Outpatient alcohol rehab is a method of undergoing alcohol rehabilitation without having to take part in residential treatment. Rehab begins once the initial stages of alcohol withdrawal have been completed. The initial stages of alcohol withdrawal include alcohol detox. Alcohol detox is the controlled method of elimination of the toxins from the body which have been caused by excessive drinking. These toxins are not only poisonous to the body but are also responsible for the cravings for alcohol that an alcoholic will be subjected to. Most people who have an alcohol problem have to go through alcohol detox in order to give up alcohol, but it is really only the long-term alcoholics that will have to go through sustained outpatient alcohol rehab. Sometimes, the alcoholic will need to have a period of inpatient alcohol rehab before there is an opportunity to go on outpatient alcohol rehab.

Alcohol addiction is fundamentally a habit that has been formed over a long period of time. One of the consequences of these habits is that the alcoholic cannot function without a drink. Some alcoholics need to have a drink only at the end of every day; some alcoholics cannot function if they do not have a drink at the start of the day. Everyone is different when it comes to addictions. Once the initial phase of alcohol detox has been completed, outpatient alcohol rehab will attempt to address the issues that have caused the drinking habit in the beginning. The outpatient center will attempt to do this with regular sessions where the alcoholic will visit a rehabilitation unit for one-on-one or group therapy.

In order for a recovering alcoholic to be able to undergo outpatient alcohol rehab, they must be able to satisfy themselves and their rehabilitation therapist that they are no longer in a position where relapse into their old habits is possible. This is why some recovering alcoholics will need two or three months of inpatient alcohol rehab so that they can live as normal a life as possible without the influence of alcohol. They can be put in the position where they realize that there is a life without alcohol and that they are perfectly capable of living this life without alcohol under the right circumstances.

Outpatient alcohol rehab is going one step further. The recovering alcoholic will be back in the same situation that they were in before they attended alcohol detox. The same influences will be there, and they will often go to the same job, associate with the same people. The big difference is that they will have been given a whole host of tools from therapy sessions which will train them to be able to avoid the situations which have previously led them into drinking. Rehab is much more of a reliance on the recovering alcoholics’ willpower to abstain from drinking than there would be with inpatient alcohol rehab. The drink will be freely available to the recovering alcoholic, and the opportunities to take a drink will be freely available also. It is only with a firm foundation of support that outpatient alcohol rehab will work.