What this quiz does

The quiz asks six questions and matches the answers to the level of care that situations like yours are often assessed for. It runs a fixed set of rules in your browser. It does not know anyone's medical history, cannot examine anyone, and cannot recommend care for you. A licensed program's intake assessment or a physician makes that call. What the quiz can do is help you go into that call knowing what the levels mean and which questions to ask.

The six questions it asks

  1. Who you are asking for. This changes only the wording of the result, not the result.
  2. The main substance. Alcohol and benzodiazepines get their own safety guidance because stopping them abruptly after heavy use can cause seizures. Opioids get their own guidance because medication, buprenorphine or methadone, is the usual starting point.
  3. How often the substance is used in a typical recent week.
  4. What happens when use stops for a day or two. Withdrawal risk is one of the biggest factors in where treatment starts.
  5. Any previous treatment, and whether use returned afterward.
  6. The home environment: whether housing is stable, and whether substances or heavy stress are present.

How the levels of care differ

Medical detox (withdrawal management) is supervised stopping, with staff who can monitor symptoms and give medication. It deals with the medical risk of stopping. It does not treat the addiction, so the next step needs a plan before detox ends. See detox vs. residential treatment.

Residential treatment means living at the program, with treatment built into each day. It is often considered when several things stack up: heavy use, earlier treatment that did not hold, and a home that works against recovery.

Partial hospitalization (PHP) is a treatment day several hours long, most days of the week, with nights at home. Intensive outpatient (IOP) is fewer hours over a few days a week, often in the evening, alongside work or school. Exact hours vary by program, state, and insurer. The PHP vs. IOP guide compares them.

Outpatient counseling is regular sessions with a therapist, counselor, or physician who has addiction training. It usually starts with an assessment that decides whether outpatient care is enough.

The levels are built to be moved between. People step down from residential to PHP to IOP, or step up when outpatient care is not enough. For opioid use disorder, medication is not a separate rung: ask any program whether it can start buprenorphine or methadone, or connect you to a program that can. The full picture is in levels of care explained and inpatient vs. outpatient rehab.

What happens to your answers

Nothing. The quiz runs in your browser. Your answers are not stored, not sent to us, and not attached to your name, and they are gone when you close or restart the page.

What this quiz is not

It is not a clinical assessment, a diagnosis, or medical advice. It does not ask about mental health conditions, pregnancy, age, or prescribed medications, and each of those can change what a program recommends. Tell any program you call about them. If someone is unresponsive, seizing, or struggling to breathe, call 911. For a suicidal crisis, call or text 988. To find a licensed program, use FindTreatment.gov or SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.