Getting Help for Drinking Problems
Post date: 2006-10-16
There is a World of Help Available!
If you have decided, for whatever reason, that you want to stop drinking, there is a world of help and support available.
To get a better picture of where you are now, so that you can make an informed decision about how to proceed, perhaps the first person to talk with should be your family doctor.
Sometimes admitting to yourself and others that you need help can be one of the most difficult steps to take on your road to recovery. As the The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) says in it's information:
"Acknowledging that help is needed for an alcohol problem may not be easy. But keep in mind that the sooner a person gets help, the better are his or her chances for a successful recovery.
"Any reluctance you may feel about discussing your drinking with your health care professional may stem from common misconceptions about alcoholism and alcoholic people.
In our society, the myth prevails that an alcohol problem is somehow a sign of moral weakness.
"As a result, you may feel that to seek help is to admit some type of shameful defect in yourself. In fact, however, alcoholism is a disease that is no more a sign of weakness than is asthma or diabetes.
"When you visit your health care provider, he or she will ask you a number of questions about your alcohol use to determine whether you are experiencing problems related to your drinking. Try to answer these questions as fully and honestly as you can.
"You also will be given a physical examination. If your health care professional concludes that you may be dependent on alcohol, he or she may recommend that you see a specalist in diagnosing and treating alcoholism. You should be involved in making referral decisions and have all treatment choices explained to you."
Treatment
Based on your doctor's assessment of the severity of your problem, your treatment could involve several phases. If you have become "chemically dependent" upon alcohol, treatment may include detoxification; taking doctor-prescribed medications, to help prevent a return to drinking once drinking has stopped; and individual and/or group counseling.
Counseling can help you identify situations and feelings that "trigger" the urge to drink and to find new ways to respond that do not include alcohol. These treatments are usually available in a hospital or residential treatment facility or on an outpatient basis.
Because the involvement of family members can be important, many programs also offer marital counseling and family therapy as part of the treatment process.
But at the NIAAA brochures report, "virtually all alcoholism treatment programs also include meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which describes itself as a "worldwide fellowship of men and women who help each other to stay sober."
Alcoholics Anonymous, which uses a spiritual (but not religious) program of recovery, has helped literally millions of people find their paths to recovery since its inception in 1935.
However, not everyone responds to AA's approach and message, and other recovery approaches are available, including Christian, Jewish and non-theistic programs. Even those who are helped by AA sometimes find that AA works best in combination with other forms of treatment, including counseling and medical care.
The expense of medical treatment, residential facilities and professional counseling is not an option for everyone. For those alcoholics, the self-help, support-group approach can be their only option.
Because Alcoholism is a disease that effects the entire family, other family members may benefit from the Al-Anon and Alateen programs.
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