Anyone making the excellent choice to seek, of their own volition, treatment for their alcoholism, drug addiction or substance dependency is already ahead of the game in terms of best possible drug rehab outcome potential. Choosing the most successful alcoholism treatment center is the next step and there are certain guidelines which experts agree should be considered before admitting to any alcoholism or drug rehab treatment center.

Perhaps the most important consideration in choosing the best alcoholism treatment center is the population prototype of the treatment center. Number of patient beds, average age of patients, specializations (if any) of the treatment center staff and other historical demographic factors can profoundly impact the potential for greatest success rate of a program. Professionals are in concert on their agreement that in the case of the best rehab centers, smaller is better. There is also a growing advocacy for gender-specific treatment, due to the inherent differences between the sexes and thus the issues fueling their addictions. The best dual-diagnosis drug rehabilitation centers provide a comprehensive program schedule, which include clinical, therapeutic, educational, somatic and spiritual classes and groups. The less secular the environment, say recovery experts, the better. Thus, separate rehab programs for men and women, appears to have received the seal of professional approval.

Harmony Place Exclusively For Women, for example, is an intimate and specialized “boutique” dual-diagnosis alcoholism treatment center located in metropolitan Los Angeles, which believes strongly in the benefits of a gender-specific alcoholism treatment center. Their luxury rehab environment, where the amenities are only outclassed by a state-of-the-art recovery program, has been recognized as one of the top drug rehab centers in the world. Harmony Place was, in fact, the number one Malibu rehab to expand their services to include an exclusive women’s only dual-diagnosis treatment program. The impressive success of the Harmony Place female only rehab model strongly supports the new evolution of cutting-edge treatment for drug and alcohol addiction where smaller is always better.

Alcohol treatment centers for women, and female addiction in general, were until very recently, not even a subject which was discussed in “polite company.” Fortunately, thanks to the courageous honesty of women like Betty Ford, Carrie Fisher and of course, “celebutantes” like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears, not only are women finally able to “come clean” about their struggles with drugs and alcohol, but there are finally gender specific resources to help them overcome their addiction and co-occuring problems.

Professionals in addiction recovery absolutely and unanimously support the benefits of gender specific treatment in terms of addiction recovery. Especially in dual-diagnosis rehabilitation, where the treatment goal is to undercover the co-occurring disorder(s) generating the alcohol or drug use and then reconcile them in a healthy manner, the differences in the underlying addiction issues between men and women are often extremely disparate. Both certainly deserve “equal rights.” Alcohol treatment centers for women, however, have only made their debut, at least in a sophisticated and comprehensive manner, in the very recent past. Women who have experienced both co-ed and also gender specific recovery treatment have found that their ability to relax and become authentically honest about their real problems is much easier in gender specific, women’s only rehab. Professionals are not surprised. Any time you mix genders, whether it is in a social or therapeutic environment, basic animal instinct is going to imbue the room and innate behaviors will undoubtedly skew the integrity of the work to be accomplished. Thus, many top rehabs, which once boasted a male-heavy population, then evolved into more evenly mixed co-ed programs, are now closely following the incredible success being achieved by newer programs specifically designed for gender specific recovery. Alcohol treatment centers for women, especially, have been targeted by rehab “business development” pros looking to promote the most optimal recovery solutions possible.