At any given point, one in five adults will struggle with mental illness — 20% of all people in the U.S. who may struggle with anxiety, depression, unresolved trauma, or other behavioral disorders, which can cast a negative shadow over the happiness, wellness, and right to healthy day-to-day functioning everyone deserves.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) emphasizes that treatment is not only accessible for all, but also makes mental health recovery a tangible, achievable goal for anyone.
NAMI adds that those first inaugural steps to seeking help can be difficult, especially if you’ve never focused on seeking therapy before. When most people begin exploring their options for mental health treatment, two main choices usually come to mind: round-the-clock inpatient care in a residential facility or the more flexible, part-time outpatient treatment that sees you visit your therapist during the day and return home at night.
But what happens if you need something in between? Another level of care called intensive outpatient seeks to fill a gap that might exist in someone’s needs — if you call for something more in-depth than standard outpatient, yet with more flexibility than inpatient provides.
How does an IOP program fit within the outpatient model, and how can it benefit you? Read on to learn more.
What Is an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) for Mental Health?
So, what is IOP? Many people are familiar with outpatient therapy and inpatient hospitalization, whether it’s for treating drug addiction or mental health conditions. But there are times when neither is the right fit. An IOP program is essentially a hybrid of inpatient treatment and outpatient mental health, striking a balance but also combining some of the most important parts of both.
When Is IOP appropriate?
24/7 care isn’t needed: Mental health symptoms may become undeniably intrusive to your day-to-day life. Your performance at work or school may begin to falter. And they might put a strain on your home life and relationships. But you’re also not in immediate crisis or danger or unable to care for yourself, making the intensity of a hospital stay unnecessary. Here, IOP strikes an ideal balance.
Outpatient therapy isn’t sufficient: Likewise, twice weekly or alternating daily outpatient therapy might not provide enough support, especially if you’ve been in therapy and aren’t making the progress you wish, or you’re finding it difficult to keep momentum and apply what you’ve learned in sessions to your daily routine. IOP is outpatient therapy, but it’s a slightly more robust option with more frequent visits with your therapists to keep you on point.
You need more time in therapy, but can’t pull away from daily responsibilities: A full-time career, a full semester of classes, or caring for a family and household are commitments you simply cannot put on hold to live at a residential mental health clinic for several weeks. Yet you need that same level of focused care with the chance to break away for work, class, and being there for a spouse and children. IOP sees you in therapy about nine hours a week, but it’s built around your schedule without having to compromise treatment or life.
You’re transitioning from inpatient treatment: Sometimes, the move from inpatient to outpatient is too extreme — and not gradual enough — for many people. They’re ready to live on their own again and manage their symptoms, but outpatient care doesn’t offer quite enough support. IOP becomes a step-down option that maintains some of the intensity of inpatient but affords you the independence that’s part of outpatient.
Why Are There Levels of Care in Mental Health Treatment?
“Mental health treatment can be thought of as a continuum, with patients moving up or down in levels of care as needed,” says NAMI. “One major advantage of structured outpatient is that it allows individuals to receive an intense level of programming (much like inpatient) without entirely disrupting their current situation in life, such as work, school, or family responsibilities.”
During IOP, you’ll ideally participate in a mix of individual and group therapies. In the former, you’ll meet one-on-one with a counselor, therapist, or psychologist for talk therapy sessions, and in the latter, you’ll join them alongside others in treatment on a similar mental health recovery journey as you.
Looking For Mental Health Treatment?
Inpatient vs Outpatient Mental Health Treatment
Mental health treatment is said to exist on a continuum — a spectrum where various levels of care exist in order of therapeutic intensity and the amount of commitment required from you.
On one end is inpatient treatment. At its most comprehensive, it’s structured for people whose mental health has been neglected to the point that temporary hospitalization is needed. Depression may have rendered them unable to care for basic personal needs, like bathing or eating. Depending on the condition they’ve been diagnosed with, they may also have a high risk of self-harm, harming others, or suicide, necessitating constant supervision, at least for a time.
Outpatient mental health lives on the other end, and what most people picture when they think of going to therapy. You’ll live your life as usual at home and visit your therapist’s office or mental health clinic for therapy sessions, which may be as brief as one hour, once a week, or a few times a week, either individually or in a group setting. Outpatient therapy is the most flexible option because it works with and around your schedule, a realistic option if your mental health symptoms are milder to moderate and don’t pose a problem to your independence, health, or safety.
An IOP program is a suitable middle ground between the two, incorporating some of the more intensive elements of inpatient therapy into the framework of outpatient therapy. It’s still outpatient care (you sleep in your own bed at night), but it offers the focus and structure that a weekly outpatient session may miss.
What Can an IOP Program for Mental Health Treat?
An IOP program has become a popular treatment option in recent years. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the number of IOP facilities in the U.S. increased by 3,000 from 2010 to 2020, bringing the total to 16,000 — with the number of clients increasing from 1.2 million to 1.4 million during that same timeframe, it notes in a National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services.
What explains the newer visibility of IOPs as a viable treatment option? IOPs’ ability to blend the best of both inpatient and outpatient worlds is undoubtedly one reason. Another is that an IOP program can effectively treat the same range of mental health issues:
Anxiety Disorders
The most common mental health condition in the U.S., anxiety disorders affect 40 million people a year, according to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America (ADAA), making an IOP program a necessity for anyone struggling with generalized anxiety, panic, and social anxiety disorders, among others.
IOP for anxiety follows the same treatment trajectory as inpatient and standard outpatient, combining a blend of evidence-based therapies and other approaches with the goal of calming the mind and changing your mindset from negative to positive. If your anxiety becomes a predominant part of your daily life but not enough to compromise your independence, IOP can be a sound treatment option for you.
Depressive Disorders
IOP for depression becomes a valuable asset to anyone suffering from major, seasonal, or persistent depressive disorders when you consider the numbers behind those struggling day in and day out with the symptoms accompanying each condition. Five percent of adults suffer from depression, but over 20% of people suffering from mood disorders such as depression also grapple with substance abuse issues, calling for a treatment intervention. However, about 39% of people with depression don’t seek treatment, says the ADAA.
Studies have shown that the intensive nature of an IOP program is comparable to a standard inpatient program, effective at healing your depression, helping you re-engage with loved ones, and rediscovering joy in activities that once brought you joy.
Trauma and PTSD
Trauma disorders can stem from a single traumatic experience in one’s life, but it can leave lasting effects and symptoms, like intrusive thoughts and memories of the event(s), avoidance, negative thought processes and a series of other changes, like remaining in a state of fear, being easily startled, having trouble sleeping and focusing or displaying outward gestures of aggression.
However, IOP for trauma is proven effective in the continuum of a clinic’s care. According to a Forbes report, research indicates that IOPs have worked to help reduce distress and suicidal thoughts in Armed Forces members with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which affects five in every 100 (5%) of people, particularly military veterans who’ve endured combat.
Personality Disorders
There are 10 different types of personality disorders marked by disruptive, lasting patterns of disordered thinking, feeling, and behaving, with bipolar and borderline personality disorders as two of the most common, both characterized by intense mood swings and an inability to regulate one’s emotions.
Because many personality disorder symptoms can be severe and interfere with one’s quality of life, an IOP for mental illness proves important if you’re transitioning from inpatient to outpatient and trying to reconnect with your independence in spite of remaining symptoms.
Footprints to Recovery Mental Health provides outpatient treatment programs in New Jersey.
What Is IOP Treatment Like?
Starting an IOP program is akin to an inpatient or outpatient treatment plan and follows a standard, straightforward process:
Initial Consultation
If you’re entering mental health treatment for the first time, the first step is an intake consultation with one of the therapists on staff. You’ll be asked to answer some questions about what brings you to consider therapy, what your symptoms are, your daily challenges, your family history of mental health, or any other related issues. This information helps determine if an IOP program is right for you, or if an inpatient or standard outpatient plan might suit your needs better.
This initial consultation is also an opportunity for you to ask questions about what the treatment entails. What is the structure and environment like? What can you expect? How will your schedule be built? Once this ball begins rolling, the stage is set for formal treatment.
Individualized Treatment Plan
One of the most accessible and appealing parts of pursuing mental health treatment is that your treatment plan is individualized and customized from top to bottom. Many people believe that treatment may be rendered ineffective because it follows a cookie-cutter approach, but this is not the case. After your consultation, your plan is built, with your approval, by your therapist.
Yours will include your main goals for treatment, the types of therapy and skills you’ll focus on, and any specific challenges. It’ll be reviewed regularly and adjusted as you make progress or as your needs change.
Dedicated Case Manager
A case manager is like a champion in your corner, rooting for you from start to finish of your treatment. In an IOP program, yours is assigned at the very beginning when you enroll in treatment. Apart from your therapist, they’re your main point of contact, someone you can refer to with questions and to help you navigate the program. They’ll check in regularly to monitor your progress and ensure you and your plan remain on track.
Your case manager will continue to play a role after treatment ends. Then, their role is to assist with discharge planning and also initiate the aftercare process, connecting you with resources such as potential transitional housing or community group support meetings.
Therapies Used in IOP
The therapies you’ll find in an IOP for mental illness are meant to achieve a few goals. Through talk therapy, whether one-on-one with a counselor or in a group setting, combined with alternative therapies, you can learn to reframe your mindset for a positive impact on your thoughts, feelings, and actions, ultimately setting you on the path to mental health recovery and healing.
Evidence-based Psychotherapy
Talk therapy, one-on-one between you and a counselor, or in a group setting with other people in treatment, makes up an IOP program. During treatment, you might participate in one or more of these therapies depending on your diagnosis:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): According to the Cleveland Clinic, CBT is as effective, if not more so, than other therapies. Through conversation with your therapist, the goal is to reconcile the link between your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors with the understanding that by reframing a negative, distorted mental narrative, you can bring about subsequent positive changes in your outlook and the manner in which you feel and act.
- Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT): Related to CBT in many ways, DBT is a hallmark of IOP treatment and used especially for the emotional dysregulation common to personality disorders. DBT focuses on teaching mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and building better interpersonal relationships.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Part of the cognitive dissonance that comes with mental health conditions is often a reluctance to accept oneself, without judgment, for who they are before seeking to change. ACT is designed to navigate these difficult feelings, helping you accept difficult emotions and experiences rather than avoiding them, while committing to actions that align with your personal values, not against what you believe in.
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): Particularly effective and touted for treating trauma disorders and PTSD, EMDR uses what’s called bilateral stimulation (such as guided eye movements) to help your brain reprocess traumatic memories and reduce their emotional intensity.
Holistic Therapy for Mental Health
Just like their inpatient and outpatient counterparts, many IOP programs make use of holistic therapies to complement psychotherapy. Just like how CBT acknowledges the connectivity between the mind, emotion, and behavior, holistic therapy recognizes that the mind, body, and spirit are also inextricably linked.
You might sign up for mindfulness meditation to cultivate present-moment awareness when anxiety or a personality disorder leave your mind racing in the past or future; yoga, to combine meditation with physical movements and postures to release tension, depression and long-held trauma; or art and music therapy to express what might be difficult to verbalize.
Finding a Loved One Help for Mental Health
Mental health counseling harnesses the power to transform your life if you let it. But the hardest part is knowing what to look for in a mental health provider — whether you’ve been compelled to look for yourself or want to help a loved one struggling with mental health.
Begin by researching the staff’s clinical expertise. Do they espouse a philosophy of care to meet you where you’re at, right now, in your life? Are they healthcare professionals licensed and experienced in treating different mental health disorders? Does the treatment center offer inpatient, an IOP program, and outpatient services under one roof? And what will your out-of-pocket cost look like compared to your insurance coverage, in addition to your commitment to therapy?
Taking these steps is easy with Footprints to Recovery, since each of our locations in Colorado, Illinois, and New Jersey promises that mental health recovery is possible with our help. And if you have questions about outpatient mental health and mental health treatment, our admissions team is on call, 24/7/365, to provide answers. Call us today and learn more.
References:
- https://www.nami.org/about-mental-illness/mental-health-by-the-numbers/
- https://www.nami.org/treatment/the-value-of-structured-outpatient-treatment/
- https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt35313/2020_NSSATS_FINAL.pdf
- https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/facts-statistics
- https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression#:~:text=Key%20facts,among%20women%20than%20among%20men.
- https://www.dbsalliance.org/education/depression/statistics/#:~:text=This%20number%20represented%208.3%25%20of%20all%20U.S.%20adults.
- https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression/facts-statistics
- https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-019-2371-5
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967
- https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/common/common_adults.asp
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9636-personality-disorders-overview
