One of the most prevalent diseases of the modern age is alcoholism. Extrapolated statistics and not exact science, tells us that around 1 in 13 adults’ abuse alcohol or are alcoholic. Alcoholism is as old as mankind itself, it is also only in recent years that we truly started to understand this condition and that our effort in treating alcoholics has become more successful.
For centuries society at large considered alcohol addiction an affliction that only hit those of poor moral fibre, those who were too weak to exercise enough willpower or had insufficient intellect to choose to not take alcohol in such quantities. An once fully alcoholic the same held true. Surely these alcoholics had the sense to see that their drinking was destructive to themselves and those they loved? People were treated very badly and were often shunned by their communities. The way to treat alcoholics was either to ignore them, put them in a mental institute or lock them up, as alcoholism led to a life of crime and general degradation.
When we consider the implications of being an alcoholic (after all we’ve learned about alcoholism in the last decade and now knowing that addiction is a brain disease) it’s little wonder these punitive, intolerant ways of treating alcoholics were not only unsuccessful but could, in fact, worsen the alcoholics situation considerably.
While it was a decision on behalf of the addict to abuse alcohol in the first place, this is common place among people when growing up and even into adulthood, as a means of socialising and relaxing. This is more common and accepted in some cultures than in others. So if it’s common for us, as a society to experiment with excessive drinking of alcohol it stands to reason that prolonged exposure to alcohol abuse will lead for some people to physiological changes that eventually cause the body to become dependent (addicted).
Once addicted to alcohol certain neuro-receptors become inhibited and when the drinking of alcohol stops the inhibiting factor wears off, brain hyper-excitability occurs.
This manifests itself in the form of anxiety, depression and physical illness and is what most often drives alcoholics to pick up the bottle again, as they would do anything to stop these terrible withdrawal symptoms. In the process of treating alcoholics there is no way of avoiding at least some withdrawal symptoms. If the treatment is of a professional nature, however, the patient will have access to medication like Librium and medical attention that can help alleviate these symptoms.
Treating alcoholics requires expert help and finding the right treatment facility can be a very complex process. On the one hand, it’s likely that you’re in some form of crisis due to the chaos associated with active addiction and on the other, the multitude of choices in the marketplace can be overwhelming.
At We Do Recover it is our purpose to match the most beneficial treatment to your needs, considering your budget, your specific addiction and treatment history, as well as your age and other risk factors. For more information on the service we offer, contact us.