Alcoholism Rehabilitation

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Depending on the extent of the program, alcoholism rehabilitation refers to the medical, educational, social, and/or psychotherapeutic treatment processes required for alcoholism recovery. The ultimate goal of alcoholism rehabilitation is to help the alcoholic refrain from drinking alcohol so that he or she can avoid the financial, legal, emotional, social, and physical consequences that are typically associated with alcoholism.

Tolerance and the Alcoholism Rehabilitation Process

With the regular consumption of alcohol, the brain gradually adjusts to the alcohol so that normal functioning takes place.

This not only explains how physical tolerance develops but it also explains why more and more alcohol is required to get the same "buzz" or "high" with regular use.

When an individual suddenly stops drinking alcohol, however, he or she typically encounters alcohol withdrawal symptoms that may require days or weeks to go by before the body returns to "normal."

The alcoholism rehabilitation process has two main components: physical dependency and psychological dependency.

Treating physical dependency generally involves two processes: controlling the alcohol withdrawal symptoms in a safe manner and initiating the alcohol detoxification process that is necessary in order for the body to rid itself of alcohol.

Dealing with psychological dependency, on the other hand, typically involves teaching the alcoholic new ways of interacting in an alcohol-free environment.

Types of Alcoholism Rehabilitation Programs

There are a variety of programs that facilitate the alcoholism rehabilitation process such as residential treatment (in-patient), local support groups, extended care centers, out-patient, and sober houses. Within these programs are different sub-programs such as therapeutic community alcohol rehabs, Alcoholics Anonymous, religious-based rehabs, and medical model rehabs.

Alcoholism Rehab Success Stories

The Success of Alcoholism Rehab Services and Programs. Not unlike other diseases and illnesses, alcohol addiction can be overcome with proper treatment, prevention, and increased research efforts. By providing more individuals with access to effective care, the costly drain on society and the physical, financial, and emotional burdens it places on families can be significantly reduced or minimized.

To illustrate some of the successes that are possible with different alcoholism rehab programs, consider the following: research has shown irrefutably that professional alcoholism rehab treatment and successful prevention results in significant reductions in traffic fatalities, cancer, HIV, unwanted pregnancy, hearth disease, crime, child abuse, and strokes.

image: female ad for alcohol and drug counseling

Not only this, but quality treatment and effective drug and alcoholism rehab programs have been shown to improve health, quality of life, and job performance while at the same time reducing drug use, family dysfunction, and involvement with the criminal justice system.

25% of all emergency room admissions, 33% of all suicides, and more than 50% of all homicides and incidents of domestic violence are alcohol-related.

Traditional Alcoholism Rehabilitation Approaches

There are several traditional alcoholism rehab approaches that are relatively well established and widely available. The following is a description of these different alcoholism rehab programs.

Detoxification. Alcohol detoxification is the process of letting the body rid itself of alcohol while managing the withdrawal symptoms in a harmless atmosphere. Alcohol detox treatment is usually done under the supervision of a medical doctor and is often the first step employed in an alcoholism treatment protocol. Since detox programs usually have a relatively long therapeutic time frame, these approaches are typically part of an inpatient, residential alcoholism rehab program.

United States alcoholism statistics demonstrate that individuals who start using alcohol before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholic at some time in their lives, compared to those who start drinking at the legal age of 21.

Behavioral Rehab. This approach to rehab focuses mainly on initiating different ways of altering a person's actions and behaviors. Examples include Alcoholics Anonymous, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Motivation Enhancement Therapy. It is interesting to note that a study administered by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism discovered that each of these behavioral rehab approaches greatly reduced drinking in alcoholics one year after treatment. Although all of these programs were considered "successful," none of them, however, could be singled out as "the best" alcoholism rehab program.

Your doctor needs to know you're going through alcohol withdrawal so he or she can make sure it doesn't lead to more serious health problems.

Therapeutic Medications. This rehab methodology centers on the client taking doctor-prescribed drugs such as disulfiram (Antabuse) or naltrexone (ReViaT) to help prevent the alcoholic from returning to drinking after he or she has consumed alcohol. Stated differently, in this approach, doctors prescribe medications to treat an alcoholic's alcoholism.

For instance, Antabuse is a drug given to alcoholics that elicits negative responses such as flushing, dizziness, vomiting, and nausea if alcohol is consumed. Antabuse is effective, to a great extent, however, because it is a strong deterrent. Naltrexone (ReViaT), on the other hand, is employed in an entirely different manner in that it targets the brain's reward circuits as it effectively reduces the craving the alcoholic has for alcohol.

In most Western countries, including the United States, the lifetime chance of developing alcoholism is about 10% for men and 3% to 5% for women. Although there is strong evidence that at least part of a person's risk for alcoholism is inherited, having a family history of alcoholism does not guarantee that someone will become an alcoholic.

Outpatient Alcohol Treatment and Counseling. These are usually rehab approaches that teach alcoholics how to become aware of the situational and psychological "hot buttons" that trigger their drinking behavior. Equipped with this information, alcoholics can learn about different ways in which they can cope with situations that do not include the consumption of alcohol. Alcohol rehab programs such as these, unlike detox rehab approaches, are usually offered on an outpatient basis.

Quitting is the only way to stop the problems alcohol is causing in your life. It may not be easy to quit. But your efforts will be rewarded by better health, better relationships and a sense of accomplishment. As you think about quitting, you may want to make a list of your reasons to quit.

Residential Alcohol Treatment Programs and Inpatient Alcohol Rehab. If the individual's withdrawal symptoms are too severe, if the individual needs alcohol poisoning treatment, if outpatient and support-oriented programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous are not effective, or if there's a need for alcohol AND drug abuse rehab, the person typically has to enroll into an alcohol rehab facility or a hospital and receive inpatient alcoholism rehab. Such programs are targeted mainly for relatively long term alcoholism rehab and usually include doctor-prescribed medications to help the alcoholic get through detox and the alcohol withdrawal process in a harm-free manner.

Screening for problem drinking and alcoholism needs to become an integral part of the routine health screening questionnaire for adolescents and all adults, particularly women of child-bearing age, because of the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Alcoholics Anonymous

Perhaps the best known and one of the most successful alcoholism rehab programs is Alcoholics Anonymous. Alcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide affiliation of men and women from all walks of life who share their strengths, aspirations, and experiences with one other in the hope that they may solve their mutual addiction problem and assist others in their quest to recover from alcohol dependence.

Risk is not destiny. Just because alcoholism tends to run in families doesn't mean that a child of an alcoholic parent will automatically become an alcoholic too. Some people develop alcoholism even though no one in their family has a drinking problem. By the same token, not all children of alcoholic families get into trouble with alcohol. Knowing you are at risk is important, though, because then you can take steps to protect yourself from developing problems with alcohol.

The only condition for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking alcohol. As a result, total abstinence from alcohol is advocated by the organization. Members make a conscious effort to abstain from drinking and continue with their alcoholism rehab that is accomplished "one day at a time." Sobriety is achieved through mutual support as members share their experiences, strengths, and their hopes.

Of men aged 18-25 years, 60% binge drink. (Binge drinking is defined as 5 alcoholic drinks for men [4 for women] in a row.) Binge drinking significantly increases the risk of injury and contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Women who binge drink at this age are at higher risk of becoming pregnant and potentially harming an unborn child.

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

One of the essential aspects of the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) rehabilitation program is articulated in the Twelve Steps. Based on the experiences of Alcoholics Anonymous' earliest members, the 12 Steps represent the documented practices and principles, acquired through trail and error, that the early members established in order to maintain sobriety.

The alcoholic patient and everyone involved should fully understand that alcoholism is a disease and that the responses to this disease (such as need, craving, fear of withdrawal) are not character flaws but symptoms, just as pain or discomfort are symptoms of other illnesses.

The following represents the 12 Steps in the Alcoholics Anonymous alcoholism rehab program:

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

source: www.alcoholics-anonymous.org

After a screening questionnaire has identified problem drinking, the physician may question the patient further to determine the severity of alcohol misuse. The physician may try brief intervention and/or suggest AA, or refer the patient to an addiction specialist.

The SMART Rehab Program

Another alcoholism rehab program that does not rely on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and is, in fact, an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous is the Self Management And Recovery Training (SMART) program. The developers of the SMART alcoholism rehab program believe that each person must discover his or her own path to rehab or recovery. For some people, for instance, this path might be the traditional Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program.

image: male ad for alcohol and drug treatment

While the SMART program is noticeably different than the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program, it does not, however, exclude Alcoholics Anonymous. Indeed, some individuals who follow the SMART methodology also choose to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings because they feel that what they experience at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings helps them on their path to alcoholism rehab and long-term recovery.

Like many other diseases, alcoholism is chronic, meaning that it lasts a person's lifetime; it usually follows a predictable course; and it has symptoms. The risk for developing alcoholism is influenced both by a person's genes and by his or her lifestyle.

The SMART drug and alcohol rehab and recovery program is based on scientific information and provides specific techniques and tools for each of the following four program points:

Point 1:
Enhancing and maintaining the motivation to refrain from drugs or alcohol

Point 2:
Coping with urges to take drugs or to drink

Point 3:
Learning problem solving skills such as learning how to better manage feelings, actions, and thoughts

Point 4:
Becoming skilled at lifestyle balance such as balancing momentary and other pleasures

source: http://www.smartrecovery.org/

Alcoholism Rehabilitation: Conclusion

Since it is possible to construct an almost endless list of detrimental effects that directly or indirectly are caused by alcoholism, it seems reasonable for alcoholics to learn how to refrain from drinking alcohol, to involve themselves in the alcoholism rehabilitation process, and to actively seek to restore their lives.

Whether a alcoholic requires alcohol abuse rehab, inpatient alcohol detox, or outpatient alcohol counseling, the goal of alcohol abstinence is worth pursuing especially when the destructive and unhealthy consequences of alcoholism are taken into consideration.

Indeed, it really does not make any significant difference whether a person chooses a more traditional program such as the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program, a lesser known approach like the SMART rehab approach, or one of the many other quality alcoholism rehab methodologies. What does matter, however is this: alcoholics need to acknowledge that they have a drinking problem, they must want to stop drinking, and they need to find an alcoholism rehab program that works for them.

image: male ad for drug and alcohol counseling

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Considerable evidence shows that long-lasting neurobiologic changes in the brains of alcoholics contribute to the persistence of craving. At any stage during recovery, relapse can be triggered by internal factors (depression, anxiety, craving for alcohol) or external factors (environmental triggers, social pressures, negative life events). Psychosocial treatments concentrate on helping patients to understand, anticipate, and prevent relapse.

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