Alcohol Relapse, Enabling, and Alcohol Dependency
It is remarkable to point out something that family members who have been unfavorably affected by the alcoholism of another family member clearly do not comprehend. It seems that by shielding the alcoholic with untruths and deceitfulness 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 persist and move forward with his or her unsafe, devastating lifestyle.
Undeniably, instead of helping the alcohol addicted individual and themselves, these family members have in fact become enablers who have involuntarily helped deteriorate the alcohol dependent person’s drinking difficulties even further. Evidently, this is not something that is helpful to problem drinkers.
The Possibility of a Relapse is Real
Another key alcohol dependency issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcoholic has fruitfully gone through alcoholism rehab and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this situation flies in the face of commonsensical thinking and looks so implausible that it forces an individual to wonder why anyone who has lived through the dejection of alcoholism can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after achieving recovery. There are, without a doubt, more than a few rational reasons for this.
It should be pointed out, nonetheless that alcohol dependency research that has centered on the enduring outcomes of alcoholism has revealed that long after the alcoholic has stopped his or her drinking, critical alterations in the way in which the alcoholic’s brain operates are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol dependent person has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the changes that have taken place in the brain is to start drinking again.
A Requirement for A Far Reaching Lifestyle Modification
There are additional reasons why several recovering alcohol dependent individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after achieving sobriety. According to the alcoholism research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcohol dependent individual needs new ways of reacting and thinking in order to deal more competently with tough alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.
Issues 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 irresponsibly; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these conditions can bring forth memories that can prompt psychological stress or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol addicted individual to engage in excessive drinking once again. Regrettably, all of these circumstances may not only contradict lasting alcohol recovery for the alcoholic but they can also lead to relapse and therefore cancel out one’s alcohol recovery.
Conclusion
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted person, family members can actually cause unplanned damage by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcohol addicted person.
The addiction research literature validates the fact that most individuals who effectively complete alcohol rehabilitation experience at least one relapse. Alcoholics and their family members need to know this so that they do not get down in the dumps or beleaguered when a relapse occurs.
Fortunately, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up rehab and training have resulted in more effective, ongoing alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency treatment results, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent individuals achieve ongoing sobriety.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:07 am
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July 22nd, 2009 at 4:47 am
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