Jewish Drug And Alcohol Rehab Centers

Medically reviewed by

Brittany Thompson, MSMFT

March 5, 2019

Suffering from a drug addiction as a Jewish person is a traumatic and difficult situation. It can permanently alter your life’s projected path, cut you off from your spiritual growth, alienate you from family members, and negatively impact your physical and mental health.

Thankfully, there are drug rehabilitation centers specifically designed to help Jewish people overcome their addiction. Attending one of these centers helps ensure that you can return to a life of sobriety in an atmosphere that is friendly to your personal, cultural, and religious beliefs.

Drug Abuse Can Affect Jewish People

Many people in the Jewish community are nervous or unwilling to discuss the problems of drug abuse. However, statistics have shown that an increasing number of Jewish people are suffering from substance abuse problems: some estimates state that up to 50 percent of all patients in residential drug rehabilitation care are of Jewish descent.

A staggeringly large percentage like that may be an exaggeration, but it illustrates that drug and alcohol abuse are present in Jewish communities across the nation. And it’s not just a problem for non-religious people who happen to be of Jewish descent: an article by Tablet Mag (a Jewish cultural and news website) discussed the rising prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community.

Specialist Joe Levin, who runs an addiction treatment center in New York City, mentioned ten recent instances of overdose recently affecting the community and was quoted as saying “Unfortunately people are willing to talk about sex abuse and molestation, but everybody is closing their eyes on drugs.”

Jewish Drug Rehab Structure

Drug rehabilitation programs follows a simple structure: drug detoxification, immediate physical and psychological health care, and aftercare. Jewish drug rehabilitation follows the same basic structure, with variations depending on your personal needs and religious beliefs.

Detoxification is, in many ways, the most difficult part of the process. It requires carefully weaning yourself off the drug and suffering the painful symptoms of withdrawal. Depending on your addiction, replacement medicines (such as methadone) can be used to lower the severity of your symptoms.

Once detoxification is finished, any physical problems you may be suffering will be treated by trained professionals. This helps make the rehabilitation process easier and less taxing on your body. Perhaps more importantly, your emotional and psychological health will be evaluated and treated.

This is done for a few reasons. One, to gauge your emotional health and commitment to the rehabilitation process. And two, to discover any conditions that may contribute to your addiction. Counselors will help you work through these problems to eliminate them from your life.

Counseling style will vary, depending on your needs. Many Jewish people are very successful in a 12-step program, because it requires devotion and faith in a higher power. However, there are a wide variety of available options, such as:

• Individual and group therapy sessions
• Trauma counseling
• Anger management
• Relapse therapy
• Drug abuse education

Kosher Dietary Plans

One of the nicest things about Jewish drug rehabilitation centers is their focus on improving your health by creating a kosher diet. While non-Jewish centers will undoubtedly be willing to provide you with kosher alternatives, a real Jewish center will have a better grasp of what is appropriate for your diet. As a result, you’ll be offered a diverse option of foods, consisting of items like:

• Meat from kosher animals (turkey, chicken, geese, cows, sheep, and deer)
• Coffee
• Tea
• Milk from kosher animals
• Yogurt
• Kosher ice cream
• Vegetables and fruit carefully cleaned to avoid accidental non-kosher insect ingestion

A healthy and diverse kosher diet will be one of the key aspects of your addiction recovery therapy: It will help you get the vital nutrients you need to recover from malnutrition you may have suffered from while using drugs. A well-balanced diet can also improve your mood, increase your energy levels, and give you the positive fuel you need to stay clean and healthy for life.

Religious Services

Religion and faith will undoubtedly play a vital part of your recovery process. That’s why most Jewish rehabilitation centers either hold services right in the center or help you find a synagogue in the area. An increasing number of studies have shown that faith can give a person the focus to successfully complete rehab.

One paper, by William White, M.A. And Alexandre Laudet P.h.D, examined the importance of spirituality in addiction counseling and found that it helped fill the hole left behind by quitting drugs. It can also give them the motivation they need to stay clean and sober during the difficult maintenance period following rehab.

If you’re a devoutly practicing Jewish person, religious services can help keep you strong in an emotionally difficult period. However, if you’ve lapsed in your faith, attending religious services during rehab can help you obtain the spiritual life you need to foster life-long sobriety.

Make The Right Choice Today

Being Jewish and recovering from a drug addiction doesn’t have to be a lonely or difficult process. Reaching out to a Jewish drug rehabilitation center can help you find the help you need to regain a healthy and spiritually active life. Please contact us at RehabCenter.net to learn more. Our trained specialists can offer you the information you need to make the right choice.