A Woman Manifest Symptoms of Depression and Alcohol Abuse and Makes an Appointment to See Her Healthcare Professional About Her Irresponsible Drinking
Teresa was a thirty-nine-year-old real estate agent who realized that she had some drinking issues. For example, within the past seven months she has experienced the need to have more than a few drinks before going to work, a week ago she tested positive for a blood alcohol test where she is employed, five weeks ago she got pulled over by the state highway patrol for a DWI, and finally, for around seven months she has started to fail to remember what she does and says when she drinks with her friends.
Similar to many other individuals, Teresa’s experiences with alcohol started out slowly and remained at this speed for quite a long period of time because every now and again she engaged in intermittent social drinking. In fact, for about ten months, every time she went out with her coworkers to drink, she made sure to drink moderately. Something about her drinking activities, nevertheless, seemed to completely change when she divorced her husband.
In Order To Rise Above the Divorce of Her Husband In a Less Wearisome Manner, Teresa Decided to Start Going Out More Often With Some of Her Friends Who Love to Drink and Have Fun
Teresa got awfully “down” about the divorce from her husband, and as a way to abstain from fixating on her negative feelings she came to the conclusion that she would start going out more often with some of her buddies who love to have fun and drink.
Quite frankly, Teresa believed that having fun nearly every day by getting an alcohol “buzz” with her buddies would help her get over the divorce of her husband with less grief.
Teresa’s Drinking Escalates Substantially the More Often She Goes to Private Parties, Dinner Dates, Family Get-Togethers, Sporting Events, and Happy Hours With Her Friends
It didn’t take very long, however, before her drinking increased to a significant degree the more often she went to and drank at sporting events, family get-togethers, dinner dates, happy hours, and private parties with her friends. Furthermore, the fact that her drinking friends were all much younger than she was and therefore able to party and drink more carelessly was one of the reasons why she didn’t direct more of her attention to her increased drinking. In a word, she was drinking and having a ton of fun just like everybody else in her group of friends without spending a lot of time thinking about the unhealthy effects of her hazardous drinking.
Yet somewhere in her mind she realized that she more likely than not required alcohol rehab but avoided the thought as much as humanly possible.
Teresa Gets a Physical Exam, Owns up to the Truth About Her Irresponsible and Hazardous Drinking to Her Doctor, and Acknowledges Her Sadness
One afternoon during her six-month physical exam, her physician asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell “stories” to her physician, Teresa owned up to the fact that she commonly drinks more than she should. In fact, she articulated that she frequently drinks in an irresponsible manner. Then Teresa informed her physician about her depression. More plainly, she articulated that shattered relationships more often than not caused a dismal chain of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more disheartening feelings that, in turn, led to even more drinking. And this is precisely what took place when her husband and she got divorced eleven months ago.
When her physician heard this, he informed Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was reviewing, alcoholism and depression routinely take place in the same individual. He then told Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been reading about also stress the fact that people who drink in an excessive and hazardous manner and who also experience depression need to receive treatment for both medical circumstances.
Teresa’s Healthcare Professional Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Evaluation and For an Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Evaluation
Teresa’s doctor then told her the following: “I am not trying to make an overly quick judgment, but with your medical condition we may be facing two separate concerns. Consequently, I think we should make an appointment for you to get an alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse appraisal from my partner, Dr. Wallace, who is an alcohol abuse and alcoholism specialist. Whether your drinking problem is more related to alcohol abuse or alcohol addiction is unknown at this time, but I feel that further assessment is defensible. Then I believe we ought to schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological evaluation from another one of my partners, Dr. Harwood, who is a psychologist. I want to get some more information about your sadness and see how much your depression and drinking are associated.” Teresa displayed her satisfaction with her healthcare professional’s treatment plan and thanked him for his help. Now all she had to do was to try to cut back on her drinking and wait for her appointments.
Tags: alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol dependency, alcohol statistics, alcohol treatment, alcoholism, alcoholism and depression, Depression, statistics on alcoholism