It's a sad fact of life that drug or alcohol addiction can affect not only addicts themselves but also their loved ones. As a result, alcohol rehabilitation programmes become ever more important. Whether you're calling an alcohol rehab line on behalf of someone close to you, or you're making the important step yourself, you'll always be able to find a person or organisation that's willing to help you through your ordeal.

Whether you're seeking in-house treatment or you'd prefer to be treated at home, most alcohol rehabilitation clinics and groups will encourage the use of particular alcohol rehabilitation programmes. The most popular rehabilitation programmes in use include the twelve step programme, therapeutic community alcohol rehabilitation, religious based alcohol rehabilitation and medical model alcohol rehabilitation. However, in the UK, the most common form of alcohol rehabilitation is the twelve step programme.

Originally developed by Alcoholics Anonymous in the USA, the twelve step alcohol rehabilitation programme requires the addict to make a series of developments, the first of which is admitting to a powerlessness over alcohol and coming to believe in a Higher Power - whether that Higher Power is one's own God or another power of one's own understanding. While the twelve step programme has come under some criticism, it still remains one of the most popular and effective methods of alcohol rehabilitation; providing an excellent way for people from a range of faiths, as well as atheists and agnostics, to overcome the problem of alcohol addiction.

Importantly, all alcohol rehabilitation centres and programmes share certain key features - in both a psychological and education sense. Rehabilitation clinics treat drug and alcohol addiction as an illness, helping patients overcome this illness and return to a healthy life. In general, alcohol rehabilitation programmes will last from one month to nine months. While some people will prefer to have community (home) treatment, research has shown that residential alcohol treatments present a higher probability of a successful outcome than the former. However, residential alcohol rehabilitation clinics also tend to treat patients with a more severe pattern of addiction.

As a result, many people in need of alcohol rehabilitation will choose private residential alcohol treatments over community treatment. Residential alcohol treatment is also beneficial because it allows the patient to choose a location in which they'd like to treat their alcoholism. For example, some alcohol rehabilitation services found on the internet, such as DryOutNow.com, offer private residential alcohol treatment in locations across the UK and in South Africa.