Archive for the ‘alcohol abuse’ tag
When Hazardous and Irresponsible Drinking Leads to Serious Health Problems
For a number of years alcohol addiction research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong relationship between alcohol addiction and dangerous health conditions.
For instance, in 2005, medical exploration and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics demonstrated the fact that that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It can be emphasized that this gigantic alcohol-related expense was significantly more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is pertinent to call attention to these facts, it is also important to point to the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.
To be exact, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.
Undeniably, substance abuse exploration has revealed that alcohol dependency can boost the risk for different kinds of cancer, particularly cancer of the colon, voice box (larynx), liver, rectum, throat, kidneys, and the esophagus. Abusive and repetitive drinking can also lead to immune system problems and abnormality to the fetus during pregnancy.
Heavy and Abusive Drinking Breaks Down the Individual’s Systems and Organs
Furthermore, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in a harmful manner. For example, long-term, abusive drinking is particularly damaging to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Extreme amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to redevelop. This condition leads to a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can sooner or later lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a precarious and potentially lethal disease.Excessive, long-term drinking not only can result in acute liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this dangerous may be unalterable and may, in turn, result in serious illness or premature death.
The Significance of Alcohol Treatment
It is important, as a result, to know how to identify the different alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol dependent individual can be given the opportunity to get the professional alcohol therapy he or she requires.
Alcoholism and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration
Fortuitously, scientific examination is constantly generating original and important information. Recent alcoholism research supplies an excellent illustration. More accurately, for roughly the last ten years, technologically advanced brain-imaging scanning instruments have confirmed that continuous and long-term excessive drinking transforms the makeup of the brain to a significant extent, as a consequence resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or possibly as long as the individual exists.
More precisely, medical investigation has demonstrated that people who have been drinking in an excessive manner for a substantial length of time increase their risk for developing long-term and significant alterations in the brain.
This type of damage may be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health or directly related to severe liver disease or to the alcohol’s effects on the brain.
Malnutrition, Excessive Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final illustration of assorted health problems that are considerably related to alcohol dependency, take into account the fact that according to medical examination, the excessive and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical condition that reduces the absorption of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins.
This form of organ breakdown is linked to malnutrition and to a variety of severe neurological and mental disorders including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is a long lasting debilitating condition that is exemplified by incessant learning and memory problems.
Conclusion
It is apparent that continued, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly associated with a variety of severe medical conditions that can and do result in dangerous illness and premature death. Such information needs to be underlined and presented to everyone in our society so that most people will be able to abstain from abusive drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the professional rehab they need.
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Is Your Drinking Starting to Become a Problem?
How do you recognize that you have a problem with your drinking? When is it apparent that you are engaging in hazardous drinking?
If you have hopelessly tried to quit drinking or if you promised yourself that your drinking days are finished and then you realized that you were drinking in a hazardous manner just a few days later, chances are especially good that you have drinking problems. The key point is that if you have made an effort to quit drinking and cannot get this accomplished, then your drinking is controlling you, rather than the other way around.
Likewise, if it takes increasingly more amounts of alcohol to get the same “high,” more likely than not you need to realize that you have a drinking problem.
You may be telling yourself that the rationale for your drinking is so that you can reduce your apprehension or get rid of the sorrow that you feel. In much the same way, you may be trying to stay away from a hurtful circumstance and may be looking for something better, more helpful, or less regretful.
As you continue your drinking, nonetheless, you will comprehend that drinking does not produce the same high and you will also become aware that drinking doesn’t help remove whatever was causing your problem in the first place.
As you continue to drink in an excessive way, unfortunately, you may become alcohol dependent and, as a result, you may add another significant problem to cope with rather than discovering more successful and wholesome ways of dealing with your alcohol generated problems.
When an Alcohol Evaluation is Required
If you have concluded that you have a drinking problem, perchance the most practical thing you can do for yourself is to call your medical doctor or healthcare provider and schedule an appointment for a complete physical and for an appraisal of your drinking activities.
If you truthfully feel that you have a dangerous problem with your drinking, it may be a good idea to get prepared to hear that you need to get alcohol rehab.
At this juncture, what are your choices? You can unquestionably decide against seeing your medical doctor and carry on with your pattern of excessive drinking.
It actually doesn’t take a genius, nonetheless, to comprehend that chronic, hazardous drinking, if left untreated, will deteriorate over time and quite possibly bring about an early death. Therefore, your most expedient alternative is to confront your drinking circumstance and get the alcohol counseling you require.
The Deceit of the Functioning Alcohol Addicted Individual
It is almost counter intuitive to note the fact that several alcohol addicted individuals lead busy and active lives and have pets, vehicles, houses, jobs, families, and any number of material possessions just like people who are not alcohol dependent.
Many of these “functional” alcoholics may have never been arrested for drunk driving and may have been lucky enough to avoid all alcohol induced legal problems. In spite of this fortunate circumstance, on the other hand, these alcohol addicted people need to drink in order to live on a daily basis while keeping their facade as they interact with the outside world.
Ask anyone who has seen them when they are bingeing or in a drunken stupor or ask a family member about the problem drinker’s alcohol dependency, on the other hand, and they will be quick to affirm the validity of the drinker’s situation and the facts about the alcohol addicted individual’s drinking predicament and about his or her alcohol-related issues.
Why Do Alcohol Addicted Individuals Fail to Recognize Their Drinking Difficulties?
As alcohol dependency research and statistics on alcohol abuse have underlined, no matter how obvious the alcohol induced issues seem to those who interact with the alcohol dependent person, alcohol addicted people usually deny that drinking is the source of their alcohol produced problems. Not only this, but alcohol dependent people often blame their alcohol induced issues on other people or upon other situations that surround them rather than seeing their part in the problem.
The root of the predicament is that alcohol addiction is a disease of the brain. Once the individual has become an alcoholic, he or she usually resorts to denial, manipulation, and deceit as a way of coping with the fact that his or her drinking is out of control. And to make the situation more problematic, the experience of alcohol withdrawal symptoms typically circumvents the alcohol dependent individual’s rare attempts to suddenly stop drinking. As dreary as the alcohol addicted person’s life is, conversely, the positive news is that professional help is extensively accessible – if the alcohol addicted individual reaches out and gets alcoholism rehabilitation.
Conclusion
Admitting the fact that drinking is bringing about difficulties in your day to day functioning is perhaps the easiest way to find out if you have a problem with your drinking. Stated another way, if your drinking is causing issues with your health, at work, in your relationships, with your finances, at school, or with the legal system, then you have a drinking problem that needs to be resolved.
If you have a drinking problem, additionally, this means that you are engaging in excessive drinking.
While some problem drinkers may be able to identify their “alcohol signs,” pinpoint their difficulties, and greatly reduce the quantity and incidence of their drinking, others, conversely, need to manage their drinking problems by getting quality alcoholism treatment. Additionally, due to their penchant to deny the facts and warp the truth, alcohol dependent individuals absolutely require quality alcoholism rehabilitation for their excessive drinking.
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The Essential Components in A Fruitful Alcohol Intervention
What are the major features in a fruitful alcohol intervention? Why do some alcohol addiction interventions happen as expected while many fail?
The Necessity for An Established History of Intervention Accomplishment
Scientific research makes evident the fact that a “winning” alcoholism intervention needs to be supervised by an intervention professional who has a recognized record of intervention success.
In essence this means that instead of deciding upon a “normal” alcohol abuse healthcare professional or psychologist for an alcohol addiction intervention, the person who is selected to carry out the intervention needs to be trained in alcohol dependency intervention techniques and needs to possess a history of effective alcohol interventions.
A Few Plain Illustrations of The Best Time For an Alcohol Abuse Intervention
Scientific analysis and alcoholism facts about interventions has also displayed that the most fruitful time for an alcoholism intervention is following a consequential “happening” in the life of the alcoholic or hazardous drinker. The following represents a few examples of these kinds of meaningful occasions:
- The alcohol addicted person or alcohol abuser has been caught stealing something of worth.
- The abusive drinker or alcohol dependent individual has been caught lying about something of consequence.
- The alcoholic or alcohol abuser has been arrested for a DWI or DUI.
In events such as these, the alcohol dependent individual or alcohol abuser is more apt to be remorseful or to feel guilt-ridden, thereby making him or her more willing to get the professional alcohol treatment that is necessary.
At this juncture, moreover, it is also necessary to stress the fact that the abusive drinker or alcohol addicted individual needs to be alcohol-free during the alcohol addiction intervention. Briefly, if the alcohol abuser or alcohol addicted person is inebriated during an alcohol abuse intervention, the lack of success is virtually assured.
Moreover, scientific research has also demonstrated the fact that the alcohol abuser or alcohol dependent individual has to at least try to listen to what is articulated in an alcohol abuse intervention. Stated more explicitly, during an alcohol addiction intervention, the hazardous drinker or alcoholic needs to listen to what his or her problem drinking has done to those who care for him or her the most.
The Impact of Alcohol Counseling For the Alcohol Abuser
And finally, scientific investigation reveals that the major reason for an alcohol addiction intervention in the first place is to persuade the alcohol abuser or alcohol-dependent person to get the professional alcohol therapy that is required. Stated more clearly, even if the individual who oversees the intervention has a tremendous history of effective interventions and even if the abusive drinker or alcoholic sincerely listens to every word that is mentioned all through an intervention, if the hazardous drinker or alcohol addicted person is not stimulated to obtain quality alcohol addiction treatment after the alcohol dependency intervention, then the intervention will be a fiasco.
Without a doubt all of these factors are needed for a productive alcohol intervention. If, on the other hand, the abusive drinker or alcohol dependent individual is not moved to request alcohol abuse therapy after listening to his or her family members put into words the sorrow, irritation, and displeasure they feel about the alcohol abuser’s or alcohol addicted individual’s thoughtless drinking behavior and the care they feel for the problem drinker, then every other aspect of the alcohol intervention will essentially be immaterial.
Even Successful Alcohol Abuse Interventions Can Backfire Down the Road
It also needs to be stressed that in the face of the fact that the alcoholism intervention can be viewed as successful in that it helped put the alcohol abuser or alcoholic in a more receptive frame of mind and openly helped the alcohol-dependent person or abusive drinker make up his or her mind that he or she required alcohol counseling or professional help for alcoholism or alcohol abuse, the simple fact that the intervention happened might result in resentment, irritation, and uncertainty down the road.
In brief, even when alcoholism interventions are seen as productive in the short run, in the long term, however, they may flop and, as a result, may make the family and/or the alcohol dependent person’s situation even worse than it was before the alcohol abuse intervention was initiated.
No matter how unjust or paradoxical this seems, try to keep in mind that it is simply one of the key alcohol facts that has to be confronted when engaging in an alcohol intervention.
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When Drinking Becomes a Problem that Needs Attention
How do you know that you have a drinking problem? When is it plain to see that you are involving yourself in hazardous drinking?
If you have hopelessly struggled to stop drinking or if you promised yourself that your drinking days are behind you and then you realized that you were drinking abusively just a few days later, chances are very good that you have drinking problems. The point of emphasis is that if you have made an effort to stop drinking and cannot bring this about, then your drinking is controlling you, instead of the other way around.
In much the same way, if it takes larger amounts of alcohol to get the same “high,” you probably need to realize that you have a drinking problem.
You may be telling yourself that the rationale for your drinking is so that you can lessen your apprehension or get rid of the distress that you feel. Similarly, you may be trying to avoid a negative situation and may be looking for something more beneficial, more helpful, or less regretful.
As you continue to drink, on the other hand, you will become aware that drinking does not elicit the same high and you will also grasp the fact that drinking doesn’t help eradicate whatever produced your sorrow in the first place.
As you continue to drink in an abusive manner, unfortunately, you may become addicted to alcohol and, as a consequence, you may add another critical predicament to cope with rather than learning about more productive and wholesome ways of dealing with your alcohol-related difficulties.
An Alcohol Appraisal is Probably Required
If you have decided that you have a problem with your drinking, maybe the most positive thing you can do for yourself is to call your doctor or healthcare practitioner and schedule an appointment for a complete physical and for an evaluation of your drinking behavior.
If you actually think that you have a critical drinking problem, it may be a good idea to get prepared to find out that you need to get alcohol reahbilitation.
At this point in time, what are your options? You can definitely decide against seeing your doctor and carry on with your pattern of hazardous drinking.
It truly doesn’t take a genius, on the other hand, to realize that long-term, abusive drinking, if left untreated, will deteriorate over time and most likely lead to an early death. Consequently, your best option is to address your drinking problem and obtain the alcohol rehab you need.
The Sham of the Functioning Alcohol Dependent Individual
It is somewhat odd to note the fact that several alcohol addicted individuals lead busy and active lives and have vehicles, jobs, pets, houses, families, and any number of material possessions similar to people who are not addicted to alcohol.
Many of these “functional” alcoholics may have never been apprehended for a DUI and may have been lucky enough to avoid all alcohol generated legal difficulties. Despite this good fortune, nonetheless, these alcohol addicted people need to drink in order to operate on a daily basis while sustaining their facade as they associate with people outside their family.
Ask anyone who has seen them when they are out on a drunken binge or in a drunken stupor or ask a family member about the problem drinker’s alcohol addiction, to the contrary, and they will be quick to articulate the authenticity of the drinker’s situation and the particulars about the alcohol addicted person’s drinking condition and about his or her alcohol induced predicaments.
Why Do Alcohol Dependent People Fail to Recognize Their Drinking Problems?
As alcoholism research and statistics on alcohol abuse have emphasized, no matter how noticeable the alcohol induced issues seem to those who interact with the alcohol addicted person, alcohol addicted individuals regularly deny that drinking is the source of their alcohol generated difficulties. Not only this, but alcohol dependent individuals commonly blame their alcohol-related issues on other individuals or upon other circumstances around them instead of seeing their part in the difficulty.
The origin of the problem is that alcohol addiction is a disease of the brain. Once the individual has become addicted to alcohol, he or she often resorts to denial, manipulation, and dishonesty as a way of coping with the fact that his or her drinking is out of control. And to make matters more problematic, the experience of alcohol withdrawal symptoms often thwarts the alcohol addicted individual’s rare attempts to abruptly quit drinking. As grim as the alcohol dependent person’s way of life is, on the other hand, the good news is that professional help is widely accessible – if the alcohol addicted person reaches out and seeks alcohol rehabilitation.
Summary
Conceding the fact that drinking is eliciting difficulties in your day by day functioning is perchance the simplest way to find out if you have a drinking problem. Stated more precisely, if your drinking is leading to issues with your health, at work, in your relationships, with your finances, at school, or with the law, then you have a drinking problem that needs to be tackled.
If you have a drinking problem, moreover, this means that you are involving yourself in excessive drinking.
While some drinkers may be able to come to grips with their “alcohol signs,” pinpoint their problems, and greatly diminish the amount and occurrence of their drinking, other drinkers, nevertheless, need to tackle their drinking problems by getting professional alcohol rehabilitation. Furthermore, due to their tendency to deny the facts and alter the truth, alcoholics positively require quality alcoholism counseling for their irresponsible drinking.
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A Young Couple Evaluates Their Excessive and Heavy Drinking and Their Short and Long-Term Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
Merissa and Augie have been seeing one another for eight years. They met while taking the same literature and fine arts class at a small, rural, liberal arts college located in the Northern part of the United States. While they were mostly good friends at first, they eventually began dating when they were in their third year of college.
Since both of them came from very ”old school” backgrounds, neither one of them drank much beyond the experimental stage when they first started to date. As the time passed by, nonetheless, they started to go to more keg parties, sorority and fraternity parties, happy hours, and football bashes. As a result, they slowly but surely began to drink more as they proceeded in their relationship.
Their Social Life As a Rule Consisted of Going to Restaurants Three or Four Nights Per Week, Going to Professional Sporting Events, Going to Happy Hour With Their Friends, Going to Parties With Their Friends, and Going With Their Friends to the Local Nightspot on the Weekends
After they graduated, they both got jobs in a medium size city that was approximately ninety-five miles from their undergraduate college. Then they decided to move in with each other.
Because they were far removed from the college drinking scene, nevertheless, their social life as a rule consisted of going to professional sporting events, going to parties with their friends, going to happy hour with their friends, going to restaurants three or four nights per week, and going to the local disco with their friends on the weekends. In short, Augie and Merissa started to drink in a hazardous manner.
Now that they were living in the same apartment together and starting to get more committed to their relationship, nevertheless, they began to think about getting married, becoming more responsible, having children, and buying a house.
With any big change in a person’s life there is commonly something that forces the particular modification in question. For Augie and Merissa the notion of buying a new house and having children was this “mechanism of change.” In brief, for the first time in their lives, Merissa and Augie began to critically appraise their hazardous drinking and the alcohol long term effects on their health.
How Would Their Excessive and Hazardous Drinking Affect Their Ability to Have Children, Their Relationship With One Another, Their Relationship With Their Parents, Their Mental Health, and Their Finances?
Would their irresponsible drinking negatively affect their ability to have children? How would they be able to continue spending nearly all of their money on drinking if they were to begin saving for a new house? How responsible would they be if they had children and continued to drink in an excessive and irresponsible manner? How would they be able to face their parents and tell them about their long term hopes, dreams, and aspirations while they still drank in an excessive and hazardous manner while having fun as they did when they were in college? What would their drinking behavior do to their relationship? How would their irresponsible and hazardous drinking affect their mental health?
From a different line of reasoning, although neither one of them ever suffered from alcohol poisoning, received a DUI, or experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms, they realized that their heavy and hazardous drinking was becoming a troublesome issue that they could not ”sweep under the rug” anymore.
After Giving Their Situation Some Serious Thought, Merissa and Augie Finally Realized That Their Hopes, Aspirations, and Dreams Would not be Reached if They Continued Their Heavy and Hazardous Drinking
All of these uncertainties undoubtedly indicated the same conclusion: Augie and Merissa needed to comprehend that they couldn’t continue their heavy drinking if their dreams, hopes, and aspirations were to be realized.
Once they got to this conclusion, they alerted their drinking pals about their marital plans, about their plans to start a family, and about their goal of buying or building a new house. They also told their drinking friends that they still wanted to associate with them but that they would be drinking in strict moderation from this moment forward so that they could begin realizing their future dreams, hopes, and plans.
Unpredictably, all of their pals expressed relief because they too had been reflecting on their lives and concluded that their life-styles were totally focused on drinking. They also realized that they would have to change notably if they were to become more mature and exhibit more concern for their health, their plans, and for their careers in the next ten or fifteen years.
After their frank chat with their pals about their dreams, aspirations, and hopes, Merissa and Augie essentially started to have more meaningful relationships with all of their pals. The main reason for this was the fact that all of them had the same outlook regarding their heavy and irresponsible drinking and their short and long-term plans, goals, and aspirations.
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When Irresponsible Drinking Leads to Serious Health Problems
For a number of years alcohol addiction exploration has revealed the fact that there is strong linkage between alcoholism and dangerous health conditions.
For example, in 2005, scientific examination and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics showed that alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It can be stressed that this gigantic alcohol-related expense was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is relevant to underline these facts, it is also noteworthy to point to the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.
More accurately, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.
To be sure, substance abuse investigation has shown that alcohol dependency can boost the risk for various forms of cancer, especially cancer of the kidneys, rectum, colon, voice box (larynx), esophagus, throat, and the liver. Heavy and repetitive drinking can also result in immune system issues and deformity to the fetus during pregnancy.
Irresponsible and Excessive Drinking Enfeebles the Person’s Systems and Organs
What is more, if alcohol dependency continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will probably be affected in an unsafe manner. For example, chronic, excessive drinking is especially dangerous to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Extreme amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and destroys the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This condition leads to a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can ultimately lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a dangerous and possibly deadly disease.Heavy, long-term drinking not only can lead to critical liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this dangerous may be irreparable and may, in turn, lead to severe disease or premature death.
The Critical Nature of Alcohol Rehabilitation
It is imperative, consequently, to know how to identify the different alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcoholic can be given the opportunity to get the quality alcohol rehab he or she requires.
Alcoholism and Technologically Advanced Brain Research
Fortuitously, medical examination is persistently discovering original and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration offers a first-rate example. More accurately, for roughly the past ten years, sophisticated brain-imaging scanning instruments have demonstrated that continuous and chronic abusive drinking transforms the makeup of the brain to a substantial extent, therefore resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or possibly as long as the individual lives.
Stated differently, medical investigation has shown that people who have been drinking in an excessive manner for a considerable length of time increase their risk for developing permanent and significant changes in the brain.
This type of damage may be directly related to the alcohol’s effects on the brain, to severe liver disease, or might be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health.
Malnutrition, Excessive Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final illustration of different medical conditions that are largely correlated to alcohol dependency, consider that in accordance with scientific research, the excessive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a medical problem that reduces the absorption of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins.
This type of organ breakdown is linked to malnutrition and to a variety of critical mental and neurological syndromes including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is a long-term debilitating condition that is epitomized by recurring memory and learning difficulties.
Summary
It is evident that repetitive, abusive drinking is directly or indirectly related to a variety of critical medical problems that can and do result in dangerous diseases and premature death. Such information needs to be emphasized and presented to everyone in our society so that a large number of individuals will be able to refrain from excessive drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the professional rehabilitation they need.
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A Young Man Decides to See His Family Physician About His Depression and His Problem Drinking
Denny is a eighteen-year-old teen who has at long last finally decided to go and see his doctor about his abusive and excessive drinking. At first, Denny thought he would be able to merely go online, look for some straightforward alcohol info and come to a decision whether or not he was an alcoholic.
Not surprisingly, he located a number of websites that outlined some of the commonplace alcoholism symptoms. That’s the encouraging news. The less than encouraging news, sadly, was that Denny showed signs of several of these alcoholism symptoms.
Illustrations Alcohol Dependency Symptoms
As an illustration, Denny has been drinking significantly more than customary and he has started to have more angry squabbles with the female he is dating. In much the same way, for the first time in his young life he has been experiencing sleeping issues. In a similar manner, Denny over and over again has felt depressed and on an increasing basis he has been displaying less than normal attention to detail in the classroom. Furthermore, he has felt highly stressed and more on edge on a regular basis and for the past six or seven months he has shown evidence of cloudy thinking while at school. Due to the fact that Denny has been exhibiting all of these symptoms, he was rightly worried about his drinking problems.
So Denny decided to contact his family physician and make an appointment. In actual fact, this was difficult for Denny because his doctor was also his parents’ family healthcare practitioner. The source of his discomfort was this: at the risk of embarrassing his family, he had to go and divulge his unhealthy and abusive drinking behavior to his family doctor.
When Denny arrived at the healthcare professional’s office, he overtly informed the family doctor about the fear he has about his irresponsible drinking behavior. When the doctor asked what was bringing about this consternation, Denny affirmed that he had gone online and read about alcoholism and especially about alcohol addiction symptoms. He then stated all of the alcohol dependency symptoms that he evidently thought he manifests.
A Comprehensive Physical Examination and Outpatient Alcohol Treatment
The family physician notified Denny that it was smart of him to concentrate on his drinking difficulties, he gave Denny a thorough physical exam, and suggested that he talk to his parents about registering in an out-patient alcohol rehabilitation program that was run by Doctor Manning, one of his doctor friends who is an alcohol abuse and alcoholism specialist.
What is more, when Denny expressed the fact that he has been feeling a sense of melancholy to a greater extent, the family healthcare practitioner informed Denny that alcoholism and depression routinely come about in the same person. Accordingly, the family doctor also suggested that Denny talk to his Mom and Dad about seeking therapy in order to address his sense of gloom. In fact, Denny can go to the local mental health facility and make an appointment with Doctor Jefferson, a celebrated clinical psychologist who specializes in treating teenagers.
The Advantage of Coping With Your Drinking Difficulties and Getting Encouraged About Making Healthy and Positive Changes in Your Life
The healthcare practitioner made it a point to tell Denny that he might not necessarily be an alcoholic, but that he was plainly drinking in a hazardous manner. Stated another way, Denny was engaging in teen alcohol abuse. The doctor then informed Denny that the reason he suggested alcohol treatment in the first place was because he wanted him to confront his drinking difficulties, make sure that he stopped them from getting worse, and start to live in a more healthy manner, even if it meant that he had to entirely abstain from drinking.
To put it briefly, by productively treating his problem drinking, Denny would be able to get his drinking problems under control and stop the negative cycle of events that could most likely lead to addiction to alcohol.
Denny certainly did not look forward to facing his Mother and Father about his excessive drinking and his depression. And he definitely did not want to face the thought of getting admitted into an alcohol rehab program. And as a final point, he was not overjoyed about going to a counselor about his excessive sadness. Regardless of these anxieties, then again, Denny as a matter of fact felt some psychological relief for the first time in many months because he ultimately stopped making excuses for himself and decided to do something productive about his abusive and excessive drinking.
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A Young Man Makes an Appointment to See His Family Physician About His Problem Drinking and His Depression
Denny is a nineteen-year-old adolescent who has eventually decided that he needs to go and see his healthcare practitioner about his unhealthy and abusive drinking. At first, Denny thought he would be able to simply go online, look for some basic alcohol info and make up his mind whether or not he was alcohol dependent.
Not surprisingly, he discovered many websites that cataloged some of the usual alcoholism symptoms. That’s the positive news. The bad news, sorry to say, was that Denny displayed several of these alcoholism symptoms.
Examples of Alcoholism Symptoms
As an illustration, Denny has been drinking much more than usual and he has begun to have more fiery spats with his girlfriend. Additionally, for the first time in his young life he has been suffering through sleeping problems. In a similar way, Denny regularly has felt depressed and on an ever increasing basis he has been manifesting limited attentiveness in the classroom. What is more, he has felt stressed out and more on edge on a regular basis and for the past six or seven months he has demonstrated hazy thinking at school. Seeing as Denny has been displaying all of these symptoms, he was excusably concerned about his careless and hazardous drinking.
So Denny finally made up his mind that he needed to call his physician and make an appointment. Actually, this was tough for Denny because his physician was also his parents’ family doctor. The source of his distress was this: at the risk of embarrassing his family, he had to go and make known his unhealthy drinking behavior to his family doctor.
When Denny arrived at the healthcare practitioner’s office, he truthfully notified the doctor about the fear he has about his abusive drinking behavior. When the healthcare professional asked what was bringing about this trepidation, Denny articulated that he had gone online and read about alcoholism and especially about alcohol addiction symptoms. He then mentioned all of the alcohol addiction symptoms that he clearly thought he exhibits.
A Thoroughgoing Physical Evaluation and Outpatient Alcohol Rehabilitation
The doctor notified Denny that it was wise of him to concentrate on his drinking problems, he gave Denny a complete physical appraisal, and recommended that he talk to his Mother and Father about signing into an out-patient alcohol rehabilitation facility that was managed by Doctor Katz, one of his doctor accomplices who is an alcohol abuse and substance abuse specialist.
Moreover, when Denny mentioned that he has been feeling a sense of melancholy to an increasing degree, the family physician told Denny that depression and alcoholism regularly come about in the same person. Hence, the family healthcare practitioner also suggested that Denny talk to his Mother and Father about obtaining counseling to address his depression. In fact, Denny can go to the local mental health clinic and make an appointment with Doctor Weiss, an eminent clinical psychologist who specializes in treating teenagers.
The Merits of Addressing Your Drinking Difficulties and Getting Encouraged About Making Healthy and Positive Changes in Your Life
The healthcare practitioner made it a point to inform Denny that he might not necessarily be alcohol dependent, but that he was certainly drinking in an abusive manner. Stated another way, Denny was engaging in teen alcohol abuse. The family healthcare practitioner then told Denny that the reason he recommended alcohol treatment in the first place was because he wanted him to come to terms with his drinking difficulties, make sure that he prevented them from intensifying, and start to live in a more healthy manner, even if it meant that he had to fully stop drinking.
In sum, by effectively treating his drinking difficulties, Denny would be able to get his drinking problems under control and stop the negative cycle that could almost certainly lead to alcohol dependency.
Denny justifiably did not look forward to facing his Mom and Dad about his hazardous drinking and his depression. And he unquestionably did not want to face the thought of getting admitted into an alcohol rehab program. And finally, he was not thrilled about going to a counseling psychologist about his sense of gloom. In spite of these anxieties, however, Denny in point of fact experienced some emotional relief for the first time in quite a few months because at last he gave up making excuses for himself and at long last determined that he needed to do something productive about his careless drinking.
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Alcoholism, Alcohol Relapse, and Enabling
It is fascinating to articulate something that family members who have been negatively affected by the alcohol addiction of another family member obviously do not comprehend. It appears that by protecting the alcohol dependent individual with falsehoods and deceit to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in reality created a circumstance that makes it easier for the alcohol dependent individual to continue and press forward with his or her injurious, destructive existence.
Without a doubt, instead of helping the alcohol dependent individual and themselves, these family members have in fact become enablers who have unintentionally helped worsen the alcohol addicted individual’s drinking problem even further.
Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol dependent person will continue drinking in a hazardous and irresponsible manner and experience a range of “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include ill health, diminished mental functioning, deteriorating relationships, serious financial problems, employment difficulties, and legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DWIs).
Relapses Can and Do Occur From Time to Time
According to the research findings and statistics on alcohol addiction, another key alcoholism issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted person has fruitfully undergone alcohol addiction rehabilitation and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this situation flies in the face of sound thinking and sounds so unbelievable that it forces a person to question why anyone who has gone through the horrors of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol counseling and in turn after achieving recovery. There are, of course, more than a few possible reasons for this.
It should be highlighted, then again that alcohol addiction research that has focused on the long standing outcomes of alcohol addiction has demonstrated-proven that long after the alcohol addicted individual has halted his or her drinking, critical modifications in the way in which the alcoholic’s brain works are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol addicted individual has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the transformations that have come about in the brain is to start drinking once again.
The Necessity for A Radical Lifestyle Modification
There are even more reasons why numerous recovering alcohol addicted persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. According to the alcohol addiction research literature, to make a successful recovery, the alcohol dependent individual needs new ways of acting and thinking in order to deal more efficiently with tough alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.
Conditions such as returning to the same alcohol addictive environment or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the time when the alcohol dependent individual was drinking excessively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these situations can elicit memories that can set off psychological anxiety or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcoholic to engage in excessive drinking once again. Sadly, all of these circumstances may not only negate enduring alcohol recovery for the alcohol dependent person but they can also lead to relapse and therefore work against one’s sobriety.
The Good News: There’s a Lot of Hope for Lasting Sobriety
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted individual, family members can in fact cause unplanned damage by enabling the harmful drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent person.
The alcoholism research literature validates the fact that most individuals who effectively complete alcohol therapy experience at least one relapse. Alcohol addicted individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get crestfallen or stressed out when a relapse occurs.
Fortunately, participation in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up treatment and training have resulted in more productive, long-term alcohol abuse and alcoholism rehab results, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted persons achieve ongoing sobriety.
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A Woman Displays Symptoms of Alcoholism and Depression and Makes an Appointment to See Her Healthcare Practitioner About Her Drinking Problems
Teresa was a thirty-seven-year-old accounts receivable manager who realized that she had a problem with her drinking. As an illustration, within the past four months she has experienced the need to have two or three drinks before going to work, four months ago she failed to pass a random hair alcohol test at her place of employment, two weeks ago she got arrested by the police for a DUI, and last but not least, for the last six months she has begun to fail to remember what she says and does when she goes out drinking with her pals.
Not unlike many other drinkers, Teresa’s involvement with alcohol started out gradually and stayed at this level for quite a long period of time because every now and again she engaged in sporadic social drinking. As a matter of fact, for about four years, every time she went out with her coworkers to drink, she made sure to drink responsibly. Something about her drinking activities, nevertheless, seemed to drastically change when she divorced her husband.
So She Can Come to Terms With the Loss of Her Husband In a Less Troublesome Manner, Teresa Decided to Begin Hanging Around More Regularly With Some of Her Friends Who Love to Have Fun Drinking
Teresa got awfully down in the dumps about the loss of her husband, and as a way to refrain from dwelling on her dismal emotions she made up her mind that she would start going out more frequently with some of her pals who love to ”get down” and drink.
Quite sincerely, Teresa thought that having fun almost every day by getting “mellow” and drinking with her friends would help her recover from the breakup of her husband in a less wearisome manner.
Teresa’s Drinking Increases Considerably the More Routinely She Goes to Dinner Dates, Happy Hours, Private Parties, Sporting Events, and Family Get-Togethers With Her Friends
It didn’t take very long, nevertheless, before her drinking escalated significantly the more routinely she went to and drank at dinner dates, happy hours, private parties, sporting events, and family get-togethers with her friends. Moreover, the fact that her drinking pals were all many years younger than she was and therefore able to drink and party more thoughtlessly was one of the reasons that she didn’t focus more on her increased drinking. In brief, she was drinking and having tons of fun just like everyone else in her group of friends without giving much thought to the effects of her irresponsible drinking.
Yet in the recesses of her mind she realized that she more likely than not needed alcohol counseling but sidestepped the thought as much as possible.
Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, Owns up to the Truth About Her Irresponsible to Her Physician, and Acknowledges Her Depression
One late afternoon during her six-month physical, her healthcare professional asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell “stories” to her physician, Teresa owned up to the fact that she frequently drinks more than she should. In truth, she articulated that she regularly drinks in an excessive manner. Then Teresa told her physician about her general state of despair. More plainly, she mentioned that wrecked relationships more often than not elicited a disheartening cycle of events characterized by increased drinking which further led to more disheartening feelings that, in turn, resulted in even more drinking. And this is precisely what took place when she and her husband got divorced eight months ago.
When her doctor heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was reviewing, alcoholism and depression many times happen in the same person. He then told her that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been looking into also emphasize the fact that individuals who drink abusively and who also experience depression need to obtain treatment for both medical circumstances.
Teresa’s Healthcare Professional Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Evaluation and For an Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse Assessment
Teresa’s doctor then stated the following: “I am not trying to make an unprepared analysis, but with your medical circumstances we may be working with two separate concerns. As a consequence, I think we ought to schedule an appointment for you to get an alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency appraisal from my partner, Dr. Jefferson, who is an alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more linked to alcoholism or alcohol abuse is unclear at this time, but I believe that further assessment is warranted. Then I think we ought to make an appointment for you to get a psychological assessment from another one of my partners, Dr. Cooke, who is a counseling psychologist. I want to get a better handle on your sadness and see how much your drinking and depression are interlinked.” Teresa showed her endorsement of her doctor’s treatment approach and thanked him for his help and concern. Now all she had to do was to try to reduce her drinking and get ready for her appointments.
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