Choosing the right addiction treatment becomes more difficult and stressful when you are doing it for yourself or you’re doing it for a loved one. If you are just doing it for yourself, it’s easy to be ruthless. After all, you should know what’s best for you. But if you’re doing it for your loved ones – people you really care about – well, that’s where the hard part starts.

The easiest way for you to determine which of these two programs is more suitable for the specific situation is to first know what the program is and know its pros and cons.

Inpatient Treatment
With this type of treatment, your loved one would have to move out of his or her home or your home and be admitted to a sober living home. Visitation hours are strictly followed. Every hour of the day that your loved one spends there will be closely monitored as well. There are several advantages to enjoy when you decided to choose this type of treatment.

  • Round-the-clock supervision
  • Possibly speedier rehabilitation and recovery
  • Immediate access to all the necessary services and facilities for treatment

Of course, there are also downsides when you admit your loved one for an inpatient kind of treatment program.

  • More expensive
  • Possible conflict with your loved one due to resentment and separation issues

Outpatient Treatment
As for an outpatient kind of treatment, your loved one would simply have to regularly visit his therapist or doctor. The advantages of this kind of treatment are listed below.

  • Cheaper
  • Allows patient to continue with his or her normal life

However, there are also some downsides to this kind of treatment as well, which you would need to further discuss with your loved one who’ll be undergoing the treatment.

  • Typically requires greater involvement of family members
  • Risk of not being able to provide immediate treatment during emergencies

Besides all these, there are still a few more things that you need to take note of in order to find the right treatment program that best fit the situation.

Time
How much time can you give for helping your loved ones to recover? If you can’t commit to full-time support, then an outpatient program may not be the ideal program. The world outside a treatment center will always be filled with temptations and your loved ones would need every bit of support to prevent a relapse until he or she has acquired sufficient skills for avoiding addiction problems.

Insurance
It’s rare but some insurance policies may offer greater coverage for a particular type of treatment. You need to discuss this with your insurance agent since inpatient treatment in certain types of establishments can be as expensive as living in a hotel.

Location
You and your loved one may think it’s best to start with an outpatient program but what if it’s located out of town? That could mean long hours of traveling and having to do it regularly. With the amount you’re spending on gas and miscellaneous travelling expenses, wouldn’t it make more sense to try an inpatient program instead?