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How And When To Use An Alcohol Detox At Home
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How to Beat Alcoholism
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free alcohol treatment
Alcoholism affects 140 million people world wide, thus it's no wonder that free alcohol treatment is something that is in high demand.
Alcoholism is loosely defined as the inability to control one's drinking. Many people tend to think of alcoholics as only those who drink all day every day, but there are many other types of drinkers that fall under the rubric of alcoholic. For example, someone who only drinks once a week, but drinks excessively on that one night could be termed an alcoholic. Someone who only drinks a few drinks a night, but feels compelled to drink every night, could also be considered an alcoholic.
Alcohol dependence involves use of alcohol that leads to tolerance, withdrawal, and an uncontrollable desire to drink, along with the use of alcohol despite adverse consequences. When defined this way, it is clear that many people we don't tend to think of as alcoholics, actually could fall into the category. College students, for example, often drink to the point where they have lost some aspect of their ability to control drinking, and they tend to drink despite adverse consequences (arrests, unintended sexual encounters, etc.). In fact, many efforts at providing free alcohol treatment target this specific population.
Alcohol users tend to go through several stages as they progress to alcohol dependence. In the first stage, sometimes called the adaptive stage, a drinker will not experience any real negative side effects from drinking. For many people, this stage occurs at a relatively young age. In the adaptive stage, a drinker experiences all of the "benefits" of alcohol (e.g. increased sociability, euphoria, etc.) but has not faced any negative consequences from its use. A hangover may be the exception, but since it is a transient negative state, someone in the adaptive stage may look past its importance.
During the adaptive stage, however, physiological changes are occurring that are leading to the next stage of alcohol dependence: the dependent stage. The changes involve slowly increasing tolerance and the development of withdrawal symptoms. Tolerance grows slowly, and initially many drinkers will take pride in their ability to "handle" more alcohol without thinking of it as tolerance. Hangover symptoms will get worse, and alcohol users often don't realize that this is because they are beginning to experience withdrawal symptoms at the same time as their hangovers. They will frequently begin drinking more to deal with the more severe withdrawal symptoms. It is at this stage that free alcohol treatment can often have the most beneficial effect. However, many people going through the dependent stage have yet to realize that they are indeed addicted to alcohol.
If dependence goes on unchecked, a person will advance to the deterioration stage. In this stage, the body begins to break down as a result of unrestrained alcohol use. There are a number of negative health conditions that can begin to arise in this stage. One common result of chronic alcoholism is cirrhosis, or liver disease. Cirrhosis can be serious enough to require a liver transplant. Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that is also associated with chronic alcoholism. It can also lead to serious psychiatric disorders, like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which can seriously impair memory.
Because of the serious consequences of alcoholism, many of those who suffer from it could benefit from free alcohol treatment. The first step of alcohol treatment usually involves safe withdrawal from alcohol. Often referred to as detoxification, or detox, involves abruptly stopping the ingestion of alcohol. This can be dangerous if not done in a medically monitored fashion. It usually involves the administration of drugs to reduce withdrawal symptoms. Drugs commonly used for this purpose include benzodiazepines like Valium or Ativan.
After detoxification has been accomplished, the next step in free alcohol treatment is to begin understanding the need to drink. For some alcoholics, the desire to drink stems from something that can be corrected with therapy. A common example is social anxiety or low self-esteem. Some people who suffer from these disorders begin drinking in order to feel more comfortable around others or in crowds. If this problem can be addressed, it may reduce their need for alcohol. Other reasons for drinking include traumatic events in the past. Sometimes people will drink to forget about something traumatic that has happened to them. Discussing such events through therapy can help someone to get over their need to drink to forget them.
Free alcohol treatment also can involve a group therapy aspect. In group therapy sessions, several alcohol abusers will discuss their current and past problems. A moderator will try to help make the sessions constructive by identifying key issues the group brings up. The therapist may also spend time teaching the group about coping mechanisms, or use one individual's experiences as an example to learn from. For those who suffer from social anxiety, group therapy can be an especially important time to learn to overcome their fears.
Eventually, an individual must progress from free alcohol treatment to going back to their normal life alcohol-free. This is a significant test. Often, it is the cues that an individual was exposed to in their daily life that bring back the urge to drink. Thus, it is usually assimilation back into normal living that requires close interaction with a therapist or counselor. This is also an opportune time to ensure that one has a sponsor, or a non-therapist individual who can help talk someone through a crisis. This may prevent them from turning back to alcohol to deal with their problems.
Alcoholism is a serious illness. Its onset can be very slow and insidious, and often it isn't until it has begun to have serious detrimental effects that someone realizes they are an alcoholic. Unfortunately, until that realization is made, it is often very difficult to provide effective treatment. It is important, however, to have family and friends that can recognize the warning signs of alcoholism so they can have treatment ready when it will be accepted.