How to Choose the Right Treatment for Your Family Member

Go to the grocery store for a salad dressing without a specific brand, name, or type and be prepared to be overwhelmed. Few sections in the grocery store take up as much space as salad dressings. For every brand of salad dressing, there are the typical offerings such as Thousand Island, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Caesar, and Ranch.

For each kind of dressing there are options such as nonfat, low fat, or low sodium. Then, to add to the mix, there are loads of other combinations or concoctions which might be common across all of the brands are unique to one brand.

Of course, each of those specific flavors has options as well. If you haven’t tried all of them, or any of them, how could you possibly know which salad dressing will be the right fit? You might fret that to impulsively choose one dressing could lead to grave disappointment. Perhaps even ruin your salad at home and deter you from returning to salad, or the salad dressing aisle, ever again.

How to Make a Choice for Treatment 

Such an illustration might seem dramatic when it comes to leafy greens, vegetables, and their condiments. Family members, friends, and loved ones of someone who is actively struggling with an addiction, an eating disorder, or another mental or behavioral health issue know the situation all too well.

There are more than 30,000 treatment providers in the United States alone, each offering a very specific program of care. Some offer purely mental health treatment, some offer purely addiction treatment, while others may offer co-occurring care for both addiction and mental health, but only for certain disorders.

Most treatment centers will employ a similar structure and similar therapy as well as treatment types which have been scientifically proven for efficacy. However, some treatment centers may be faith-based, some may be adventure-based, some may be strictly clinical, and some may rely entirely on the 12-step model.

When you have a loved one who is struggling and may be fighting for their life, making a choice for treatment can be tough. Taking the time to make phone calls, read reviews, work with insurance, and try to pick the best option can be precious time wasted. Choosing the wrong program, something that works entirely against a loved one’s needs, can be detrimental, even fatal.

Questions to Consider When Seeking Help

To begin to dig through everything that is available, ask yourself—and your family members—the following:

• What types of treatment therapies are offered?
• Can the program offer medication?
• Are staff members qualified to treat both mental health issues and addiction?
• Is treatment tailored for each patient?
• What will I have to do during rehab?
• What can and should my family do while I’m in treatment?
• Can you provide patient rights and responsibilities in writing?

Then, to compare programs or facilities—apples to apples, of sorts—ask them every one of them the following questions:

• How do you measure patient progress?
• How do you determine if treatment has been effective?
• Can you provide data on your patients’ long-term recovery?
• What happens if a patient relapses during rehab?
• Does the program dismiss relapsed patients?
• Are there program staff members who are qualified to treat patients who have relapsed?

Or, Simply Hire Professional Help

And if it’s still too overwhelming or you need professional advice, there are organizations such as O’Connor Professional Group to take the difficulty out of the decision-making. Let us know if we can help.

This article created first appeared on the O’Connor Professional Group site. Reprinted with permission.