Dishonesty, Enabling, and Alcohol Relapse
It is worthy of note to articulate something that family members who have been unfavorably affected by the alcoholism of another family member evidently do not grasp. It seems that by protecting the alcohol dependent person with falsehoods and deceit to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in essence created a circumstance that makes it easier for the alcohol addicted individual to carry on and press forward with his or her injurious, detrimental daily life.
To be sure, rather than helping the alcohol addicted individual and themselves, these family members have in truth become enablers who have unintentionally helped deteriorate the alcoholic’s drinking problem even more.
Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol addicted person will continue drinking in an irresponsible and abusive manner and go through diverse “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include employment difficulties, poor health, deteriorating relationships, diminished mental functioning, legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DUIs), and considerable financial problems.
The Likelihood of a Relapse is Real
According to the research findings and statistics on alcohol addiction, another key alcohol dependency issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol dependent person has fruitfully gone through alcohol addiction rehabilitation and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this circumstance flies in the face of rational thinking and looks so improbable that it forces an individual to question why anyone who has lived through the dreadfulness of alcoholism can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol rehab and in turn after attaining sobriety. There are, to be sure, many possible reasons for this.
It should be noted, conversely that alcohol dependency research that has centered on the enduring effects of alcohol dependency has revealed that long after the alcohol dependent person has stopped his or her drinking, major changes in the way in which the alcohol addicted individual’s brain works are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol dependent person 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 once again.
A Requirement for A Crucial Lifestyle Change
There are even more reasons why more than a few recovering alcohol dependent persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol addiction research literature, to make a successful recovery, the alcoholic needs new ways of acting and thinking in order to deal more competently with difficult alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.
Conditions such as returning to the same alcohol addictive environment or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the time when the alcohol addicted person was drinking excessively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these conditions can elicit memories that can trigger psychological tension or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol addicted individual to engage in excessive drinking once again. Unfortunately, all of these situations may not only contradict long standing sobriety for the alcoholic but they can also result in relapse and consequently go against one’s alcohol recovery.
The Good News: There’s a Lot of Hope for Lasting Sobriety
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted individual, family members can in point of fact cause unintentional destruction by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcohol addicted individual.
The addiction research literature demonstrates the fact that most individuals who effectively 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 crestfallen or beleaguered when a relapse manifests itself.
Happily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up rehab and education have resulted in more effective, ongoing alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency rehab outcomes, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent persons reach lasting alcohol recovery.
Tags: alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol dependency, alcohol rehab, alcohol treatment, alcoholism, drinking problems, enabling, mental health, self improvement, sobriety