Substance abuse treatment takes place in a wide variety of different treatment settings with a variety of different treatment approaches. For example, some substance abuse treatment can be done on an outpatient basis, where the individual will typically receive treatment during the day but is allowed to return home daily. Other substance abuse treatment requires the person to stay in a hospital or residential facility during the entire course of treatment, which is particularly beneficial in resolving more severe cases of addiction. Inpatient and residential substance abuse treatment can be done on a short term or long term basis, depending on various circumstances which can be different for each individual. Most substance abuse treatment will concentrate on getting the person physically rehabilitated, and then concentrate on the root psychological and emotional issues which will help them avoid relapse in the future.

Detoxification is normally the first step in getting off drugs. It permits an individual to be in a supervised environment while they go through withdrawal symptoms for drugs and/or alcohol. There are various types of detoxification. Theyrange from drug-free to medically supervised. A widespread mistake that a lot of addicts make is to think that detox is enough to kick their habit. This is almost never the case. All detox does is get somebody through the withdrawal when they stop using. It is at all times recommended that detox be followed up with some type of treatment plan to uncover the root of why somebody was using drugs in the first place.

Hospital inpatient drug or alcohol treatment is performed in a hospital or similar setting and is supervised by doctors and other medical staff. Hospital inpatient treatment is often necessary in the beginning stages of abstinence when the client may experience the onset of life threatening withdrawal symptoms, which is sometimes the case when quitting alcohol as well as a category of prescription drugs known as benzodiazepines which must be supervised very carefully by medical professionals to minimize ant dangerous health complications. Hospital inpatient treatment is also delivered to those who choose to undergo medication assisted withdrawal, as is the case with opiate addicted individuals who wish to use this type of detoxification approach to avoid the severe withdrawal symptoms associated with heroin or other opiate withdrawal. This type of opiate detox is not treatment in itself however, and these people will need additional counseling and therapy to entirely recover from addiction.

People can become addicted to drugs no matter their handicap, disability or personal physical challenge. This sometimes makes people particularly more susceptible to becoming involved in substance abuse, because of the varying challenges that this can bring about in the person's life. This is true for those people in the deaf and hearing impaired community as well, and treatment for substance abuse and addiction is sometimes needed. Deaf or hearing impaired individuals will require ASL or other assistance as part of their treatment needs, and there are drug and alcohol treatment centers available which cater to these needs. Professional treatment counselors who know ASL and can provide other necessary assistance to deaf or hearing impaired substance abusers.

Military health insurance typically refers to TRICARE and is a normally accepted insurance for specific drug rehabilitation programs. A drug rehab that accepts military insurance will typically accept most other types of insurance as well. TRICARE typically covers detox, rehab and outpatient treatment.