Many people who find themselves in treatment or at 12-step meetings are there because they have no choice. They may have pleaded guilty or been convicted of DUI or drug-related charges and been sent to treatment as part of sentencing. It certainly seems like a better sentence than prison, but does sending someone to treatment involuntarily actually work? According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, involuntary treatment actually works pretty well. They conducted a study of more than 2000 men that found that despite lower internal motivation among involuntary participants at the beginning of treatment, they actually fared about as well after five years as people voluntarily seeking treatment. The study found that rates of abstinence, employment and rearrest were similar whether treatment was mandatory or voluntary. There are likely several reasons for this. First and foremost, legal trouble is often a wakeup call for people with substance use problems. Being arrested and tried is a very clear signal that drinking or drug use is out of hand. What’s more, avoiding or shortening a prison sentence is powerful motivation to get sober. The best results are cases where the justice system is involved but treatment is voluntary. Another factor is that people in the grip of addiction often feel like they don’t want or need help, but after detox and a short time sober they start to see things differently. With a little time to reflect, they may think about how drugs or drinking landed them in jail and maybe it’s time to quit. Mandatory treatment also overcomes many common impediments to getting treatment. The number one reason people don’t seek treatment is because they don’t want it. Other reasons include not being able to afford treatment, not knowing where to get treatment, fearing the stigma, and not being able to get treatment because of other responsibilities, like work or kids. Mandated treatment essentially wipes those objections away at a stroke. The outcomes of mandatory treatment are surprisingly good, but there is a caveat: Sobriety rates start out much higher than the others before falling to comparable levels. For example, abstinence rates for people in mandated treatment start out at about 54 percent and at five years fall to 39 percent, whereas people in court-involved voluntary treatment start at 45.3 percent and drop to 44.7 percent–not even a whole percentage point drop compared to 15 percentage points in mandatory cases. And people who voluntarily seek treatment without court involvement actually go up a bit. Clearly, internal motivation is important for retention, but in mandatory treatment, you still have 39 percent of people abstinent after five years. That’s a lot of people who are working and living their lives instead of sitting in prison, which is a pretty good result.
If you or a loved one struggles with addiction, we can help. Recovery Ways is a leading addiction treatment provider with an excellent recovery rate. Our expert staff includes masters and PhD level therapists and board certified addiction psychiatrists. Our comfortable facilities will help to make your treatment as enjoyable as possible and our therapists use proven techniques like sensory integration and recreation therapy to help to engage the world without the assistance of drugs or alcohol. Call us today at 1-888-986-7848 or email us through our contact page to learn more.
