Residential Treatment

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Residential treatment services can be traced back to the work of Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud, and her peers at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in the early 1900s. Wanting to take better care of children in crisis, they created the first residential treatment centers for adolescents and teens with emotional and behavioral disorders.

What Is Residential Treatment?

Residential treatment programs, sometimes called rehabs, are live-in healthcare facilities that help heal mental health issues, substance use disorders, and behavioral problems. Additionally, residential treatment programs offer recovery services for clients who need a structured environment and 24-hour monitoring. While in such treatment, clients live in a residential treatment facility, supervised by trained staff.

As safe spaces, residential treatment centers promote long-term recovery. For example, residential treatment for young adults with teen depression can improve treatment outcomes by addressing trauma and the root causes of behavioral issues. Therefore, residential treatment programs are often helpful for those who have not responded to outpatient treatment, who have medical needs that require a more restrictive setting, or who need more intensive treatment services.

Residential treatment programs typically offer a comprehensive evaluation to assess emotional, behavioral, medical, educational, and social needs. Subsequently, residential treatment centers create individualized treatment plans that provide interventions designed to attain positive outcomes. Individual and group therapy services are hallmarks of most residential treatment programs.

Sources: American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Residential treatment for youth: A bicentennial consideration, National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIH)