At this moment, there are millions of Americans who require medical treatment because of a substance abuse or dual diagnosis issue. That?s millions of people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol or who are suffering through an eating disorder. Their lives are at stake in many cases and their behavior has the potential to damage their families, as well as society at large.
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Alcohol Abuse
A 2006 Forbes magazine special report on alcohol abuse in America paints a frightening picture. Every year, alcohol abuse costs the country $185 billion. Included in that tally is $26 billion for direct medical costs and treatment, $6 billion worth of damages from drunk driving, $35 billion billed to employee health care plans and $88 billion in lost productivity. Outside of the dollar figures, drunk driving accounts for 13,000 deaths every year, half of the trauma patients in a hospital?s emergency room are likely there because of drinking-related injuries and 85,000 people die of alcohol-related issues each year. Alcoholism is treatable, if the right program is chosen.
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Drug Abuse
According to the US National Institutes of Health, drug addiction costs the United States economy some $181 billion every year. This total includes health care, criminal investigation and law enforcement costs and lost productivity. The organization also links drug addiction to the disintegration of families, job loss, domestic violence and child abuse. Heroin and cocaine alone accounted for over one million hospital emergency room visits in 2009 and nearly 40,000 people through accidental drug overdoses.
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Eating Disorders
An estimated 8 million Americans (most of them women) suffer from an eating disorder, an affliction with the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. Only 10 percent of those with an eating disorder seek treatment, leading to stats such as 20 percent of anorexics dying prematurely from complications.
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Fortunately, there are many treatment options available. California, in particular, boasts a huge array of treatment centers that offer programs designed to help people beat their demons and resume a normal life. There are ultra-luxurious beachside retreats that offer world class luxury to their patients, halfway homes that help recovering drug addicts and alcoholics to transition from treatment back to normal life, centers that offer treatment exclusively for women, centers that offer medically supervised detox programs and rehab clinics that offer alternative treatment methods such as holistic or spiritual based programs. The challenge isn?t in finding a treatment center for yourself or a loved one ?there are hundreds of them in the state? the challenge lies in finding the right treatment center.
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Not every facility or treatment approach is appropriate for every person. What works for some people may simply be wrong for someone else. Every person is an individual and, as such, they have individual treatment needs. They have a unique issue (or issues) that might be at the root of their destructive behavior, they respond differently to different methods and some people might have been through multiple rehab sessions already. There are also practical considerations: location, fees and insurance coverage. Sending your loved one to the wrong rehab facility can be an expensive mistake, but with so many different treatment centers to choose from, it is difficult to make the right choice. Especially when time is a concern ?the longer you wait, the more damage is done.
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Residents of California are fortunate in that they have so many facilities to choose from, but at the same time they have a much tougher decision to make. Which of those hundreds of different treatment centers is the right one for their loved one or the one that offers the best chance at success?
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A valuable tool for people in this situation is a website that acts as a one-stop treatment resource. In addition to offering valuable information about addictions, eating disorders and dual diagnosis issues, the website provides a comprehensive listing of California treatment centers. Each center is profiled to make it easy to see at a glance which facilities offer specific treatments, what services they provide, where they are located and even whether they accept insurance payment.
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Each is also rated and reviewed, making it possible to quickly narrow choices down to the rehab centers that come highly recommended. A toll-free help line to a professional counselor is provided, should there be any questions and a confidential assessment can be performed online. This resource makes making an informed rehab choice possible, even in California.
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About the Author:
Joan Waters has worked with many families as they struggle through the experience of a loved one who requires medical intervention. Joan points out that online resources like Treatment-Centers.net are an invaluable resource. There are so many facilities offering drug or alcohol rehab and other recovery programs, that having a single website where they are listed, described and ranked is needed to make an informed choice. To contact Joan, please call 877-335-4673 (HOPE).
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