# Prescription Drug Rehab in Spain | Sierra Recovery, Malaga > Prescription drug addiction treatment in Spain at a licensed residential centre. Published pricing, small groups, and an English-speaking clinical team. [Home](/) / [Alcohol & drug addiction](/drug-addiction/) / Prescription drug addiction Prescription medication dependence # Prescription drug addiction treatment in Spain A licensed 28-day residential programme in the Málaga countryside, run by an English-speaking team, for dependence on opioid painkillers, benzodiazepines, z-drugs or gabapentinoids, however it started. A private room as standard, a price published in full, and no referral fees paid to anyone for sending you here. Clinically reviewed by[Nerea Encinas Sánchez](/clinical-team/)Director of the centre, MSc General Health PsychologyRegistered psychologist, COPAO AO13857 Checked for accuracy on 28 July 2026. Next review due July 2027. This page is general information about our programme and is not a substitute for advice about your own situation. Prescription drug addiction is treated at Sierra Recovery as a 28-day residential programme in the Málaga countryside, published in full at £9,900. Because dependence on opioids, benzodiazepines, z-drugs and gabapentinoids is physical, a medically supervised withdrawal or taper is completed in an appropriate medical setting before you arrive, because we are a registered health centre and not a hospital. What follows is three structured group sessions a day, one-to-one therapy and a seventeen-module curriculum aimed at the pain, anxiety or trauma the prescription was covering, with pain management coordinated through the appropriate medical route. Below is what that actually involves, who it suits, and when it is time to stop reading and make the call. Programme 28 days residential Published price £9,900 Group work 3 sessions a day Room Private, as standard Language English throughout Registration N.I.C.A. 67331 ## What prescription drug addiction actually is Prescription drug addiction is dependence on a medication that was, in most cases, prescribed legitimately and taken as directed to begin with. That is what makes it different from every other page in this section, and it is why people leave it so long before asking for help. There was no decision to start using. There was a prescription, a reason for it, and a point somewhere afterwards at which stopping quietly became impossible. Three groups account for most of what we see. Opioid painkillers, including codeine, tramadol, oxycodone, morphine and fentanyl, prescribed for pain that was real. Benzodiazepines and z-drugs, including diazepam, lorazepam, temazepam, zopiclone and zolpidem, prescribed for anxiety or insomnia. Gabapentinoids, pregabalin and gabapentin, prescribed for nerve pain, epilepsy or anxiety, and now among the fastest-growing sources of dependence in the United Kingdom. Stimulants prescribed for ADHD are a smaller but real fourth group. Tolerance is the mechanism in all of them. The body adapts, the dose stops working, and the choice becomes either more of it or the return of whatever it was holding down. Neither is a character failure. Both need treating. Do not stop a prescribed medication abruptlyStopping opioids, benzodiazepines, z-drugs or gabapentinoids suddenly can be dangerous, and in the case of benzodiazepines it can cause seizures and can be fatal. Any reduction must be planned with a doctor. Speak to your GP before changing anything. In an emergency call 999 in the UK or 112 anywhere in Europe, or NHS 111 for urgent advice that is not an emergency. ## The four groups, and what each one does Medication group What happens with long-term use Opioid painkillers codeine, tramadol, oxycodone, morphine, fentanyl Tolerance builds quickly and the dose climbs while the fatal dose does not climb with it. Opioid-induced hyperalgesia can make pain worse rather than better over time, which is the cruellest part of it. Withdrawal is not usually fatal but is severe, and overdose risk peaks after any break in use. Benzodiazepines and z-drugs diazepam, lorazepam, temazepam, zopiclone, zolpidem Dependence can form within weeks. Interdose withdrawal makes the original anxiety or insomnia worse than it was before treatment. Abrupt cessation can cause seizures and delirium, so reduction must always be a supervised taper. See [benzodiazepines](/benzodiazepine-addiction-treatment/). Gabapentinoids pregabalin, gabapentin Both are now controlled drugs in the United Kingdom. Dependence and withdrawal are well documented, and the risk of respiratory depression rises sharply when they are combined with opioids or alcohol. Prescribed stimulants for ADHD Misuse is less common than with the others and usually takes the form of dose escalation or using to work rather than to function. It needs handling with the prescriber rather than around them. ## The signs people recognise too late These are the patterns that show up first, and almost none of them look like the popular picture of addiction. What you might notice What it usually means Taking a little more than prescribed, a little sooner Tolerance. It is the earliest reliable signal and it rarely feels like a decision. Running out before the repeat is due The most common practical marker, and usually the first one anyone else notices. Asking more than one doctor, or ordering online A significant escalation. Medicines bought online are frequently not what the packet says. Feeling ill, anxious or in more pain between doses Interdose withdrawal. It is very commonly mistaken for the original condition getting worse. Taking it for a reason other than the one it was prescribed for The point at which the medication changed job, usually from pain or sleep to mood. Trying to cut down and not managing it Dependence. It is pharmacological, not moral. Hiding the amount from your GP or your family Almost universal, and the thing that keeps people stuck the longest. If several of those land, our [four-question self-check](/self-assessment/) takes under a minute, stores nothing, and will tell you whether a fuller conversation is worth having. ## Where the treatment actually happens People ask for photographs before they ask about therapy, and they are right to. You are deciding whether you could live somewhere for a month. This is the place, not a stock library. The pool and terrace, open through the day Your own private room, included as standard The veranda, where most groups spill out to Cooked by our Michelin-trained chef, three times a day The horses live here, on the land Forty hectares of working farmland, forty five minutes from Malaga [See the full gallery](/facilities/) · [how people get here](/travelling-to-spain-for-treatment/). ## Withdrawal comes first, and it happens before you arrive Sierra Recovery is entered in the Registro Andaluz de Centros, Servicios y Establecimientos Sanitarios (the Andalusian register of health centres, services and establishments) under N.I.C.A. 67331, authorised by the Junta de Andalucía for the care unit atención sanitaria a drogodependientes (healthcare for drug dependency, authorised care unit U.71). That is a registered health centre with a supervised treatment residence. It is not a hospital and it is not a detox unit. With prescription medication that distinction has practical consequences. Where you are physically dependent, a medically supervised withdrawal is arranged in an appropriate medical setting and completed before admission, billed separately from the programme fee. For opioids that usually means a managed reduction over days to weeks. For benzodiazepines, z-drugs and gabapentinoids it means a taper measured in weeks or months, and rushing it is the main way people come to harm. Qualified nursing is part of the team during your stay. If the assessment says a more intensive medical setting is the safer choice for you, we say so and we do not admit you. You can [check our registration yourself](/regulation-and-licensing/) on the Junta's public register. There is also the question of what happens to the condition the medication was treating. If you are taking opioids for genuine pain, taking the opioids away without addressing the pain is not treatment, it is abandonment. Pain management is coordinated through the appropriate medical route as part of the plan, not left as your problem afterwards. ### Not sure whether a taper or a detox is what you need? The assessment sorts the sequence before you commit to anything, and it happens before you travel. A clinician will tell you honestly if we are the wrong setting for you. [How admission works](/admissions/) [+44 1202 653136](tel:+441202653136) ## What a day here looks like Nobody arrives knowing how twenty eight days are actually spent. This is the real timetable, Monday to Friday. Time What happens 08:00 Breakfast, cooked by a Michelin-trained chef 09:15 Planning: the day is set out together 10:30 Process group, the harder one 12:00 Therapeutic group 13:15 Lunch 14:30 Psychoeducation, working through the curriculum 16:00 Group activity, often outdoors or with the horses 18:30 Dinner 20:00 Day closing, together Saturdays turn to holistic and body-based work. Sundays are a supervised excursion, because reconnecting with the world outside a clinic is part of the treatment rather than a break from it. 28days, the typical stay 3group sessions a day 17curriculum modules 1986PROMIS method, developed in ## What the treatment actually involves The programme runs Monday to Friday on a fixed structure, with Saturdays given to holistic and body-based work and Sundays to a supervised excursion. Rather than list therapy names, here is what each part of the week is for. Group work Psychoeducation One-to-one Holistic Equine Aftercare ### Three group sessions a day, five days a week The day opens with a process group at 10:30, a second therapeutic group runs at midday, and a psychoeducation session follows lunch. A group activity fills the late afternoon and the day closes together in the evening. That is roughly fifteen structured group contacts a week, which is the part most people underestimate before they arrive and value most afterwards. Groups are small, in English, and run by the clinical team. Hearing someone else describe your own thinking back to you does something that individual work cannot, and it is the fastest route out of the isolation that prescription drug use builds. ### A seventeen-module curriculum, not a rest cure The psychoeducation strand moves through a fixed seventeen-module curriculum written by our clinical director. It is the core of what we call the Regulation Model, which is our adaptation of the PROMIS Clinics methodology to this centre rather than a model of our own invention. It covers skills training, communication styles, boundaries and decision-making, trigger recognition, self-esteem and self-concept, dual diagnosis, self-care and habits, emotions, crisis identification and management, suicide prevention, goals, grief, values, trauma and relapse, perfectionism, loneliness and isolation, and cross-addiction. Every module runs the same structure: check-in, theory, an experiential dynamic, shared reflection, and a commitment carried into the week. The cognitive work uses the ABC model, the same structure that underpins cognitive behavioural approaches: the event, the belief you attach to it, and the consequence that follows. It is taught, practised, applied between sessions and reviewed, rather than talked about once. ### Individual therapy alongside the group programme One-to-one sessions run three times a week and are where the material that will not surface in a group gets worked. For most people that is the thing underneath the use rather than the use itself. You are treated by the same small team throughout, in the same house. Nobody is handed between departments, and there is no rotation of therapists mid-stay. ### Yoga, meditation and body-based work Saturdays turn to holistic and body-based practice: yoga, meditation and mindfulness, breathwork, art, and time outdoors on the land. This is not decoration and it is not a spa timetable. Early recovery is a physiological event as much as a psychological one, and sleep, appetite and the ability to sit still are usually the first things to return. The self-care and habits module runs alongside it, treating rest as a right rather than a reward and food as connection rather than control. ### Equine therapy on working farmland The horses live here, on the forty hectares around the house, and equine work is part of the working week. Horses respond to what you are actually feeling rather than what you say you are feeling, which is why the work reaches people who have learned to talk their way around a therapy session. ### What happens when you go home Aftercare is planned before you leave rather than mentioned on the last day. For clients returning to the UK, care continues online or in person at the PROMIS clinics in London, with a weekly session for a full year, more than 48 in the twelve months after discharge, and a written handover to your GP so nothing has to be explained from scratch. For clients elsewhere in Europe we arrange continuity online and help find local services. Alongside that, mutual-aid groups are free, run everywhere, and are worth using whatever else you choose. ## Who will actually treat your prescription drug addiction A small team, in one house, in English. You are not handed between departments and there is no rotation of therapists halfway through your stay. ### Nerea Encinas Sánchez Director · General Health Psychologist MSc General Health Psychology. Leads clinical standards, the assessment you have before you travel, and admissions. ### Berenice Paramés Jones General Health Psychologist Individual and group psychological work inside the house, crisis follow-up and coordination of the group programme. ### Marta Leal Social worker Family mediation, links to services back home, and preparing for independent life after discharge. ### Robin Lefever Founder of Sierra Recovery; MD, PROMIS Clinics UK Founder of Sierra Recovery and Managing Director of PROMIS Clinics, whose method this programme adapts. PROMIS has been treating addiction in the United Kingdom since the mid-1980s, and Robin has worked in addiction treatment for around 35 years, with thousands of patients treated with the PROMIS method in the United Kingdom. [Meet the whole clinical team and their qualifications](/clinical-team/). ## What is treated, and what that looks like day to day What you arrive with How it is worked Withdrawal Managed under medical supervision before admission, as a taper where the drug requires one. Qualified nursing on site throughout the stay. Pain Named and planned for rather than ignored. Pain management is arranged through the appropriate medical route and coordinated with the psychological work on how pain, fear and medication interact. Anxiety and insomnia The emotions, crisis-management and self-care modules build the regulation the medication was providing. Sleep is the slowest thing to return and that is said in advance. Shame about a prescription Addressed directly in group. Most people here started the same way, and the self-esteem module exists partly for this. Trauma The trauma and relapse module, run alongside the addiction work rather than after it. See [trauma and addiction](/trauma-and-addiction-rehab-spain/). Alcohol used alongside Assessed before admission. Combined with opioids, benzodiazepines or gabapentinoids it is the main driver of overdose risk. See [alcohol addiction treatment](/alcohol-addiction/). ## Treatment options for prescription drug dependence, and how they compare Residential rehab is one treatment option among several, and it is not automatically the right one. Being straight about that is more useful to you than a page that pretends otherwise. Option What it involves, and who it suits Medical detox Required wherever there is physical dependence. A managed reduction or taper in an appropriate medical setting before admission, billed separately. Residential rehab inpatient treatment Living at the centre for the whole programme. It suits people whose dose has climbed despite repeated attempts to reduce, or where pain, anxiety or trauma needs treating at the same time. Outpatient treatment day programmes and therapy sessions Attending sessions and going home between them. Often appropriate, particularly for a slow taper managed with your GP or prescriber. Community and NHS services Free local drug and alcohol treatment services, reached through your GP or by self-referral. Waiting times vary and residential placements are rationed, but the support is real and it costs nothing. For many people this is the right first step rather than a lesser one. Mutual aid and support groups Free peer support meeting in person and online, everywhere, with no waiting list and no cost. Worth using alongside whatever else you choose rather than instead of it. A treatment plan should be built around your circumstances. If an outpatient or community route fits you better, we will say so at assessment and we will not charge you for the conversation. ## The therapies used, in plain terms Every centre lists the same acronyms, so here is what each one actually is and where it appears in the week. Therapy What it is, and when you would meet it here Cognitive behavioural therapy CBT, and the related REBT Evidence-based work on the link between an event, the belief you attach to it and what you then do. Taught through the ABC model in psychoeducation, practised in group therapy and applied between sessions. It is the backbone of the cognitive work rather than an optional extra. Acceptance and commitment therapy ACT Learning to have a difficult feeling without having to act on it, and choosing behaviour by your values instead. Module eight, on emotions, is built on it. Dialectical behaviour therapy DBT Distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal skills, used where emotions arrive faster and larger than they can be managed. See [DBT](/dialectical-behaviour-therapy/). EMDR A structured trauma therapy, used where trauma is driving the use and always after stabilisation rather than before it. See [EMDR](/emdr-therapy/). Group therapy Three group sessions a day, five days a week: a process group, a therapeutic group and psychoeducation. It is the largest single component of the treatment programme. See [group therapy](/group-therapy-for-addiction/). Individual therapy one-to-one counselling Three therapy sessions a week with the same clinician throughout, where material that will not surface in a group gets worked. Family therapy Offered where it is wanted, in person or online, because the people around you are part of what happens next. See [the family programme](/family-programme/). Motivational interviewing Used throughout rather than booked as a session. It is the stance the team takes: working with your reasons for change rather than arguing you into someone else’s. Holistic therapies Yoga, mindfulness and meditation, breathwork, art and equine work, on Saturdays and through the week. See [equine therapy](/equine-therapy/) and [all our therapies](/therapies/). Every element above is delivered by the clinical team as part of the residential programme. Your treatment plan sets out which of them apply to you, and it is reviewed during the stay rather than fixed on day one. ## Where else to get help, free Not everyone needs residential rehab, and nobody should be waiting on a private programme before they get any support at all. Everything below is free, and none of these organisations pays or receives a fee from us. Organisation What they do [NHS talking therapies](https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/nhs-talking-therapies/) Free psychological therapy for anxiety and depression in England, available by self-referral without going through your GP first. [Mind](https://www.mind.org.uk/) Mental health information, advocacy and local services across England and Wales. [Samaritans](https://www.samaritans.org/) Free and confidential, 24 hours a day on 116 123, for anyone struggling to cope or having thoughts of suicide. [NHS drug and alcohol services](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/addiction-support/drug-addiction-getting-help/) Free local treatment services, reached through your GP or by self-referral. The usual starting point for community-based drug and alcohol treatment. [We Are With You](https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/) Free, confidential support for drug, alcohol and mental health problems, in person in many areas and by webchat. [Adfam](https://adfam.org.uk/) Support and information for families and friends affected by someone else’s drug, alcohol or gambling use. Sierra Recovery neither pays nor accepts referral fees, so nothing on this list depends on where you go. If a free or community service is the right fit for you, use it. ## How to get ready - Compare on licence, not on photographsAsk any centre abroad for its registration number and the register it sits on, then look it up yourself. Ours is N.I.C.A. 67331 on the Junta de Andalucía register. - Get the medical picture togetherCurrent medications, any previous withdrawal, and any diagnosed conditions. This is what the pre-travel assessment needs, and it is what decides whether a detox is required first. - Ask what the price actually includesOurs is published: private room, meals, the core therapy programme, and a year of weekly UK aftercare, with medical, psychiatric, laboratory and hospital costs quoted separately. You get an itemised written quotation before admission. - Bring the full prescribing historyEvery medication, the doses, who prescribes them, how long you have taken them and every attempt to reduce. Ask your GP for a printed list if that is easier. The withdrawal plan is designed from this. - Include what is not on a prescriptionAnything bought online or obtained from someone else, plus alcohol. This is not a moral inventory. It is what makes the medical plan safe. - Do not cut down on your own beforehandA common instinct, and with benzodiazepines and gabapentinoids it is genuinely risky. Tell us the real dose and let the reduction be planned properly. ## How Sierra compares with private prescription drug rehab at home What you get Sierra Recovery Typical private residential clinic 28-day residential programme £9,900, published in full UK £12,000–£40,000 · Australia A$30,000–A$50,000 Is the price on the website Yes, in full Usually "contact us for pricing" Your own private room Included as standard Often an upgrade Referral fees paid to third parties None Common Written itemised quotation before admission Yes Varies Distance from the people and places tied to use Rural Andalucía Usually close to home Medically supervised detox Arranged and quoted separately Quoted separately Comparison figures are the published ranges collected on our [cost calculator](/cost-calculator/): the United Kingdom at roughly £12,000 to £40,000 a month, Australia at roughly A$30,000 to A$50,000, and the United States at roughly $20,000 to $40,000 for a 30-day programme. New Zealand, South African and Canadian ranges are set out on the [country cost guides](/local-treatment-guides/). Indicative, not a quotation. Every clinic sets its own fees. ## When the medication sits on top of something else It nearly always does, because there was a reason for the prescription. Pain, anxiety, insomnia, trauma or an untreated mood disorder. Treating the dependence while leaving the reason untouched is why most attempts fail. At Sierra the emotional and trauma work runs alongside the addiction curriculum rather than after it. Our [anxiety](/anxiety-rehab-spain/), [dual diagnosis](/dual-diagnosis-rehab-spain/) and [trauma and addiction](/trauma-and-addiction-rehab-spain/) pages explain how the two are worked with together. Where psychiatric care or medication is part of your treatment, it is arranged through the appropriate medical route. ## When is it time? If the dose has climbed, if you run out early, if you feel worse between doses than you did before the prescription started, or if you have tried to stop and could not, that is enough. You do not need to have bought anything illegally, and you have not done anything wrong by becoming dependent on a medicine you were told to take. ### Talk to a clinician today You will speak to our admissions team, all of them clinicians. Confidential, no obligation, and we will tell you honestly whether this programme fits or whether something closer to home would serve you better. [See how admission works](/admissions/) [What £9,900 covers](/pricing/) ## Questions people actually ask Is it still addiction if a doctor prescribed it? Physical dependence on a prescribed opioid, benzodiazepine or gabapentinoid is a predictable pharmacological outcome of taking it for long enough, and it says nothing about your character. What matters clinically is whether the medication is now driving decisions, whether the dose is climbing, and whether stopping is something you can still choose to do. Most of the people we treat for this started with a legitimate prescription. Do I have to detox before I come? Where you are physically dependent, yes. Sierra is a registered health centre, not a hospital or a detox unit, so a medically supervised withdrawal is completed in an appropriate medical setting before your residential stay begins, and billed separately. We arrange it as part of your assessment. Qualified nurses are part of the team during your stay. What happens to my pain if the opioids stop? It is planned for, not ignored. Removing the medication without addressing the pain is not treatment. Pain management is coordinated through the appropriate medical route, and the programme works alongside it on the relationship between pain, fear and medication, which is a large part of why doses climb. Will my GP find out? Only with your consent, and in practice we would encourage it. A written handover to your GP is part of standard aftercare because it means your prescribing is managed safely afterwards instead of being reconstructed from scratch. Nothing is sent without your agreement. How long is the programme and what does it cost? It is a 28-day residential programme, published in full at GBP 9,900. That covers a private room, meals, the core therapy programme, and a year of weekly UK aftercare. Medical withdrawal is arranged and billed separately, as are psychiatric and laboratory costs. You get an itemised written quotation before admission. I am taking more than one of these. Does that change things? Yes, and it is common. Combinations of opioids, benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids and alcohol carry the highest risk of respiratory depression, and they usually need to be reduced in a particular order rather than all at once. That sequencing is decided by the medical team managing your withdrawal, which is exactly why the full list matters at assessment. How do I get help for prescription drug addiction? The first step towards recovery is an assessment, and ours is free and carries no obligation. You can also seek help through your GP, through a free local drug and alcohol treatment service, or through a mutual aid group, and none of those routes costs anything. If you want to talk it through with a clinician, call +44 1202 653136 and you will reach our admissions team. What does prescription drug addiction treatment involve, from start to finish? The course of treatment runs in four stages. An assessment before you travel, which decides whether a medically supervised detox is needed first. Any detox, completed in an appropriate medical setting and billed separately. Then the 28-day residential treatment programme itself: three group therapy sessions a day, individual therapy three times a week and the seventeen-module curriculum. Then aftercare, agreed before you leave and continuing online or in person in London. How much does prescription drug rehab cost, and what affects the price? Sierra publishes a single figure: GBP 9,900 for the 28-day residential programme, with a private room included. What changes the total is whether you need a medically supervised detox, which is arranged and billed separately, and any medical, psychiatric or laboratory costs. Private residential rehab elsewhere commonly runs from around GBP 12,000 to GBP 40,000 a month in the United Kingdom and from roughly A$30,000 to A$50,000 in Australia. You get an itemised written quotation before admission, and we neither pay nor accept referral fees. What are the signs and symptoms of prescription drug addiction? The signs are taking more than prescribed or taking it sooner, running out before the repeat is due, feeling ill or more anxious between doses, and taking it for a reason other than the one it was prescribed for. Withdrawal symptoms depend entirely on the drug group, which is why the full prescribing history matters. Is lasting recovery from prescription drug addiction actually possible? Yes, and the evidence is better than the public conversation suggests. What predicts long-term recovery is not willpower but what is in place afterwards: continuing therapy, a treated mental health condition, a support network and a relapse plan that was written before it was needed. That is why completing prescription drug rehab matters less on its own than what follows it, and why aftercare is planned during the stay, so it is in place before you leave. How can I help someone with prescription drug addiction? Start by getting support for yourself, because living alongside someone with an addiction is its own burden and Adfam and Al-Anon exist for exactly that. Beyond that: raise it when they are not intoxicated, be specific about what you have seen rather than general about what they are, and offer a concrete next step such as an assessment or a call to a free service. Ultimatums delivered in anger rarely work. We speak to families every day and that conversation costs nothing. + ## Talk to a clinician today You will speak to our admissions team, English-speaking clinicians who know the programme and the people in it. Callback within 24 hours. Step 1 of 3 Confidential, and no obligation Registered health centre. Authorised by the Junta de Andalucía, N.I.C.A. 67331. ### Related pages [The Regulation Model](/the-regulation-model/)[Assessment & detox](/medical-assessment-and-detox/)[Our programme](/our-programme-at-sierra-recovery/)[Dual diagnosis](/dual-diagnosis-rehab-spain/)[Pricing](/pricing/)[Admissions](/admissions/) --- Source: https://sierrarecoveryspain.com/prescription-drug-addiction-treatment/ Retrieved: 2026-08-27 Canonical HTML version of this page: https://sierrarecoveryspain.com/prescription-drug-addiction-treatment/