ABSTRACT
Our clinical experience indicates that intensive outpatient treatment is an effective alternative to traditional inpatient care for many, if not most, addicts and alcoholics who seek professional help. Contrary to traditional thinking, it appears that most of what goes on in treatment can be done effectively on an outpatient basis. Justifying residential treatment because it offers a controlled, drug-free environment is not very convincing to clinicians such as ourselves who daily see that a highly structured, intensive outpatient program works very well with crack addicts, alcoholics, heroin addicts, and other chemically dependent patients who are routinely thought to need inpatient care. Most of our patients have been through one or more residential programs and have relapsed shortly after discharge.
