Types of addiction treatment, explained
Detox, residential, day programs, outpatient care, and opioid treatment programs, in plain language: what each one is, who it fits, what it costs, and what to ask before choosing.
- Medical detoxMedically supervised withdrawal, usually the first days of treatment, with staff watching for symptoms and easing them where they can.
- Inpatient and residential treatmentLiving at the facility during treatment, in a hospital or a residential program, with structure and support day and night.
- Intensive outpatient (IOP)Several hours of treatment a day, several days a week, while living at home and keeping up with work or school.
- Partial hospitalization (PHP)Treatment for most of the day, most days of the week, with people going home or to sober housing at night.
- Outpatient treatmentRegular appointments with a counselor or clinic, usually weekly, while living at home and keeping up with daily life.
- Opioid treatment programsClinics certified to provide methadone, and often buprenorphine or naltrexone, with counseling, for opioid use disorder.
- InterventionA planned conversation in which family and friends ask someone to accept treatment, often with a professional's help.
Which level of care?
Treatment comes in levels, from the most medical to the least. Medical detox is first when stopping is physically risky: a few days with nurses and doctors watching. Inpatient and residential care means living at the facility, with structure day and night. Partial hospitalization is most of the day, most days, sleeping at home. Intensive outpatient is several hours a day, several days a week. Outpatient is regular appointments while life goes on. Opioid treatment programs are outpatient clinics certified to provide methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone with counseling, for as long as it helps.
People often move down through these levels as they get steadier: detox, then residential, then a day program, then a few hours a week. Some start in the middle. Someone with a safe home and a job may never need a bed, and someone who has tried outpatient care twice may need one now.
The level is not something to guess at. Every facility begins with an assessment, and that assessment, not this page, decides where a person starts. What these pages can do is explain what each level involves, what to expect, what it tends to cost, and what to ask, so the conversation with a facility starts from solid ground. An intervention is not a level of care but a way to get someone to the first one, and it has a page too.