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Alcohol Addiction, Alcohol Relapse, and Enabling

Kaylee — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:35:16 +0000

It is fascinating to point out something that family members who have been negatively affected by the alcohol addiction of another family member plainly do not realize. It appears that by shielding the alcohol dependent individual with lies and deceit to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have actually created a condition that makes it easier for the alcohol addicted person to persist and press forward with his or her harmful, destructive style of life.

Without a doubt, instead of helping the alcoholic and themselves, these family members have in reality become enablers who have mistakenly helped deteriorate the alcohol dependent person’s drinking problem even further.

Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol addicted individual will continue drinking in an excessive and irresponsible manner and go through a variety of “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DUIs), employment difficulties, considerable financial problems, poor health, diminished mental functioning, and deteriorating relationships.

The Chances of a Relapse are Real

According to the research findings and statistics on alcohol addiction, another key alcohol dependency issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted individual has effectively undergone alcoholism therapy and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this situation seems contradictory to sound thinking and appears to be so improbable that it forces a person to question why anyone who has gone through the dejection of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol counseling and in turn after attaining sobriety. There are, without a doubt, more than a few possible reasons for this.

It should be mentioned, then again that alcohol addiction research that has centered on the enduring effects of alcoholism has revealed that long after the alcohol dependent individual has stopped his or her drinking, critical alterations in the way in which the alcohol addicted individual’s brain works are still present. As a result, all a recovering alcohol addicted person has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the modifications that have come about in the brain is to start drinking again.

The Need for A Radical Lifestyle Modification

There are even more reasons why numerous recovering alcoholics 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 alcoholic needs new ways of acting and thinking in order to deal more successfully with demanding alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.

Conditions such as returning to the same alcohol addictive atmosphere or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the time when the alcohol addicted person was drinking irresponsibly; 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 addicted individual to engage in abusive drinking once again. Unfortunately, all of these situations may not only work against long standing alcohol recovery for the alcohol addicted individual but they can also result in relapse and therefore cancel out one’s sobriety.

The Good News: There’s a Lot of Hope for a Lasting Recovery

In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted individual, family members can essentially cause unintended harm by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcohol addicted person.

The alcoholism research literature confirms the fact that most individuals who effectively complete alcohol rehabilitation experience at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get down in the dumps or beleaguered when a relapse happens.

Fortunately, taking part in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up treatment and education have resulted in more effective, ongoing alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction therapeutic results, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted persons achieve enduring alcohol recovery.

Alcoholism and Drug Addiction in High School

Kaylee — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:37:20 +0000

When I was a sophomore in high school, I registered for a drug abuse class. At that time period, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in point of fact was a sub division of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse, 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 people all over the world. I also learned quite a bit about alcohol rehabilitation and the various alcohol rehab facilities that are habitually available to problem drinkers.

Some of the detrimental outcomes linked to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class certainly startled me. The ruined lives and numerous problems experienced by most alcohol dependent people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. Stated briefly, I did not want to face the disaster and destruction 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 teenager wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that drinking alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teenager wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related issues before he or she becomes an adult?

What adolescent wants to experience alcohol withdrawals when he or she tries to quit 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 centers on excessive drinking?

These issues were so important that I discussed some of them in class during the school year. What was absolutely astounding to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the dangerous effects of excessive drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be troubled with the facts and how these effects can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to appreciate a saying that my grandfather used to emphasize all through my adolesence: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.

Irresponsible and Abusive Drinking Results in Serious Health Problems

Kaylee — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:37:16 +0000

For more than a few years alcohol dependency exploration has revealed the fact that there is strong correlation between alcoholism and dangerous health conditions.

As an illustration, in 2005, medical exploration and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics showed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion annually. It can be stressed that this considerable alcohol-related expense was substantially more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is important to accentuate these facts, it is also noteworthy to highlight the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.

More explicitly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.

Certainly, substance abuse research has shown that alcoholism can augment the risk for different forms of cancer, particularly cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Excessive and repetitive drinking can also lead to immune system issues and damage to the fetus during pregnancy.

Irresponsible Drinking Deteriorates the Individual’s Systems and Organs

What is more, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will likely be affected in a harmful manner. For example, long-term, excessive drinking is especially injurious to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Excessive amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to redevelop. This condition leads to a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can ultimately lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a precarious and possibly terminal medical problem.Heavy, long-term drinking not only can result in acute liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be irreparable and may, in turn, lead to severe illness or an untimely death.

The Significance of Alcohol Treatment

It is critical, consequently, to know how to identify the various alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol addicted individual can be given the opportunity to get the professional alcohol rehabilitation he or she requires.

Alcohol Addiction and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration

Fortuitously, medical research is continuously uncovering original and significant information. Recent alcoholism research offers a good illustration. More accurately, for roughly the last ten years, complex brain-imaging scanning devices have demonstrated that continuous and long-term abusive drinking changes the constitution of the brain to a substantial extent, thusly resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or conceivably as long as the person exists.

More specifically, medical research has shown that individuals who have been drinking abusively for a substantial length of time increase their risk for developing lasting 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.

Excessive Drinking, Malnutrition, and Mental Disorders

As a final illustration of different medical conditions that are substantially correlated to alcohol dependency, take into consideration the fact that in accordance with medical research, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a health problem that decreases the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

This form of organ failure is correlated with malnutrition and to a number of serious mental and neurological disorders including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical problem is an enduring incapacitating condition that is exemplified by recurring memory and learning difficulties.

Summary

It is clear that repetitive, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly associated with a number of dangerous medical conditions that can and do result in dangerous diseases and premature death. Such information needs to be highlighted and presented to everyone in our society so that most people will be able to refrain from irresponsible drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the quality rehabilitation they need.