It is fascinating to bring up something that family members who have been harmfully affected by the alcoholism of another family member apparently do not comprehend. It seems that by protecting the alcoholic with falsehoods and deceitfulness to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have essentially created a condition that makes it easier for the alcoholic to persevere and advance with his or her damaging, destructive daily life.
Undeniably, rather than helping the alcohol dependent individual and themselves, these family members have in truth become enablers who have inadvertently helped negatively affect the drinking problems of the problem drinker even further.
The Probability of a Relapse is Real
Another key alcohol dependency issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted individual has successfully gone through alcohol addiction treatment and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this predicament seems contradictory to common sense and looks so implausible that it forces an individual to wonder why anyone who has experienced the terror of alcoholism can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after reaching recovery. There are, without a doubt, more than a few plausible reasons for this.
It should be mentioned, however that alcohol addiction research that has centered on the long-term consequences of alcohol addiction has shown that long after the alcohol dependent individual has stopped his or her drinking, significant transformations in the way in which the alcohol dependent person’s brain operates are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol dependent individual has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the transformations that have taken place in the brain is to engage in drinking once again.
A Requirement for An Important Lifestyle Change
There are other reasons why more than a few recovering alcohol dependent individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after achieving sobriety. In accordance to the alcoholism research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcohol dependent individual needs new ways of responding and thinking in order to deal more successfully with tough alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.
Situations 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 excessively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these circumstances 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 work against enduring alcohol recovery for the alcoholic but they can also lead to relapse and consequently short-circuit one’s alcohol recovery.
Summary
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted individual, family members can actually cause unplanned destruction by enabling the destructive drinking behavior of the alcohol addicted individual.
The addiction research literature validates the fact that most people who successfully complete alcohol rehab experience at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent persons and their family members need to know this so that they do not get defeated or overwhelmed when a relapse happens.
Luckily, taking part in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up counseling and education have resulted in more productive, enduring alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency therapeutic outcomes, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted persons accomplish long lasting alcohol recovery.
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