Alcohol Relapse, Dishonesty, and Enabling
It is interesting to bring up something that family members who have been negatively affected by the alcoholism of another family member evidently do not know. It appears that by protecting the alcohol dependent person with lies and dishonesty to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in essence created a condition that makes it easier for the alcohol dependent individual to persevere and proceed with his or her unsafe, detrimental daily life.
In fact, rather than helping the alcohol addicted person and themselves, these family members have in fact become enablers who have mistakenly helped worsen the alcoholic’s drinking problem even more.
Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol dependent person will continue drinking in an irresponsible manner and go through diverse “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include deteriorating relationships, employment difficulties, ill health, diminished mental functioning, serious financial problems, and legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DWIs).
Relapses Can and Do Occur
According to the research literature and statistics on alcohol dependency, another key alcohol dependency issue concerns alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol dependent person has successfully gone through alcohol addiction treatment and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this predicament flies in the face of rational thinking and looks so improbable that it forces an individual to question why anyone who has gone through the dejection of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after reaching recovery. There are, to be sure, numerous plausible reasons for this.
It should be highlighted, however that alcoholism research that has centered on the lasting outcomes of alcohol addiction has revealed that long after the alcoholic has stopped his or her drinking, significant alterations in the way in which the alcoholic’s brain operates are still present. As a result, all a recovering alcoholic has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the changes that have taken place in the brain is to begin drinking again.
A Requirement for An Essential Lifestyle Change
There are other reasons why more than a few recovering alcohol dependent individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. According to the alcohol dependency research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcoholic needs new ways of responding and thinking in order to deal more successfully with difficult alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.
Circumstances 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 individual was drinking abusively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these circumstances can elicit memories that can trigger psychological stress or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent person to engage in irresponsible drinking once again. Regrettably, all of these situations may not only counteract ongoing sobriety for the alcohol addicted person but they can also lead to relapse and thus short-circuit one’s alcohol recovery.
The Good News: There’s a Lot of Hope for a Lasting Recovery
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcoholic, family members can in fact cause inadvertent damage by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcoholic.
The alcohol abuse research literature confirms the fact that most individuals who effectively complete alcohol rehabilitation go through at least one relapse. Alcohol addicted persons and their family members need to know this so that they do not get dejected or stressed out when a relapse occurs.
Luckily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up therapy and education have resulted in more successful, lasting alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency therapeutic results, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent individuals reach long standing alcohol recovery.