The most important question when you are dealing with alcohol addiction is: What is the best treatment for alcohol addiction?

The oldest treatment for alcoholism came in the way of Alcoholics Anonymous. AA, as is usually known, is a fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to the mission of helping other alcoholics to regain their lives through sobriety. People who suffer from alcoholism are welcomed to these fellowship meetings, where they are given support by people that have attained sobriety and will guide them through a system composed of attending meetings and working on tasks, like reading, writing about oneself, and mastering the 12 principles of AA, which are listed in a numbered list known as the “12 Steps”. This is offered for free since AA is not composed of professionals, but of sober alcoholics that offer their time and help voluntarily.
After AA, treatment for alcoholism began to be offered by professional treatment centers. Today there are over 14,000 of these centers in the U.S. This is both fortunate and unfortunate. It’s fortunate because, in theory, they offer many sources of help to people suffering from alcohol addiction and all chemical dependency problems. On the other hand, it is unfortunate because many addiction treatment centers, or “rehabs” as they are popularly called, have been created for the sole purpose of making profits by exploiting people who suffer from alcoholism and drugs addiction when they are the most vulnerable, and offering them mediocre treatment, or no treatment at all.
Instead of delivering the best-proven care, many addiction treatment centers attract people suffering from alcohol addiction, and drug addiction, with amenities and marketing, and fail to deliver the care that they need. So, how would someone know what the best care for alcohol addiction (alcoholism) and drug addiction is?

The best care for alcohol addiction.

1. An addiction treatment center that is owned and operated by healthcare professionals with experience in addictions—not a business entity, business people, and least of all treatment hustlers who profit from human suffering.
2. An addiction treatment center that has a designed and focused program of treatment that Incorporates medicine, psychology, physical fitness, mental fitness, emotional fitness, and spirituality, in one comprehensive and focused approach—not an erratic collection of interventions and attractions patched together without rhyme or reason, because they are fashionable or fun.
3. An addiction treatment center that has a treatment system that develops living skills that lead to self-sufficiency, independence, and self-reliance. Treatment that results in a successful return to work, careers, education, and family life.
4. An addiction treatment center that gives people the opportunity to learn and experience the skills that they need to stay sober in the middle of real life, not isolated and separated from the reality that they will have to live in after treatment.
5. An addiction treatment center that is designed to get sober while you continue to be engaged in your life. In real life, people need to be able to continue to work while in treatment to protect their employment and professions.
6. An addiction treatment center that understands that people that need treatment still have demands and responsibilities to their work and their families.
7. An addiction treatment center that offers tailored treatment programs that combine intensive outpatient treatment, with or without housing, during day or night, continues to offer the opportunity to come to groups for support after the initial treatment is over—forever.
8. An addiction treatment center that has developed a system of treatment that can break down the barriers that keep people from getting the treatment that they need, even when they have received mediocre previous treatment that didn’t work.
9. Finally, and most importantly, the best alcohol and drug treatment addiction center has to have a treatment system that goes beyond drug treatment, and unleashes the human potential of the person treated, freeing them to attain strength, power, and vitality, not just be sober “dry drunk”.