While alcoholism has existed literally for thousands of years, the psychiatric profession has seen fit to add this condition to its list of mental illnesses just in the last couple of decades. The definitions of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are spelled out in the manual used to diagnose mental illnesses – the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.
The criteria for determining alcohol abuse include failure to complete work or home obligations, using alcohol despite the fact that something hazardous will be done (like driving or using heavy equipment), and causing legal, social or interpersonal problems due to alcohol abuse. If these criteria are met and the person continues to drink, they are said to be abusing alcohol.
If they develop a tolerance – that is, they need to drink more to get the same effect – and routinely drink more than intended, experience withdrawal symptoms if they quit or cut back, are unsuccessful in trying to quit, spend excessive time thinking about, planning, getting, drinking or suffering the effects of drinking plus the effects listed above, they are alcohol dependent.
There’s much more language that goes with these diagnoses, of course. A psychologist or psychiatrist might prescribe medication, lengthy treatment, even stays in mental hospitals. Drugs that could be used include Acamprosate, Antabuse or Vivitrol. Benzodiazepines are also frequently used with recovering alcoholics.
But really, the entire subject of recovery from addiction to alcohol is much simpler than that.
Any Family Member Of An Alcoholic Can Tell You What Alcoholism Is
A wife who has to deal with an alcoholic husband, a teenager who has to leave the house when mom or dad comes home drunk, the parent of a grown or teenaged child who can’t stop drinking are all experts on alcoholism. They may not have degrees or credentials but they know exactly what happens to an alcoholic’s life when he or she can’t quit drinking and when consuming alcohol becomes a ruling passion for the alcoholic.
They know about neglect, tirades, abuse, an uncertain future when jobs are lost or when money goes for alcohol rather than food. They know what it is like to hear the lies and justifications year after year and to suffer when the alcoholic refuses to admit that there’s a problem.
Rather than more drugs or long analysis of one’s problems, all that is needed is a drug rehabilitation program that results in most of the graduates living sober lives after treatment. This is what you can find at Narconon Arrowhead, a long-term drug and alcohol rehabilitation program in Southeast Oklahoma.
Through Narconon Meetings Recovery Is Possible
For more than a decade, Narconon Arrowhead has been enabling its program graduates to live sober, productive and enjoyable lives. This is without the use of drugs as part of the treatment. For most people, the program takes two to three months. Each graduate is monitored after they go home, so that Center staff can assist them, if needed, to succeed in their new, drug-free lives.
There are a few separate phases of the recovery program. The first phase includes withdrawal, made more tolerable by nutritional supplements and procedures delivered by the Narconon staff to lessen the physical discomfort of the withdrawal step. This includes gentle physical assists and re-orientation exercises that improve their awareness of a new, safe environment.
The next step has everything to do with reducing cravings. It’s a sauna-based detoxification that uses nutrition and moderate exercise along with time in a low-heat sauna to flush out old stored drug toxins. These residues, lodged in fatty tissues, appear to be involved in triggering cravings. As these residues are flushed out, one’s attitude brightens and most say that cravings reduce or even go away entirely.
At this point, a person is ready to learn the life skills that enable him or her to recover personal integrity, make drug-free decisions even in moments of stress and challenge, and pick those associates that will enable sobriety, not enable drug abuse.
In just a matter of a few months, a person can be ready to pick up a healthy, sober life again, restore relationships with family and friends, and return to productivity once again. This is the regularly attained result for the majority of people who use Narconon Arrowhead for their recovery from alcohol or drug abuse.
Find out more information about how Narconon meetings or treatment can help someone you love recover from alcoholism. Call 1-800-468-6933 today for details.
References:
http://www.fpnotebook.com/psych/exam/AlchlAbsDsmIvCrtr.htm
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/alcoholism/overview.html