Alcohol Relapse, Enabling, and Alcohol Addiction
It is worthy of note to articulate something that family members who have been adversely affected by the alcohol addiction of another family member obviously do not understand. It seems that by protecting the alcohol addicted individual with falsehoods and deceit to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in reality created a circumstance that makes it easier for the alcohol dependent person to continue and move forward with his or her unsafe, detrimental daily life.
In fact, rather than helping the alcohol dependent person and themselves, these family members have in truth become enablers who have involuntarily helped negatively affect the alcohol addicted person’s drinking problem even more.
Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol addicted person will continue drinking in a hazardous manner and go through diverse “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include serious financial problems, legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DWIs), ill health, deteriorating relationships, diminished mental functioning, and employment difficulties.
The Likelihood of a Relapse is Real
According to the research literature and statistics on alcohol addiction, another key alcoholism issue concerns alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol dependent person has fruitfully gone through alcohol dependency therapy and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this circumstance flies in the face of commonsensical thinking and appears to be so far-fetched that it forces one to wonder why anyone who has gone through the dreadfulness of alcoholism can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol therapy and in turn after attaining sobriety. There are, of course, more than a few possible reasons for this.
It should be pointed out, conversely that alcohol addiction research that has centered on the long standing outcomes of alcohol dependency has revealed that long after the alcohol dependent person has quit his or her drinking, critical modifications in the way in which the alcohol dependent person’s brain functions 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 modifications that have come about in the brain is to start drinking again.
The Need for A Significant Lifestyle Modification
There are other reasons why quite a few recovering alcoholics return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after reaching sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol addiction research literature, to make a successful recovery, the alcohol dependent person needs new ways of responding and thinking in order to deal more efficiently with taxing alcohol-related situations that will take place.
Issues 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 person was drinking in a hazardous manner; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these circumstances can elicit memories that can set off psychological anxiety or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent person to engage in excessive drinking once again. Sadly, all of these situations may not only work against enduring sobriety for the alcohol dependent person but they can also result in relapse and therefore negate one’s sobriety.
The Good News: First-Class Help is Available Almost Everywhere
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcoholic, family members can in fact cause unplanned harm by enabling the harmful drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent person.
The alcohol abuse research literature confirms the fact that most individuals who effectively complete alcohol treatment experience at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get depressed or stressed out when a relapse happens.
Happily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up rehab and training have resulted in more successful, long lasting alcohol abuse and alcoholism treatment results, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted individuals accomplish ongoing sobriety.
