Holistic Alcohol Rehab

Holistic alcohol rehab is a type of alcohol treatment program that takes a different approach than most traditional forms of rehabilitation. The term holistic can mean many different things, so if you’re looking into an alcohol treatment program you’ll want to be sure what that program means in using that term. Holistic can mean anything from the use of herbal remedies to the use of alternative methods like hypnosis, meditation or even things like acupuncture. There’s no government regulation on how the word holistic must be used, so one holistic alcohol rehab center can vary wildly in its approach from the centers that also call themselves holistic.

A general accepted definition for holistic alcohol rehab is that it’s a rehab program that treats the entire person. Holistic medicine, for instance focuses on treating the entire person, not just the disease. Holistic alcohol rehab centers take this approach as well. The addiction, like an illness, affects the entire person and all of the body’s systems, not just one or a few. So the entire person must be treated to help overcome the addiction.

Some traditional alcohol treatment programs combine a holistic alcohol rehab approach with the more time-tested therapies to fight alcohol treatment. While these programs may not call themselves holistic, they combine things like approved drug therapy and their standard detoxification program with ongoing treatments of a holistic nature.

Using diet to affect a person’s health and recovery can be part of a holistic alcohol rehab program. Holistic medicine often includes heavy emphasis on the use of diet in promoting wellness and preventing and treating disease, so holistic methods to defeat drug addiction also tend to focus on diet. While some holistic alcohol rehab programs might focus chiefly on diet, others will at least consider that part of the treatment. Some foods are known to cause spikes in blood sugar that cause subsequent crashes that lead to cravings and even depression. A healthy, natural-foods based diet reduces or eliminates these spike/crash events and allow diet to help promote wellness and peace of mind.

Holistic alcohol rehab programs might also focus on meditation and self-awareness in a way that traditional programs don’t. While counseling and talk therapy are usually important parts of treatment, meditation is rarely part of a traditional alcohol rehab. But in holistic medicine, meditation is a key part of understanding your body and yourself, and becoming aware of your own natural rhythms and feelings. Many believe that meditation and other methods of self-awareness are important parts of treatment because for so long the alcoholic or addict hasn’t really felt what it’s like to be alone with oneself and sober.

Many addicts have trouble with these holistic approaches at first because they’re so opposite what they’ve been doing while using drugs, which is escaping reality and escaping those feelings and that sense of the body one gets during meditation. At the very least, a holistic alcohol rehab center leaves no aspect of the whole person ignored while treating the rest.