Addiction treatment, especially private addiction rehab, can be expensive. Just like the emotional and physical strains of addiction, the high price of treating the addicted is widely recognised.
But isn’t medical treatment of any disease or disorder expensive? What is instead of addiction to alcohol or drugs, your family member or friend were suffering from cancer? How much money would you be willing to spend on care? What is a loved one worth?
In the online version of Psychology Today, addiction recovery speaker Constance Scharff, Ph.D. writes, “Imagine if your child had a congenital heart defect or your mother had cancer, and the doctor told you that he had a treatment that would likely cure your loved one, but that it would take ninety days and cost over a hundred thousand dollars. Your reaction would be, ‘How do we get it done?!’ – Because we want our loved ones to recover.”
To lessen the shock at seeing the price tag of addiction treatment, Scharff breaks down the elements of a recovering addicts care and what he or she really gets. First, she writes, addiction treatment is most effective—arguably, only effective—when the care is individualised. Because addiction to alcohol or substances has a multitude of agents, including biological and psychological, treating a recovering addict on his or her own terms can be the difference between relapse and a lifetime of sobriety.
Moreover, addiction is a disease that jeopardises one’s physical and mental well-being. Treating a heart condition doesn’t often require care outside of the physical realm. Private addiction rehab though works to strengthen the individual’s mental, emotional and physical states.
Scharff also talks about length of care. Though many private addiction rehabs (including The Cabin) offer twenty-eight day stays, Scharff recommends spending ninety days in addiction treatment. But more attention over a longer period of time can only fortify an addict’s resolve against addiction and better guarantee that he or she is equipped with the tools needed to stay sober on leaving the addiction treatment programme.
Stomaching the price of private addiction rehab comes down to weighing the financial and emotional cost of one-time, comprehensive addiction treatment against recovery treatment that is insufficient, which may increase the likelihood of a relapse. In this case, the price becomes one paid both emotionally and financially numerous times over.
