Rehab centres follow the same principles as international standard rehab centres in terms of function and purpose. The main function of any rehab centre is to provide patients with the means to recover from whatever it is that they need to recover from, for example, the main types of rehab facilities include occupational rehab centres, physical rehab centres, and psych-social rehab centres and addiction rehab centres.

Another aspect or function of a rehab centre is to offer the means by which patients can find the tools that they need to recover from their addiction or disability in order that they can re-join their communities and regain a better quality of life.

Occupational rehab centres are most often found as part of extensions to hospitals and clinics. This is because occupational rehab has to do with helping patients recover from serious injuries such as spinal injuries so that they can gain the use of their limbs (for example).

Another extension of the same rehabilitation umbrella characteristic of occupational therapy is the physical rehab facility. Physical rehab is very similar to occupational therapy except that, as the name suggests, the physical rehab program is more physically intensive in so far as providing patients with critical and key exercises to help them rehabilitate parts of their body that are no longer functioning correctly.

Alcohol and drug addiction rehabs fall under the scope of the addiction rehab centres, rehab centres that focus mainly on alcohol detox, drug detox and various other aspects of addictions fall under the guidelines associated with addiction rehabilitation. Substance abuse rehab is a complex process and involves a number of different drug recovery and alcohol recovery therapies and treatments including certain medicines and lifestyle therapies.

While many only are aware of the alcohol and drug rehab aspects of addiction rehabilitation there are other forms of addiction that are also treated by Johannesburg rehab centres including gambling addiction, food addiction, sex addiction and a few others as well.

A lesser-known rehab centre type is the so-called psych-social rehab centre.

While occupational and physical rehab centres focus primarily on the physical aspects of recovery, addiction rehab (to a lesser extent) and psych-social rehab focus a lot more on mental aspects of rehab and recovery. Psych-social rehab deals mainly with mental disorders and psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression. These psychiatric disorders are most often treated with various medications and therapies.