Alcohol Relapse and When Helping the Alcoholic Becomes Risky
It is remarkable to mention something that family members who have been unfavorably affected by the alcoholism of another family member clearly do not know. It appears that by shielding the alcohol addicted individual with falsehoods and dishonesty to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in reality created a circumstance that makes it easier for the alcoholic to persevere and press forward with his or her harmful, devastating style of life.
Without a doubt, rather than helping the alcoholic and themselves, these family members have basically become enablers who have mistakenly helped negatively affect the drinking problems of the problem drinker even further.
Relapses Can and Do Happen
Another key alcohol addiction issue concerns alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol dependent individual has fruitfully gone through alcohol addiction rehab and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this circumstance flies in the face of sound thinking and looks so unbelievable that it forces an individual to question why anyone who has gone through the horrors of alcohol dependency can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after achieving recovery. There are, to be sure, more than a few feasible reasons for this.
It should be explained, nevertheless that alcohol dependency research that has focused on the enduring consequences of alcohol dependency has demonstrated-proven that long after the alcohol dependent individual has terminated his or her drinking, fundamental changes in the way in which the alcohol addicted individual’s brain functions are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol dependent person has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the transformations that have come about in the brain is to engage in drinking again.
The Necessity for An Important Lifestyle Modification
There are additional reasons why several recovering alcoholics 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 addicted person needs new ways of reacting and thinking in order to deal more successfully with tough alcohol-related situations that will take place.
Situations such as returning to the same alcohol addictive atmosphere or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the days when the alcohol addicted person was drinking excessively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these situations can bring about memories that can set off psychological anxiety or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcoholic to engage in excessive drinking once again. Regrettably, all of these circumstances may not only get in the way of long-term alcohol recovery for the alcoholic but they can also result in relapse and thus cancel out one’s alcohol recovery.
Conclusion
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol dependent person, family members can essentially cause unplanned harm by enabling the unsafe drinking behavior of the alcoholic.
The substance abuse research literature highlights the fact that most individuals who effectively complete alcohol rehabilitation experience at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get depressed or beleaguered when a relapse takes place.
Happily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up therapy and education have resulted in more successful, enduring alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency therapeutic results, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted persons achieve long standing alcohol recovery.