Alcohol Relapse and When Helping the Alcoholic Becomes Hazardous
It is worthy of note to point out something that family members who have been harmfully affected by the alcohol addiction of another family member evidently do not understand. It seems to be that by shielding the alcohol dependent individual with lies and deceit to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have essentially created a condition that makes it easier for the alcoholic to persist and move forward with his or her negative, detrimental lifestyle.
Indeed, instead of helping the alcohol dependent individual and themselves, these family members have in fact become enablers who have mistakenly helped negatively affect the alcohol addicted individual’s drinking problem even more.
Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol dependent individual will continue drinking in an abusive manner and go through a range of “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include employment difficulties, legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DWIs), ill health, deteriorating relationships, serious financial problems, and diminished mental functioning.
Relapses Can and Do Happen
According to the research findings and statistics on alcohol dependency, another key alcohol dependency issue concerns alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted individual has fruitfully gone through alcohol dependency treatment and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this predicament seems contradictory to common sense and sounds so improbable that it forces a person to speculate why anyone who has gone through the horrors of alcoholism can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol rehabilitation and in turn after reaching recovery. There are, to be sure, numerous rational reasons for this.
It should be highlighted, then again that alcoholism research that has focused on the lasting consequences of alcohol addiction has shown that long after the alcohol dependent individual has halted his or her drinking, major changes in the way in which the alcohol dependent individual’s brain operates are still present. As a result, all a recovering alcohol addicted individual has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the alterations that have come about in the brain is to start drinking again.
The Need for A Significant Lifestyle Modification
There are additional reasons why numerous recovering alcoholics return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. According to the alcohol dependency research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcoholic needs new ways of responding and thinking in order to deal more efficiently with challenging alcohol-related situations that will take place.
Circumstances 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 conditions can bring forth memories that can set off psychological tension or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent individual to engage in irresponsible drinking once again. Regrettably, all of these situations may not only counteract ongoing alcohol recovery for the alcoholic but they can also lead to relapse and as a result short-circuit one’s alcohol recovery.
The Good News: There’s a Lot of Hope for Lasting Sobriety
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol dependent person, family members can actually cause inadvertent harm by enabling the unsafe drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent individual.
The drug abuse research literature highlights the fact that most individuals who successfully complete alcohol therapy 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 happens.
Happily, participation in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up therapy and training have resulted in more productive, long standing alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction therapeutic results, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent individuals achieve long lasting alcohol recovery.