Enabling, Alcohol Relapse, and Alcohol Dependency
Posted on July 15, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized |
It is fascinating to bring up something that family members who have been unfavorably affected by the alcoholism of another family member clearly do not know. 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 reality created a condition that makes it easier for the alcohol addicted individual to continue and move forward with his or her negative, devastating daily life.
Indeed, rather than helping the alcohol dependent person and themselves, these family members have in reality become enablers who have inadvertently helped deteriorate the drinking problems of the problem drinker even further.
Relapses Can and Do Happen
Another key alcohol dependency issue has to do with alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted person has fruitfully undergone alcohol addiction rehabilitation and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this circumstance flies in the face of rational thinking and appears to be so far-fetched that it forces an individual to speculate why anyone who has experienced the horrors of alcoholism can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after reaching sobriety. There are, for sure, many reasonable reasons for this.
It should be explained, on the other hand that alcohol dependency research that has centered on the enduring outcomes of alcoholism has shown that long after the alcohol dependent person has quit his or her drinking, significant changes in the way in which the alcoholic’s brain works are still present. As a result, all a recovering alcohol addicted individual has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the alterations that have come about in the brain is to begin drinking again.
A Requirement for A Drastic Lifestyle Modification
There are additional reasons why many recovering alcohol dependent persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. According to the alcoholism research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcohol addicted person needs new ways of acting and thinking in order to deal more efficiently with taxing 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 individual was drinking in a hazardous manner; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these conditions can bring forth memories that can prompt psychological anxiety or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol addicted individual to engage in abusive drinking once again. Unfortunately, all of these circumstances may not only counteract long-term sobriety for the alcohol addicted person but they can also result in relapse and consequently go against one’s sobriety.
Summary
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted individual, family members can in fact cause unintentional harm by enabling the unhealthy drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent person.
The substance abuse research literature confirms the fact that most people who successfully complete alcohol treatment experience at least one relapse. Alcoholics and their family members need to know this so that they do not get down in the dumps or overwhelmed when a relapse takes place.
Fortunately, taking part in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up counseling and training have resulted in more successful, lasting alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction treatment outcomes, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent persons attain ongoing alcohol recovery.
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