Recovery from Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol abuse is a very serious condition that is characterized by drinking too much alcohol despite the negative consequences.  Perhaps it’s yourself you’re concerned about?
Perhaps a loved one’s drinking has turned a corner and is now detrimental to the family and the drinker’s career, finances or health. Whoever’s now abusing alcohol, recovery from alcohol abuse is possible and, with professional help, becoming more commonplace and not something that needs to be battled alone as a family secret.
Many recovering alcoholics describe their new found sobriety as the ‘only good life’ they’ve known. Recovery from alcohol abuse often comes with the insight that there was much off course in their lives before they ever picked up that first drink.
Recovery from alcohol abuse is a life changing process that brings a new freedom to the alcoholic.
Just how much drinking constitutes alcohol abuse?  Well if your physical condition starts to deteriorate that’s an obvious sign.  Other signs could be having problems in your relationships, workplace, or financial affairs.  Even if there are many such consequences the alcohol abuser will persist in drinking.
It is this very feature, continuing to drink alcohol in spite of the havoc it creates that is a hallmark of alcohol abuse, this prioritising of drinking before more sensible activities, in spite of the trouble it brings.
The first step towards recovery from alcohol abuse is to detoxify or dry out from alcohol.  This removes any residual toxins from the body.  This paves the way to the alcoholic having a clear mind with which to work a program of recovery.  It is essential for the alcoholic to be entirely abstinent from alcohol in order to work a program.
Long term alcohol abuse can make it very difficult for the drinker to stop drinking.  He or she may even experience withdrawal symptoms, one of the hallmarks of full blown alcoholism.  Certainly alcohol abuse may lead to physical addiction (dependence) where the alcoholic feels that (s)he cannot cope without the presence of alcohol, obsesses about drink, has a powerful craving to keep drinking and suffers withdrawals if they try to stop drinking.
Recovery from alcohol abuse often starts with the patient undergoing an alcohol detoxification program in a rehab because it is hard to stop drinking.
A rehab centre will follow up the alcohol detox process with a full treatment program that is geared towards changing the behaviour and attitudes of the patient.  It is only through these sorts of changes that the patient’s life can be transformed – which is the goal and reward of recovery from alcohol abuse.
It is this life-changing transformation that alcoholics find to be their motivation to continue working their program to stay in recovery from alcohol abuse.  While they may start their journey towards recovery in order to avoid consequences they keep walking the path because of the positive rewards of no longer abusing alcohol.
The alcoholism treatment program offered at a rehab centre can be on an inpatient basis or alternatively patients can remain as outpatients.  If they are on an inpatient program the patients will live on the property under the supervision of the addiction counseling team.
By contrast outpatient alcoholics will be allowed to sleep at home and come to the centre to attend group therapy and counselling sessions.  Outpatient programs are better suited to patients who are able to handle the process of detoxification without full time medical care requiring the high level of support and structure that is offered in an inpatient alcohol abuse treatment.
People who are in recovery from alcohol abuse find that their life improves in many areas – physical, psychological, social, vocational, and spiritual.  By addressing all of these arenas of life the alcoholic is helped to improve their overall experience and perception of their life.
Because alcoholism recovery is an ongoing process the patient will enjoy a lifelong process of self-development.
By coming to terms with their pasts alcoholics are able to drop the burden of shame that they were carrying.  Instead of feeling a deep sense of regret around their past they no longer wish to shut the door on it.  They will see how their negative experiences can be used to help people who are still in the grip of alcohol abuse.
Thus they realize that they are valuable members of society with a genuinely useful set of experiences that can help their fellow man.  We see that recovery from alcohol abuse is more than just simply not drinking and staying abstinent.
If you want to turn your life around and start living free of the negative consequences of drinking alcohol please contact one of treatment coordinators today. We are professional addiction counsellors who are here to advise you on rehab options in your area.
If left untreated alcoholism can kill.