugs like heroin, methamphetamines, and prescription painkillers. Although drugs like ecstasy and cocaine saw a small dip in the number of individuals addicted, mental health professionals saw immense growth in the abuse of prescription drugs and methamphetamines. This increase has caused many mental health professionals to see this abuse as an epidemic.
Statistics
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the United States conducts a periodic report called the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), and their information on around 1.5 million individuals discharged from treatment suggests a completion rate of full inpatient rehab of just 47 percent.
Based upon statistical information provided by 42 of the 50 United States, this single number doesn’t tell the whole story. The rate of completion for people entering a treatment facility depended greatly upon the type of addiction for which they were seeking treatment. In addition, the rate of completion was impacted significantly by the style of inpatient experience.
For example, individuals who checked into hospital residential treatment facilities had a much higher rate of completion at 70 percent than individuals who entered short-term treatment facilities where the completion rate plummeted to 59 percent. The study also saw better completion rates for individuals who were employed, and for people who were suffering from addiction to alcohol, rather than drugs like meth and heroin.
The United States National Institute on Drug Abuse National Institutes of Health suggested that almost a quarter of all admissions for substance abuse treatment were due to alcohol addiction. Marijuana and heroin also constituted a significant number of admissions. Treatment for opiate addiction beyond heroin also has been rising noticeably.
A publication from the United States Library of Medicine, which is also part of the National Institutes of Health, recently provided some interesting information regarding success post-treatment of individuals who completed a program versus individuals who didn’t complete a program. For people who successfully completed a drug rehabilitation program, potential for employment was much higher.
Those individuals even earned higher wages on average than people who emerged from treatment without having finished the complete program. The report also suggested that lengthy treatment stays that lasted at least three months (or 90 days) provided a dramatic increase in employment potential (over 40 percent) than those who stayed in treatment for a shorter program.
Unfortunately, a study conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggested that black and Hispanic individuals entering treatment facilities that were publicly funded had a much lower rate of completion than their white counterparts. The research team concluded that one of the reasons for this disparity was the difference in average income level between blacks, Hispanics, and whites.
The study looked at over a million patients who had stayed within an inpatient rehabilitation facility, and also found that completion rates for a variety of minorities like Native Americans were also worse when entering treatment facilities. The only group of participants with a greater rate of completion than whites was Asians.
Patients decide to leave inpatient treatment for a variety of reasons, but often the reason they leave is because of a lack of funding for further treatment. Individuals who don’t have a healthy level of support from a network of friends and family might also be at greater risk for leaving treatment early. In addition, funding problems for full treatment stays plague many low income individuals. Mental health professionals hope that greater access to funding due to the Affordable Care Act will help to increase overall drug rehab completion rates.
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