Alcohol addiction is a common problem to many families. Some are unaware of the dangers of craving alcohol, considering it a common bad habit that can be addressed with simple effort. In fact, with the development of psychological and physical addiction to alcohol, patients can only be helped by a professional drug therapist who knows how to stop drinking.
Alcoholism is a dangerous chronic disease. Without timely treatment, it leads to pathological disorders in the work of internal organs and systems, personality deterioration, and the likelihood of premature death increases.
How to convince someone to stop drinking
Among the main problems faced by relatives of addicts is how to convince someone to stop drinking. The problem is that after the formation of his addiction, a person loses the ability to objectively assess the surrounding reality. Because of this, he can sincerely believe that everything is in order for him, if necessary, he will release his own alcohol at any time.
In fact, during this time, physical dependence has time to develop. Ethanol toxins penetrate into tissues and internal organs, are actively involved in metabolism. Alcohol becomes necessary for the normal functioning of the body, as soon as its levels decrease, a person begins to experience torturous withdrawal symptoms. The easiest way to deal with it is to take another dose of alcohol. This leads to prolonged drinking parties, growing dependence, corresponding chronic diseases appearing.
Getting alcohol to quit is not easy, and coercive therapy is prohibited. Such a decision can only be made in court. However, the provision of medical treatment without the patient’s consent is ineffective. As long as the person does not want to stop drinking, the chances of a relapse will remain very high.
Alternatives to mandatory treatment
To obtain consent from alcoholics, relatives are advised to intervene. To do this, all family members must unite and act together:
- Reject two words, threats and scandals. This will not help convince the alcoholic to quit the addiction. On the other hand, one can become more attracted to oneself.
- It is necessary to refuse any assistance in solving problems triggered by alcoholism until the patient agrees to receive drug treatment.
- The use of folk remedies and methods must be abandoned. They can only help in the early stages of addiction, and even that is not always the case. Often a patient’s condition can only get worse, and alcohol addiction will move to the next stage.
- Instead, you need to choose a drug treatment clinic first.
- Take advantage of situations when patients experience withdrawal symptoms. They were so painful that most agreed to see a doctor to stop the suffering.
Another way is to contact a psychologist-motivator from a drug treatment clinic. They conduct difficult conversations at home, they are very aware of the psychological peculiarities of alcoholics to reach a decision.
Motivation to get rid of addiction
An honest conversation will help the alcoholic make important choices and agree to go through all the complex stages of therapy. During that time, relatives will be able to provide weighty arguments and motives that should convince a person to make this responsible decision. These motives may include:
- Children and Families-Waiting or planning for children is not compatible with alcohol, such as raising young children. For some people, the determining factor is the emergence of a real and tangible threat of family loss.
- Health conditions, when a new disease begins to be detected in a person, internal organs gradually fail, systemic failure occurs in the body, this becomes clear evidence that needs to be stopped.
- Careers began to suffer from addiction. The prospect of losing a job, everything that needs to be achieved earlier in the professional field, becomes a good incentive. Drinking alcohol over time inevitably affects the success of labor: decreased brain activity, weakened sense of responsibility, lame discipline.
- Reputation isn’t always the main reason to stop drinking, but it does exist. At the very least, this argument should be used in conjunction with other motives for alcoholics to quit alcohol. If the patient is chronically addicted, self -esteem loses value due to severe psychological changes and personality deterioration.
- Moral or physical exhaustion as a result of systematic alcohol consumption. In some cases, it is possible to achieve that a person sees objectively himself from the outside, aware of the absence and desperation of such a situation. The main thing may be the fact that the patient stops getting pleasure from alcohol, from the previous satisfaction, no trace is left.
- Significant changes in life. In this case, a clear awareness of the ignorance of the current reality and the desire to change everything radically should play a role.
Having reached a voluntary and informed consent for the treatment of complex alcoholism, you need to proceed to the therapeutic stage. The program is developed individually, taking into account the psychological and physiological characteristics of the patient. Regular meetings with psychotherapists are held, if necessary, to maintain the level of motivation at the proper level.
How to start addiction treatment?
Patients and their relatives should be prepared for the fact that the fight against alcoholism will take a long time-on average, about a year. For starters, doctors do everything possible to rid the body of alcohol residues and ethanol toxins.
For this, drug detoxification is performed if the patient cannot survive a week without alcohol on his own. They also do the same when withdrawing from alcohol.
The patient is given a dropper with a strong drug in the form of a solution. There are two reasons why you can’t arrange diffuse therapy yourself, even if you read a lot of posts on the Internet:
- Only an experienced doctor, based on express diagnostic results, can determine which medication should be included in the dropper, how much the dose should be.
- Often, when removing a person from alcoholism and cleansing the body of toxins, strong medications are used, which can be purchased at a pharmacy only with a doctor’s prescription.
The dropper is placed for about two hours. So far, narcologists have been on the alcohol side, monitoring vital organ indicators. Leaving, he left the medication for relatives for the next few days, giving advice on what to do when the patient was conscious.
Diagnostics
To decide which method of treating alcohol dependence should be used, you need to conduct a comprehensive examination. It allows you to make an accurate diagnosis of the patient, to establish all the existing risk factors.
Diagnostics include examination and interrogation of patients, appointment of laboratory tests. The complex of these steps allows you to set up:
- level of addiction;
- physiological and psychological characteristics;
- how long and how often a person has been drinking alcohol, the type of alcoholic beverage he or she prefers;
- if treatment is not carried out for the first time, past experience is noted, for what reason there is a relapse;
- corresponding chronic diseases and dangerous disorders;
- allergic reactions;
- intolerance to individual components of the drug;
- the patient’s level of motivation, how much he or she wants to get rid of the addiction.
After evaluating the results obtained, the narcologist, during the consultation, together with the patient and his relatives, discusses a comprehensive treatment program, giving recommendations on how to carry out therapy most effectively.
Encoding
The next step in combating alcohol addiction is coding. Doctors use drug and non -drug methods. Diagnostics only help to determine which options are effective and safe.
Alcohol coding can be done at home or in a hospital setting. It all depends on the patient's condition and the recommendations of the attending physician. Common coding methods for drinking alcohol include:
- Filing of implants or other methods of inserting disulfiram -based drugs into the body. The active ingredient blocks liver enzymes responsible for the breakdown of ethanol toxins into water and carbon dioxide which are completely harmless to humans. When this does not happen, the damaged patient experiences symptoms of severe intoxication. The patient's condition deteriorated dramatically in just a few minutes, even from a small dose of alcohol. This is an effective method of prohibition therapy, as a person forms a stable psychological barrier. He always remembered that he could die if he dared to drink. The chances of death are high if an effective cure is not given in a timely manner.
- Use of drugs based on naltrexone. This is another drug coding technique, but not as dramatic as the previous one. In this case, the active substance blocks receptors in the brain, which are responsible for getting a sense of pleasure from drinking. As a result, if the patient, after coding, still dares to drink, he will not feel anything. Because of this, he would decide to quit alcohol, as it was useless, at least for the duration of the coding.
- Psychotherapy techniques based on immersion of the patient in a deep trance state. In this position, the patient’s recommendation is greatly increased, while he is fully aware of where he is, what is happening to him. Experienced doctors provide clear guidelines for avoiding alcohol and a healthy lifestyle in the future.
The coding period is from a few months to five years. Often they choose coding for a period of one year, this time enough to stop drinking, the patient manages to realize the benefits of a quiet life, through the whole stage of complex therapy.
Psychological recovery
To consolidate the effect achieved after coding, it is necessary to undergo a course of psychological rehabilitation in the patient department in a narcology clinic. If the previous stage of treatment could be organized at home, now hospitalization is required. This is the only way to exclude the possibility of relapse, protecting a person from negative external social influences.
During psychological rehabilitation, it is possible to eliminate physical and psychological cravings for alcoholic beverages. For this, the following techniques are used:
- Individual and group psychology sessions that help patients understand their problems, learn to solve life’s difficulties and have fun without drinking alcohol.
- The 12 -step rehabilitation program is an effective technique originating in the USA. It is based on the recognition of helplessness in the face of problem solving, receiving help from the Higher Powers (it can be a religion or a mentor - a former alcoholic who has been successfully healed thanks to this program).
- The Day Top rehabilitation program is based on the possibility of self -healing, doctors take an observant position.
- Family psychotherapy helps not only the alcoholic, but also his relatives, as they develop joint dependence, helping to restore relationships in the family.
To exclude relapse, upon discharge, each patient received post -recovery psychological support.