Enabling, Alcohol Dependency, and Alcohol Relapse
It is remarkable to bring up something that family members who have been harmfully affected by the alcohol dependency of another family member clearly do not grasp. It seems that by shielding the alcoholic with lies and dishonesty to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in essence created a situation that makes it easier for the alcohol dependent person to continue and advance with his or her damaging, destructive style of life.
To be sure, instead of helping the alcoholic and themselves, these family members have in reality become enablers who have unintentionally helped worsen the alcoholic’s drinking problem even further.
Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol addicted individual will continue drinking in an abusive and excessive manner and experience various “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include employment difficulties, poor health, deteriorating relationships, diminished mental functioning, legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DUIs), and considerable financial problems.
The Likelihood of a Relapse is Real
According to the research findings and statistics on alcohol dependency, another key alcohol addiction issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol dependent individual has effectively undergone alcoholism therapy and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this predicament seems contradictory to logical thinking and looks so improbable that it forces a person to question why anyone who has experienced the wretchedness of alcoholism can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol counseling and in turn after attaining recovery. There are, of course, many likely reasons for this.
It should be noted, however that alcohol dependency research that has centered on the enduring consequences of alcohol dependency has demonstrated-proven that long after the alcohol dependent individual has terminated his or her drinking, key alterations in the way in which the alcohol addicted person’s brain operates are still present. As a result, all a recovering alcohol dependent person has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the transformations that have occurred in the brain is to start drinking once again.
The Necessity for A Major Lifestyle Change
There are additional reasons why many recovering alcohol addicted individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after reaching sobriety. According to the alcoholism research literature, to make a successful recovery, the alcoholic needs new ways of responding and thinking in order to deal more effectively with demanding 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 alcohol addicted person was drinking abusively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these conditions can bring forth memories that can prompt psychological tension or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcoholic to engage in hazardous drinking once again. Regrettably, all of these circumstances may not only negate long lasting alcohol recovery for the alcohol dependent person but they can also result in relapse and thus negate one’s alcohol recovery.
The Good News: Quality Help is Readily Available
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol dependent person, family members can in point of fact cause unintended harm by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcoholic.
The substance abuse research literature demonstrates the fact that most people who successfully 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 stressed out when a relapse occurs.
Happily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up therapy and training have resulted in more successful, enduring alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency treatment outcomes, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted persons attain long lasting sobriety.
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