Alcoholism, Enabling And Alcohol Relapse, Why Many Recovering Alcohol Dependent Individuals Go Back To Drinking, And The Main Reason Why Relapses Take Place
It is interesting to mention something that family members who have been negatively affected by the signs of alcoholism of another family member clearly do not know. It appears that by protecting the alcohol dependent individual with lies and dishonesty to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have actually created a circumstance that makes it easier for the alcoholic to carry on and press forward with his or her harmful, devastating style of life.
In fact, rather than helping the alcoholic and themselves, these family members have in fact become enablers who have inadvertently helped negatively affect the alcoholic's drinking problems and increase his or her negative "alcohol signs."
Another one of the key alcohol abuse signs or alcoholism signs involves alcohol relapses. Relapses occur when an alcohol addicted person or chronic alcohol abuser has effectively undergone alcohol addiction rehabilitation and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this situation flies in the face of logical thinking and seems so far-fetched that it forces one to wonder why anyone who has gone through the dreadfulness of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after effective and successful alcohol rehabilitation and in turn after attaining recovery. There are, of course, more than a few credible reasons for this.
It should be pointed out, nevertheless that alcohol addiction research that has centered on the long standing effects of alcohol addiction has demonstrated-proven that long after the alcoholic has stopped her or his drinking, significant alterations in the way in which the alcohol dependent individual's brain works are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol dependent individual has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the transformations that have taken place in the brain is to engage in drinking again.
There are additional reasons why many recovering alcohol dependent persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. According to the alcoholism research literature, to make a successful recovery, the alcohol addicted individual needs new ways of acting and thinking in order to deal more successfully with difficult alcohol-related circumstances that will happen.
Issues such as returning to the same alcohol addictive environment or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the days when the alcohol dependent individual was drinking abusively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities-all of these situations can bring about memories that can set off psychological stress or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol addicted person to engage in excessive drinking once again.
Regrettably, all of these situations may not only contradict long lasting sobriety for the alcohol addicted individual but they can also lead to relapse and thus counteract one's sobriety. In an attempt to "protect" the family, alcohol addicted family members can in fact cause unintentional damage by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent person.
The substance abuse research literature highlights the fact that most individuals who successfully complete alcohol treatment experience at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get depressed or stressed out when a relapse takes place.
Luckily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up counseling and education have resulted in more effective, enduring alcohol abuse and alcoholism therapeutic results, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcoholics attain long standing alcohol recovery.
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