Alcohol Relapse and Alcohol Addiction
It is remarkable to bring up something that family members who have been adversely affected by the alcoholism of another family member apparently do not know. It seems that by protecting the alcohol addicted person with lies and deceitfulness to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have basically created a circumstance that makes it easier for the alcoholic to persist and advance with his or her hurtful, devastating existence.
Indeed, instead of helping the alcoholic and themselves, these family members have in fact become enablers who have inadvertently helped worsen the alcohol addicted person’s drinking problem even further.
The Likelihood of a Relapse is Real
Another key alcohol dependency issue has to do with alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcoholic has fruitfully gone through alcohol addiction rehabilitation and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this situation flies in the face of rational thinking and appears to be so improbable that it forces an individual to wonder why anyone who has gone through the awfulness of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after attaining sobriety. There are, of course, more than a few reasonable reasons for this.
It should be pointed out, nonetheless that alcohol dependency research that has centered on the long standing effects of alcohol addiction has shown that long after the alcohol addicted individual has discontinued his or her drinking, fundamental modifications in the way in which the alcohol addicted person’s brain works are still present. As a result, all a recovering alcohol addicted individual has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the transformations that have occurred in the brain is to begin drinking once again.
The Necessity for An Important Lifestyle Transformation
There are even more reasons why quite a few recovering alcohol dependent individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after reaching sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol addiction research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcohol addicted individual needs new ways of reacting and thinking in order to deal more successfully with challenging alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.
Issues 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 person was drinking in a hazardous manner; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these conditions can bring about memories that can prompt psychological stress or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent individual to engage in hazardous drinking once again. Unfortunately, all of these circumstances may not only get in the way of lasting alcohol recovery for the alcohol addicted individual but they can also lead to relapse and as a result short-circuit one’s alcohol recovery.
Conclusion
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted person, family members can essentially cause inadvertent damage by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcoholic.
The substance abuse research literature demonstrates the fact that most people who successfully complete alcohol therapy go through at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get dejected or beleaguered when a relapse takes place.
Luckily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up treatment and education have resulted in more productive, long lasting alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency rehab results, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcoholics reach lasting alcohol recovery.
Related posts:
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.