Careless and Excessive Drinking, an Enabling Wife, Inspiration for Constructive Change and Successful Alcohol Dependency Treatment, and Better Communication With Her Husband
Apr0
It took more than a few years but Emily eventually made up her mind that she had enough with her husband’s excessive and unhealthy drinking. She was sick and tired of seeing Barry come home in the early hours of the morning from drinking rather than spending much needed time with the family. She was also exhausted from the second DWI Barry recently got. Moreover she was weary from creating reasons for her spouse when he couldn’t show up for work due to his problems with drinking. In a similar manner she was apprehensive and depressed about the fact that their relationship was deteriorating due to Barry’s careless drinking. And finally she was weary from the hazardous financial jam into which he had placed his family because of his harmful drinking behavior. In sum, Emily felt that her mental health was fading away because of her husband’s drinking problems.
When Irresponsible and Abusive Drinking Inspires a Person to do Something Productive About a Person’s Drinking Problem
One Thursday afternoon when Emily was thinking about what she could do about her husband’s excessive and hazardous drinking, she got to the point that she frankly had to do something positive to cut into the destructive cycle of Barry’s excessive and hazardous drinking behavior.
So she looked online under “alcohol treatment” and found a number of rehabilitation centers that were all located less than twenty-five miles away from where her husband and she resided. Since she didn’t know a lot about these rehabilitation clinics, she eventually decided that she needed to call some of them and ask some important questions. When she called each rehabilitation center she identified who she was and articulated that Barry, her husband, was exhibiting careless and excessive drinking behavior. She also said that Barry, her spouse, had an excellent health insurance program at his job and that residential or outpatient alcohol treatment would be covered if a health care professional in the company health plan recommended the treatment.
At one treatment center, Emily was pleasantly surprised that she was able to converse directly with a healthcare professional who suggested that she come in to describe her husband’s hazardous and abusive drinking behavior in greater detail.
Emily Talks to a Psychologist About Her Husband’s Irresponsible and Abusive Drinking
When Emily got to the treatment clinic, she filled out some required paperwork and then promptly got to see a therapist. After listening to Emily talk about her husband’s harmful drinking, the healthcare professional in a compassionate but firm way explained to Emily how she more likely than not played a major part in her husband’s careless and hazardous drinking through the months and the years by covering for him rather than allowing him to go through the consequences of his abusive and careless drinking behavior.
Emily Finds Out She Has Been Enabling Her Husband’s Excessive and Irresponsible Drinking
Stated in a slightly different way, the doctor told Emily that she may have been accidentally enabling Barry’s excessive and abusive drinking behavior. The healthcare professional also stressed the fact that while Emily could not control her spouse’s actions, with the support and guidance of the rehabilitation team at the rehab center she would not only be able to learn how to stop contributing to Barry’s abusive and unhealthy drinking but she could also learn how to motivate him to make an appointment at the rehabilitation clinic so that he could talk about his hazardous and excessive drinking behavior with a counselor.
The good news was that after Emily revealed this to Barry, and he saw that she meant business, Barry told her that he had been extremely concerned about his careless drinking behavior and that he was somewhat pleased to hear that Emily wanted to do something constructive about his hazardous and abusive drinking behavior. Consequently, he scheduled an appointment to see a psychologist at the local alcohol rehabilitation facility. Needless to say this augmented Emily’s self-worth.
Barry Agrees to Meet With a Counselor About His Excessive and Irresponsible Drinking
While simply calling a treatment clinic does not mean that an individual’s unhealthy and excessive drinking behavior will stop or that one’s warning signs of alcoholism or the alcohol abuse signs one displays will simply go away, scheduling an appointment is evidently a necessary factor in the rehab process. And since Barry was serious about getting quality help for his careless and abusive drinking, the probability for a successful recovery was considerably increased.
When Excessive and Heavy Drinking Results in Serious Health Problems
Oct0
For more than a few years alcohol dependency research has revealed the fact that there is strong association between alcohol dependency and dangerous health conditions.
For instance, in 2005, scientific investigation and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics demonstrated the fact that that alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction cost the United States an estimated $220 billion per year. It may be noted that this immense alcohol-related cash disbursement was significantly more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is appropriate to accentuate these facts, it is also important to point out that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More specifically, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.
Certainly, substance abuse investigation has demonstrated the fact that alcohol addiction can increase the risk for various forms of cancer, particularly cancer of the colon, voice box (larynx), liver, rectum, throat, kidneys, and the esophagus. Abusive and repetitive drinking can also lead to immune system problems and deformity to the fetus during pregnancy.
Excessive and Hazardous Drinking Destabilizes the Person’s Systems and Organs
Furthermore, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in an unhealthy manner. For instance, repeated, excessive drinking is especially hurtful to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and destroys the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This condition leads to a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can sooner or later lead to cirrhosis of the liver, an acute and potentially fatal medical problem.Heavy, long-term drinking not only can lead to severe liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this severe may be irreversible and may, in turn, result in serious ill health or an early death.
The Significance of Alcohol Counseling
It is imperative, then, to know how to identify the various alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol dependent individual can be given the opportunity to seek the quality alcohol treatment he or she requires.
Alcoholism and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration
Fortuitously, scientific investigation is persistently finding innovative and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration provides a good example. Stated another way, for roughly the last ten years, complex brain-imaging scanning devices have confirmed that repetitive and recurring excessive drinking transforms the constitution of the brain to a substantial extent, consequently resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or possibly as long as the individual exists.
Stated another way, medical exploration has revealed that individuals who have been drinking in an irresponsible manner for a considerable length of time increase their risk for developing lasting and severe modifications in the brain.
This type of damage may be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health or directly related to the alcohol’s effects on the brain or to severe liver disease.
Malnutrition, Excessive Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final illustration of diverse medical problems that are substantially correlated to alcohol addiction, consider that according to medical examination, the excessive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a medical condition that decreases the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
This form of organ malfunctioning is related to malnutrition and to a variety of severe mental and neurological disorders including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is a long lasting debilitating health problem that is epitomized by persistent memory and learning complications.
Conclusion
It is clear that repetitive, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly correlated with a variety of severe medical conditions that can and do lead to serious diseases and premature death. Such information needs to be stressed and presented to everyone in our society so that most people will be able to refrain from irresponsible drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the quality therapy they need.