Alcohol Relapse, Enabling, and Alcoholism
It is interesting to bring up something that family members who have been harmfully affected by the alcoholism of another family member apparently do not grasp. It seems that by shielding the alcohol addicted individual with untruths and deceitfulness to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in actual fact created a condition that makes it easier for the alcoholic to persist and press forward with his or her harmful, devastating existence.
Undeniably, rather than helping the alcohol dependent individual and themselves, these family members have in truth become enablers who have inadvertently helped worsen the alcoholic’s drinking problem even further.
Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcoholic will continue drinking in an irresponsible and hazardous manner and experience diverse “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include employment difficulties, poor health, deteriorating relationships, diminished mental functioning, legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DUIs), and considerable financial problems.
The Probability of a Relapse is Real
According to the research literature and statistics on alcohol addiction, another key alcohol addiction issue concerns alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted individual has effectively gone through alcohol addiction therapy and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this predicament flies in the face of sound thinking and appears to be so unrealistic that it forces an individual to speculate why anyone who has gone through the dejection of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol treatment and in turn after reaching sobriety. There are, of course, many reasonable reasons for this.
It should be highlighted, conversely that alcohol dependency research that has focused on the long-term effects of alcohol dependency has shown that long after the alcohol dependent individual has discontinued his or her drinking, key transformations in the way in which the alcohol dependent individual’s brain operates are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcoholic has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the transformations that have taken place in the brain is to begin drinking once again.
The Need for An Important Lifestyle Transformation
There are other reasons why many recovering alcohol addicted persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after achieving sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol addiction 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 taxing alcohol-related situations that will take place.
Conditions such as returning to the same alcohol addictive atmosphere or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the time when the alcohol addicted individual was drinking irresponsibly; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these situations can bring forth memories that can trigger 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 long-term sobriety for the alcohol addicted person but they can also result in relapse and as a result negate one’s alcohol recovery.
The Good News: Quality Help is Readily Available
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcoholic, family members can in point of fact cause unintended destruction by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent person.
The alcoholism research literature confirms the fact that most individuals who effectively complete alcohol therapy go through at least one relapse. Alcohol addicted individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get depressed or stressed out when a relapse takes place.
Fortunately, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up therapy and training have resulted in more productive, ongoing alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency rehab results, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted persons achieve ongoing alcohol recovery.
Tags: alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol dependency, alcohol rehab, alcohol treatment, alcoholism, drinking problems, enabling, sobriety