What is Holistic Rehab?
Many people who are seeking alcohol or drug treatment often find that traditional forms of treatment either aren’t enough, or are too limiting. Considering that standard 12-step facilities have an inherent judeo-christian approach, a holistic rehab facility often provides a solution.
What is a holistic drug or alcohol rehab? Essentially there are many different types and variations, all of which classify themselves (whether right or wrong) as a Holistic Treatment Center. Being fully informed about the options is the first step in selecting a holistic drug or alcohol treatment solution.
Call Now to Find a Holistic Rehabilitation Center.
Holistic means “body, mind, and spirit” collectively addressed to enhance life or to handle a problem. Therefore, a “holistic rehab” is one that focuses on body, mind, and spirit to handle addiction. With that generic definition, many facilities include the word “holistic” as an approach, but might not be considered by everyone to be a truly holistic rehabilitation approach. In other words, any program could claim to be holistic in nature since every form of recovery does work on body, mind, and spirit.
The characteristics of a holistic rehab facility may include the following:
- Refusal to Use Psychiatric Medications
- Massage, Yoga, Sauna
- Reiki or Energy Work
- Journey Work
- Vitamin and Nutritional Supplements
- Buddhism or Other Eastern Philosophies
- Guided Imagery or Meditation
- Spiritual teachings such as Eckhart Tolle, The Secret, The Four Agreements, etc.
However, even if a facility does not utilize any of the holistic treatments in the previous list, they may occasionally refer to themselves as a non-traditional or holistic drug rehab center. To make this more clear, let’s look at the following types of treatment centers that classify themselves as “holistic rehabs”.
1) The first type of “holistic drug rehab” is a program that has, as it’s core focus, the healing arts combined with eastern philosophy. Generally speaking, holistic beliefs do not necessarily agree with the disease model of addiction, nor accept 12-step philosophy of labeling oneself “an addict.” In other words, a treatment facility of this type works on the human being first, the addiction second. They usually will use a majority of the methods listed in our previous list.
2) The second type of “holistic drug rehab” is a traditional 12-step facility that adds an element of healing arts or eastern philosophy to their program. For example, they might follow the 12-steps but have a yoga instructor or massage therapy. There is some disagreement as to whether these holistic treatment facilities are truly holistic. But, again, with such a broad definition of holistic, in theory, almost any program could be classified as such. Clients seeking holistic rehab programs must be wary of marketing techniques that might falsely classify a program. The client that would be most effective within this treatment model would be someone who has a strong interest in standard 12-step programs, but also would be interested in an added element of holistic practices.
3) The third type of holistic drug rehab program is a traditional program that doesn’t use any of the typical “holistic treatments,” but claims to be holistic simply because they do not use psychiatric medication.
Essentially, any of the previous types of holistic drug and alcohol treatment programs might be ideal for a certain type of client, but asking the right questions is critical. When seeking a holistic rehab, ask their counselors exactly what it is that makes them a holistic drug rehab program.
Although not a complete list, some examples or classifications of programs that call themselves holistic include the following:
- Holistic drug rehabs
- Holistic drug rehab centers
- Holistic detox (non-medicated)
- Non-traditional alcohol treatment center
- Holistic center for substance abuse treatment
- Holistic drug addiction centers
A holistic rehab center that specializes in treating clients with drug or alcohol abuse problems using holistic methods can be a very effective approach for certain types of clients.
Call now to speak with a counselor to help you find the best program that combines your philosophy with addiction therapy.
