You must know that the term "outpatient treatment program" is an umbrella term. In the state of Iowa, for example, you are going to find different kinds of programs that are all known as outpatient treatment programs. The basic pattern is the same; the patient continues living at home while attending the treatment center for some days to get the treatment for the addiction. However, there are different types based on how frequently the center calls in the patient for the treatment and what the program actually comprises.

Here we discuss three different kinds of outpatient treatment programs for drug addiction treatment in Iowa.

Outpatient Treatment Program

What is normally referred to as the outpatient treatment program for drug addiction treatment in Iowa is a program that is conducted for up to nine hours a week. The patient is called in at the treatment center for three to four sessions in the week each consisting of 2 to 3 hours duration. The total time for the week does not go beyond nine hours.

During this program, the patient is mostly counseled on methods to keep out of the addiction. They are trained on certain techniques and therapies that can help them lose their temptation for the substance. They are also trained on how to make their lives more socially meaningful so that they keep themselves occupied and do not find the pangs of the addiction anymore.

Detox is usually not a part of this program. This is the mildest form of addiction treatment program, which basically deals with the recovery of people in simple forms of drug abuse rather than addiction.

Intensive Outpatient Treatment Program

The intensive outpatient treatment program is basically an extended version of the previous program. Much of the same approaches are used in this program too, but they are conducted in a more rigid and intensive manner. The frequency of the meetings is more too and so is the duration; the program can go for up to twenty hours a week even.

Here, a part of the program is conducted in a group format. A group of people with similar kinds of addictions are called in together and they are educated on what the addiction is all about. They are provided a classroom kind of training where they can understand where their addiction will lead them. But the program is optimistic, because patients are told that there are methods that can bring them into treatment and what those methods are. It includes all the trainings and that are imparted in the previous program, but in a stricter and more intensive format.

Day Treatment Program

This is the most stringent kind of drug addiction treatment in Iowa that is provided on an outpatient basis. This program allows the patient to stay at home during the treatment, but the patient has to come to the center almost every day. This daily program provides treatment sessions to the patient for three to four hours each day. Hence, the program is quite intensive. It is an apt program for people who are in mild to moderate conditions of addiction.

The program consists of three vital elements. First, there is a detox program that is conducted on an outpatient basis. The patient is provided with a maintenance medication that can help them keep away from the substance. As long as the maintenance medication is taken, the patient will not feel any temptation for the substance. This allows the substance to be worked out from the system of the patient.

The second part of the program is the substance abuse education. Here the patient is taught in a classroom format what the substance addiction is all about, how it can affect the body, how it can affect personal, social and professional life and, most importantly, how it can be treated. The program teaches people that substance addiction is quite vicious, but it can certainly be treated.

The third part consists of counseling. This is done on an individual basis. The crux of this part of outpatient drug addiction treatment in Iowa is to understand the patient's underlying emotional issues that are keeping them in the addiction and help them to come out of it. The patient is handled by psychiatrists in some cases who can counsel them on how to come out of their mental conditions and preoccupations that might be retaining the urge for the substance within them.

There are various kinds of outpatient treatment programs for drug addiction treatment in Iowa, but you have to first confirm whether such a treatment mode would be appropriate for the patient. A counselor on substance abuse treatment will be able to help you arrive at the right decision.