Drug Rehab

Question by Big Mo: How many alcoholics can actually quit drinking and live a productive life?

Best answer:

Answer by SeeInElle
You asked a pretty intricate question and I doubt you knew it.
First: There are many “productive” alcoholics that exist. A lot of people are “high functioning alcoholics” meaning they hold down jobs and families but are still alcoholics.
Second: Many alcoholics define a “successful day” simply as a day they didn’t drink. So, in essence all of these people could be successful simply because they didn’t drink…
Third: There are really some very major problems gathering data for a question like that since Alcoholism is a medical disease (actually it is called Alcohol Dependence) and is therefore kept private because of HIPPA laws. So, the only real way to get an idea is to look at AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and at treatment centers. In many years AA actually has done some surveys. Their surveys dealt with membership retention and sobriety of AA members According to AA World Services, about 40% of AA members sober for less than a year will remain another year. About 80% of those sober less than five years will remain sober and active in the fellowship another year. About 90% of the members sober five years or more will remain sober and active in the fellowship another year, however the survey states that this information does not predict the number that will remain sober, and those who remain sober but not in the fellowship cannot be calculated. These figures have been repeated within a few percentage points using the same calculations since 1974. While AA has continued to publish member surveys, they have not published any parallel commentary or analysis of the surveys since 1990.

Now to the treatment statistics, but first let me explain that people who are alcoholics suffer from the same disease people who are drug addicts suffer from, alcoholics are simply addicted to alcohol and not crack…So I will include numbers that reflect both alcoholics and addicts. In any given year about 10% of the population in America will need medical treatment for alcoholism and addiction, that is about 30 million people. Of these that need it, only 3 million people will receive it. So about 10% of the 10%. Treatment centers have been KNOWN to fluff up their retention rates, but the general numbers that are accepted are: 5 people in every 200 that are in treatment will stay sober/clean for a year. After one year, 1 person in 200 will still be clean/sober. That is about 0.5% of people that seek treatment will actually stay clean for longer than a year.

Just a recap:
There are 313 million people in the United States. 10% of these people are alcoholics/addicts in active addiction.
So, 30 million people in the United States need treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, the state of California has 38 million residents, so for brevity sake let’s say the entire state of California’s population needs treatment for addiction. Los Angeles has a population of about 3.7 million, so in this scenario, even though the entire state need treatment only the people in LA can/want to get treatment and do. Of this number only 92,500 people stay clean/sober for one year, and of this only 18,500 stay clean/sober for longer than one year. To put that number in perspective I grew up in a small town. Our mall did not have very much, not even a Gap or Bath & Body Works…our population was double that of 18,500.

So, the answer to your question, is not many. It is not because treatment doesn’t work it is because it is a notoriously difficult disease to treat. We know how to treat this disease, and in 9 cases out of 10 the treatment can work, but the people are very sick. They are pushed into denial very easily. They can justify and rationalize one more use…which turns into a full blown relapse and for many death. I can count on two hands the number of people I know with 10 years or more clean/sober. I can count on one hand the amount of people I know with 20 or more years clean/sober. I also had the opportunity to watch a man pick up his 50 year chip…I seriously DOUBT I will ever see that again. Some do make it, if they take suggestions, but imagine that someone gives you a suggestion and you have a very sick mind and every part of you is screaming to do the opposite….

Waterford man accused of sexually assaulting girl to go to treatment center …
Defense attorney Patrick Cafferty said Stade will be transported to Manitoba House, a Milwaukee drug and alcohol treatment center, to be treated for alcoholism. Racine County Assistant District Attorney Robert Repischak told Circuit Judge Tim Boyle …
Read more on Journal Times

RIA study proposes new treatment method for alcohol problems
The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. RIA is a research center of the University at Buffalo and a national leader in the study of alcohol and substance …
Read more on UB News Center

A Sobering Story: Addicts must confront their demons, experts say
So people tend to still see it as a moral weakness,” said Vince Mercuri, executive director of The Open Door Alcohol & Other Drug Treatment Center in Indiana. However, addiction is not a moral failing, and brain-imaging techniques have helped to show …
Read more on Indiana Gazette