Health And Fitness

Alcohol Relapse and When Helping the Alcoholic Becomes Hazardous

It is fascinating to bring up something that family members who have been negatively affected by the alcohol dependency of another family member plainly do not know. It seems that by shielding the alcoholic with falsehoods and deceitfulness to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in essence created a situation that makes it easier for the alcohol dependent individual to persist and advance with his or her harmful, devastating lifestyle.

Clearly, instead of helping the alcohol addicted individual and themselves, these family members have basically become enablers who have mistakenly helped deteriorate the alcohol addicted person’s drinking problem even more.

Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol dependent person will continue drinking in an irresponsible and excessive manner and suffer from diverse “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DWIs), diminished mental functioning, deteriorating relationships, serious financial problems, ill health, and employment difficulties.

Relapses Can and Do Occur From Time to Time

According to the research literature and statistics on alcohol dependency, another key alcoholism issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol dependent individual has successfully undergone alcohol dependency therapy and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this circumstance flies in the face of common sense and sounds so unrealistic that it forces a person to question why anyone who has lived through the misery of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol therapy and in turn after reaching sobriety. There are, without a doubt, more than a few rational reasons for this.

It should be pointed out, then again that alcohol addiction research that has focused on the long-term consequences of alcohol dependency has shown that long after the alcohol addicted person has stopped his or her drinking, fundamental transformations in the way in which the alcohol addicted individual’s brain operates are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol addicted individual has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the transformations that have come about in the brain is to begin drinking again.

The Necessity for An Essential Lifestyle Change

There are other reasons why many recovering alcohol addicted persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after reaching sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol dependency research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcoholic needs new ways of reacting and thinking in order to deal more successfully with demanding alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.

Circumstances 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 addicted individual was drinking in a hazardous manner; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these situations can bring forth memories that can trigger psychological anxiety or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent individual to engage in abusive drinking once again. Unfortunately, all of these circumstances may not only work against lasting sobriety for the alcohol dependent individual but they can also result in relapse and thus circumvent one’s alcohol recovery.

The Good News: There’s Light at the End of the Tunnel

In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol dependent person, family members can essentially cause unplanned damage by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent person.

The substance abuse research literature validates the fact that most people who effectively complete alcohol rehabilitation go through at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent persons and their family members need to know this so that they do not get defeated or beleaguered when a relapse manifests itself.

Luckily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up therapy and training have resulted in more effective, long-term alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction therapeutic results, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent persons accomplish ongoing sobriety.

What I Learned About Alcohol and Drug Addiction in High School

When I was a sophomore in high school, I registered for a substance abuse class. At that age, I did not comprehend that alcohol abuse in reality was a sub division of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse and especially about alcohol side effects, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for individuals all through the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol rehab and the diverse alcohol rehab clinics that are normally available to problem drinkers.

Harmful Consequences That are Associated With Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse

Some of the injurious end results linked to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class unquestionably scared me. The ruined lives and numerous problems experienced by most alcohol addicted people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. In a word, I did not want to face the disaster and ruination that alcohol addicted individuals almost always go through.

Let this sink in for a moment. What fifteen-year-old teenager wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What adolescent wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that drinking alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teen wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related problems before he or she becomes an adult?

What young person wants to go through alcohol withdrawals when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause problems in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after a person has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would a young person want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that revolves around excessive drinking?

These issues were so significant that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was totally amazing to me was the number of students who openly didn’t care about the injurious results of abusive drinking that I discussed. It was almost as if they couldn’t care less about the truth and how these effects can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to comprehend something that my grandfather used to emphasize all through my youth: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

It’s Liberating, Beneficial, and Important to Keep Away From the Damaging and Unhealthy Consequences of Drug and Alcohol Abuse

And even at my young age, I also started to understand how invigorating, important, and beneficial it is in life to keep away from the destructive and unhealthy results of alcohol and drug abuse.