Recovering from Alcoholism

Recovering from Alcoholism

A Brief History and Overview of Alcoholism

The disease or disorder known as alcoholism is one of the most destructive forces in society today, but it is nothing new. No one knows the exact origin of alcohol and alcoholism. However, beer jugs that were discovered and dated back to the late Stone Age established the fact that humans were intentionally fermenting beverages as early as 10,000 BC during the Neolithic period. Additional evidence was documented as far back as 4,000 BC in the Egyptian hieroglyphs of the period.

Alcoholism Addiction Treatment and Recovery

There are two schools of thought where recovering from alcoholism are concerned. One claims that the recovery stage never ends. In other words, once you are labeled a recovering alcoholic, you will always be a recovering alcoholic. The recovery stage never ends. Conversely, there is the group who feel that it is possible to be cured of alcoholism and that the recovery stage eventually comes to a close because the person remains clean and sober for life.

How to Start Recovering from Alcoholism

The following is the advice given by the NIAAA or National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to those individuals who are in the recovery stage:

  • Quit drinking altogether. Don’t just cut back.
  • Bring the issue to center stage. In other words, admit that you have a problem with alcohol.
  • Walk away from a relationship where you both drink. Recovering from alcoholism is almost impossible when you are in a co-dependent relationship. Invariably, the other partner will not support the one who is quitting, just like with drug-dependent relationships.
  • Find why you are self-medicating yourself. Make a list and divide it into three columns that are labeled as follows:
    • Column #1 – Things that Make Me Happy
    • Column #2 – Things that Make Me Sad
    • Column #3 – Things that Stress Me Out
  • Study that list once you’ve completed it, and then circle those items that are “triggers” or what makes you reach for a drink.
  • Now circle the positive ones and commit yourself to doing them more often.
  • Replace all the ones that make you drink with the happy ones.
  • Be patient and allow yourself enough time. Remember, it took you a while to develop your dependency on alcohol.
  • Visit your doctor and see if he or she will prescribe a medication that will help you quit drinking.

Let Our Referral Service Help You

The Rehab Advisor is the premier addiction treatment and recovery program referral website. For more information about our referral site and our programs for recovering from alcoholism, fill out the e-mail form above or call the toll-free phone number above if you want to speak with someone immediately.

My Addiction Story

Here is my addiction story. I started out just like many others; smoking cigarettes and thinking I was cool behind the local bowling alley. Like it is for so many, cigarettes were my first gateway drug. It wasn’t long past that I started stealing sips of alcohol from my parents liquor cabinet. Once i was used to getting drunk, and somebody offered me marijuana, there was nothing stopping me from trying it.

I stuck with marijuana and alcohol for a while but, when I got to high school and other drugs were introduced to me, I had no problem trying them. By this time I was addicted. Not necessarily addicted to any one thing, but I was addicted to being high. I would do anything offered to me and in massive amounts. It all seemed very normal and fun to me. It continued in college, but got much worse as there was much more available.

Getting Help

I flunked out of college and entered the work force. I chose a profession in the bar and restaurant industry, because it seemed to accept and almost promote drug and alcohol abuse. I would work in the bar and then spend my paycheck there at the end of the week.

After losing job after job due to my use, and after digging myself so deep in debt, and after my third time in jail for drunk driving enough was enough. With the help of a long-term drug rehab facility I was able to kick drugs and alcohol entirely.

I never realized life could be so great sober. I always thought I needed drugs and alcohol to deal with life. I realize now by using I was avoiding life rather than dealing with it.

How To Recover From Addiction

Addiction recovery really needs a lot of hard work, not only by the people in recovery, but also by the entire community, especially the family around them. On the family or community side, they need to see the real person within a person, not how they have been. (Though we have to consider that on the other side – that they are under the addiction recovery process). We have to go back to the fast of who they were in order for them to see themselves as before their good old selves. Remember them as the people once loved before and will still love in spite of their weaknesses, that we are their on their side ready and willing to help all the way till the end and after they recover from addiction.

Determination to Recover From Addiction

As for the people under addiction recovery, they have to really have a determination and self-control. They have to discipline themselves and keep reminding them of more damage addiction can do to them and to their loved ones or community where they are. See the goodness and how are they going to live after the addiction recovery with the family they once have and used to have before.

Family has to commit some changes for the sake of their loved ones in addiction recovery. We need to band together for support. Whenever we see any of us going astray or behaving differently, following up on our family relationship is immediately needed. But the best remedy of all for fast recovery is love. Let us keep reminding them and always be physical and emotional in showing that we love each other.

Addiction Recovery Program

How to Find an Addiction Recovery Program

There is anaddiction recovery program available nearby throughout the US. Once you differentiate between the traditional and the alternative or residential categories, you have to decide on what type of program to enter. There are two basic classifications of programs – in-patient or out-patient. Obviously, their names imply the difference between them. However, in-patient programs are divided into two groups. There are short-term rehab programs that run 14 to 28 days and the long-term which last 4 months or longer.

Handling the Most Severe Addictions

According to recovery success rates, which are determined by the percentage of clients that overcome there addiction and remain substance-free without relapsing, the best one of the different addiction recovery programs is the long-term in-patient or residential format. These programs involve removing the individual from their potentially harmful home setting and placing them in a safer environment where they can focus completely on their recovery.

There are a number of benefits to entering this long-term addiction treatment and recovery format with the following 5 being the most significant ones:

  • removing the individual from the potentially harmful environment they live in and the temptations of it
  • 24/7/365 care and supervision
  • group and individual therapy sessions
  • medical and professional guidance/supervision
  • aftercare and support networks

Certain addiction recovery programs will involve taking prescription medications during the detoxification stage and while the individual is experiencing the withdrawal symptoms that characterize the detox process. Despite the expense that you may encounter, remember that these are the most effective and successful addiction recovery methods available.

What if you don’t have the financial means?

Fortunately, there are other addiction recovery programs that are not quite as expensive and some of them are even covered by certain health insurance carriers. These are known as out-patient programs. Unlike the residential program, you are not required to move into the facility and can return home every night.

These programs are not only ideal for the individual who does not have the financial means to afford them, they are geared towards those individuals that are the sole provider of children in the home and are either pursuing their education or working full-time jobs. Just be aware that the out-patient format is not as effective as the in-patient because you are still returning home to those temptations at the end of the day.

Let Our Referral Service Help You

The Rehab Advisor is the premier addiction treatment referral website. We list the most successful addiction recovery programs throughout the US, so no matter where you live, we can refer you into a program in your local vicinity. For more information about our referral site and our addiction recovery programs, call the toll-free phone number above if you want to speak with someone immediately.

Addiction Recovery

Two men go to a party; each has his first drink. One man decides drinking is not for him, and never takes another drink again, or if he does, drinks very moderately.

The other man, however, may decide that that beer or mixed drink was the best thing he ever had, and determines that he will continue to drink. He does so, and eventually finds himself with a full-blown addiction to alcohol.

The same goes for drugs. One woman may experiment with drug use, and it is just that: an experiment and one she does not wish to try again, ever. Another may experiment with drug use, and find herself, possibly from the first moment of experimentation, addicted. Two different people. One becomes addicted and one does not. Why that happens is still not clear. What is clear is that there is definitely a problem.

The man who became addicted to alcohol (and, remember, alcohol is a drug, too) will, hopefully, realize before it is too late that help is needed to overcome the addiction. The same goes for the drug-addicted female. Once that realization occurs, it is hoped that both will seek the help needed and begin a program of addiction recovery.

The first thing that both will need to remember is that addiction recovery will not occur within a set amount of time, and if either of them has been told otherwise, they have been told wrong. Granted, they may be the fortunate ones who do experience a quick recovery, although each will still have to face up to the fact that it is an on-going process; or each may find that they are in for a long battle. Whatever the situation, each will need to know that they are not alone, and that they can recover.

A search of web sources turned up this site that advocates “self-recovery”. In other words, addiction recovery can be accomplished on one’s own, with no need to seek treatment, attend sessions or meetings of any form, or to do anything but resolve in one’s mind that he or she is going to stop doing whatever it is he or she has been doing that is addictive. It does make sense. And, there are people out there who have woke up one morning (or afternoon, or evening, or whenever), taken a good hard look at them, and decided right then to put down the bottle or the pipe or the joint or the needle or the pill or whatever. And, they do just that, and they never relapse. So, it can happen, and has happened. But, that doesn’t mean that one is weaker (or stronger for that matter) if he or she decides that it CANNOT be done alone, that help of some form is required.

The only one who can decide what is right for an individual is that person, and no one else. For this reason, organizations like AA and NA, as well as other addiction recovery programs, can and do serve a purpose. So do rehabilitation clinics and centers. If one feels that the help and encouragement provided by the group meeting provided by organizations such as AA and NA is needed, then that is the avenue that should be explored. On the other hand, if it is felt that the faith, stamina, strength, courage, and whatever else it takes to accomplish self-recovery is present in a person, then more power to that person. That is his or her preferred method.Whatever gets a person off drugs, and keeps a person off drugs, is what should be done.