Alcohol Relapse and When Helping the Alcoholic Becomes Injurious
It is interesting to articulate something that family members who have been unfavorably affected by the alcohol addiction of another family member clearly do not comprehend. It seems that by shielding the alcohol addicted individual with untruths and dishonesty to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in effect created a condition that makes it easier for the alcohol addicted person to persevere and proceed with his or her hurtful, destructive style of life.
Clearly, rather than helping the alcohol addicted person and themselves, these family members have in truth become enablers who have unintentionally helped deteriorate the alcohol addicted person’s drinking problem even more.
Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol addicted individual will continue drinking in a hazardous and irresponsible manner and go through diverse “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 Probability of a Relapse is Real
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 individual has fruitfully gone through alcoholism treatment and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this predicament flies in the face of common sense and appears to be so implausible that it forces one to wonder why anyone who has gone through the dejection of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol rehab and in turn after achieving recovery. There are, of course, numerous feasible reasons for this.
It should be mentioned, nevertheless that alcohol dependency research that has centered on the long-term consequences of alcoholism has revealed that long after the alcohol addicted individual has terminated his or her drinking, major transformations in the way in which the alcohol dependent person’s brain functions are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcoholic has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the modifications that have occurred in the brain is to start drinking once again.
The Need for An Important Lifestyle Modification
There are even more reasons why numerous recovering alcoholics return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after achieving sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol dependency research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcohol dependent individual needs new ways of acting and thinking in order to deal more effectively with demanding alcohol-related situations that will take place.
Issues such as returning to the same alcohol addictive atmosphere or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the days when the alcoholic was drinking in a hazardous manner; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these conditions can bring about memories that can set off psychological anxiety or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent person to engage in irresponsible drinking once again. Sadly, all of these situations may not only contradict ongoing sobriety for the alcoholic but they can also result in relapse and consequently work against one’s sobriety.
The Good News: There’s Light at the End of the Tunnel
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol dependent person, family members can in point of fact cause unintentional destruction by enabling the unsafe drinking behavior of the alcohol addicted person.
The alcoholism research literature highlights the fact that most people who successfully complete alcohol rehab go through at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get defeated or overwhelmed when a relapse occurs.
Happily, participation in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up treatment and training have resulted in more productive, long lasting alcohol abuse and alcoholism therapeutic outcomes, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent persons reach long standing sobriety.