Hi Greta,
I used an outpatient program and I found it was very helpful. It might have been even more helpful if I had been completely honest about how much I had been drinking before I started treatment but I lied blantly and often during the initial interview. It wasn't until two weeks into the six week program that I even admitted to myself how bad it had gotten. After that, things got better. The place I attended offered an extended early recovery program after the IOP and I ended up doing that for another 9 months.
I learned a lot in those first six weeks though. Most epecially, I learned that I was an alcoholic but I wasn't the only one and I didn't have to face and fix my problem all by myself. As much as I embrace A.A. and N.A. today, I don't think I would have made it without the headstart I received in treatment. I had way too many reservations and false ideas about what being a member of A.A. meant and I had no experience at all with talking about my problems with a group of other humans. In my family we didn't have problems, we drank. Part of my IOP was a small group therapy meeting twice a week. That's where I started to learn (re-learn?) how to interact with people and talk about something that mattered.
I read once that "treatment is the ambulance that delivers you to A.A. or N.A." That makes sense for me because that's how it happened for me.