It is worthy of note to bring up something that family members who have been negatively affected by the alcoholism of another family member plainly do not grasp. It seems to be 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 alcohol addicted individual to continue and go forward with his or her damaging, destructive style of life.
Indeed, instead of helping the alcohol addicted person and themselves, these family members have in truth become enablers who have inadvertently helped deteriorate the drinking problems of the problem drinker even more.
Relapses Can and Do Happen
Another key alcohol addiction issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted person has effectively undergone alcohol addiction rehab and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this circumstance seems contradictory to logical thinking and seems so far-fetched that it forces an individual to question why anyone who has lived through the dejection of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after achieving recovery. There are, of course, more than a few credible reasons for this.
It should be highlighted, nevertheless that alcoholism research that has focused on the long standing consequences of alcohol dependency has demonstrated-proven that long after the alcoholic has discontinued his or her drinking, significant alterations in the way in which the alcohol dependent individual’s brain functions are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol addicted person has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the alterations that have taken place in the brain is to begin drinking once again.
The Necessity for A Crucial Lifestyle Change
There are other reasons why quite a few recovering alcohol dependent persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after achieving sobriety. According to the alcohol addiction research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcohol dependent person needs new ways of reacting and thinking in order to deal more competently with difficult alcohol-related situations 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 alcoholic was drinking in a hazardous manner; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these situations can bring about memories that can prompt psychological stress or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent person to engage in hazardous drinking once again. Regrettably, all of these situations may not only work against long standing sobriety for the alcohol addicted individual but they can also lead to relapse and thus circumvent one’s sobriety.
Summary
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted person, family members can in fact cause unintended damage by enabling the unhealthy drinking behavior of the alcoholic.
The substance abuse research literature highlights the fact that most people who effectively complete alcohol treatment go through at least one relapse. Alcoholics and their family members need to know this so that they do not get crestfallen or stressed out when a relapse happens.
Fortunately, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up rehab and training have resulted in more successful, ongoing alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency therapeutic results, have helped decrease alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted persons achieve lasting sobriety.
Tags: alcohol abuse · alcohol addiction · alcohol dependency · alcohol rehab · alcohol treatment · alcoholism · diseases · drinking problems · enabling · sobrietyNo Comments
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