Alcohol Addiction
Alcohol addiction is an extremely harmful and powerful addiction. It has been one of the toughest battles of the individual man for a very long time. In today's time, it is becoming more and more common among the general population. As a result of alcohol addiction being on the rise, there has been an increasing interest in discovering and implementing a solution. The most common and effective solution is a combination of professional intervention, followed by treatment and recovery.
If you are interested in learning more about alcohol intervention, please visit our Alcohol Intervention page which will discuss that topic in a more in depth manner.
Alcohol addiction and the medical view. Alcohol addiction (aka "Alcoholism") was classified as a disease by the American Medical Association in 1956. Before this time, there was very little knowledge, within the medical world, on how to help a person who suffers from alcohol addiction. Because of the complexity of alcohol addiction, there is no simple or common sense cure. However, over the past 75 years there has been a pioneering effort between the alcohol addicted and the medical fraternity to discover a solution. During this time period, medical professionals have discovered a couple of key factors about alcohol addiction. These professionals have discovered what actually occurs in the human body and mind that makes it so difficult for the alcoholic to stop drinking, and stay stopped.
Physical alcohol addiction. This aspect of alcohol addiction occurs when an individual consumes such a high volume of alcohol over a period of time that they begin to experience physical withdraw symptoms when they try to stop or moderate. These physical withdraw symptoms include shaking, nausea, diarrhea, profuse sweating, hallucinations, achy joints, and vomiting. Unless the person suffering from the physical addiction is intervened on and given proper detoxification care, they will not be strong enough to get through the physical withdraw symptoms on their own.
Psychological alcohol addiction. This means dependency of the mind. When a person becomes mentally addicted to something, they begin to experience psychological withdraw symptoms if they try to stop using the addictive substance. These symptoms include cravings, paranoia, depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Psychological addiction is believed to evolve out of the dopaminergic (dopa-min-er-gic) system of the brain's reward system. This means the mind delivers a reward in the form of "feel good" when the addictive substance is consumed. The mind then becomes addicted to the "feel good" reward. As a result of this, the alcohol addicts mind believes that it cannot function normally, or at all, without alcohol.
The mental obsession. A mental obsession is an idea, thought, or image that one cannot get out of their mind. This applies to the way that an alcoholic thinks about drinking. This symptom of alcohol addiction is one that affects the Alcoholic not only when they have been drinking. Even if a person afflicted with alcohol addiction has been separated from alcohol for a period of time, the mental obsession stays with them. They continuously think about drinking. They become consumed by thoughts of planning ways to drink alcohol successfully. This ultimately drives them back to drink, and unless their alcohol addiction is treated, it will continue to dominate their life.
The behavior patterns of people afflicted with alcohol addiction appear very neurotic, selfish, unmanageable, and insane when it comes to their drinking. The alcoholic wants to believe that they do not have a problem with alcohol addiction, and will go to any length to prove to themselves and every one else that the addiction does not exist. This is the process of denial that virtually every person who suffers from alcohol addiction goes through. The alcoholic usually displays very predictable patterns of attempting to hide their drinking, deny their drinking, and often times become unreasonably defensive and enraged when confronted with the obvious. In some cases the alcoholic will have brief periods of success in controlling their drinking and picking themselves back up, however, they invariably fall back down and often times the relapse that follows is much worse and brings harsher consequences every time.
Don't lose hope yet! There is a solution for alcohol addiction. Treatment for alcohol addiction is a 3 step process.
- Alcohol Intervention - alcohol addiction intervention is an orchestrated attempt by one, or often many, (usually family and friends) to get someone to seek professional help with their alcohol addiction. To learn more about this, visit Alcohol Intervention.
- Alcoholism Treatment - Once the alcoholic decides to accept help through an intervention, they then journey to a treatment facility that specializes in rehabilitating alcoholics.
- Recovery - After our friend completes the treatment program, they then move back into the world and begin their recovery. They learn how to live life completely free from alcohol addiction, and learn how to be okay with themselves. Once the alcoholic adopts this new way of life, they go on to lead happy and productive lives and learn how to stay sober through everything. Good and Bad.
After leaving treatment and beginning their recovery process in life, the alcoholic has a continued support group. He/she will make new friends who have suffered his/her same struggle with alcohol addiction, and now are striving for the same goal. That goal is continued sobriety and a happy and productive life.
Please do not hesitate to call us to discuss an alcohol addiction intervention for your loved one. Our experts are waiting and ready to hear from you. We have our play books on hand, ready to draw up a unique intervention plan. We pray that you will do for our friend what they cannot do for themselves, and make the call for help.
