One type of drug addiction, alcoholism, was recognized by official medicine in 1952 as a serious mental illness, the symptoms of which are constantly increasing. The disease manifests itself as an uncontrollable desire to drink alcohol. A person begins to drink alcohol uncontrollably, it is possible that he ends up in a long binge lasting several days, or he drinks some alcohol every day out of "fatigue", as a stress reliever or simply to relax.
How to stop drinking and what are the dangers of alcoholism?
Most people suffering from alcohol addiction are not fully aware of the dangers of this disease. They don't think that only getting back to a sober lifestyle can save them from health problems, so they won't stop drinking. The issue of getting rid of alcoholism usually worries their relatives, who turn to professionals for help.
In order to understand the danger of chronic alcoholism to health, it is worth remembering the serious diseases that develop in all alcoholics after several years of long-term alcohol addiction. Among them, the main place is occupied by the following:
- from the digestive system: gastritis, ulcer, enterocolitis;
- from the cardiovascular system: cardiomyopathy or cardialgia;
- from the liver: cirrhosis or hepatitis;
- from the brain: alcoholic pellagra, Morel's disease;
- from the psyche: delirium (delirium tremens), or psychosis.
Among the causes of severe health deterioration leading to early death, we can mention pancreatitis, a specific disease of alcoholics, which can quickly lead to the development of a cancerous tumor in the pancreas. If an alcohol-dependent person continues to drink alcohol regularly and uncontrollably despite the developing disease, he will not be more than ten years old.
A drunk person cannot control his actions, so drunk drivers and pedestrians are most often the culprits of road accidents. Most crimes are committed by people who are addicted to alcohol.
Social problems of alcoholics
For a person who begins to drink regularly and uncontrollably, alcohol replaces family, work and hobbies. Gradually he becomes something amorphous, his life flows in a vicious circle, stack after stack through the hangover stage. Chronic alcoholism provokes:
- Stopping development and declining social status.
- A negative change in ethical and moral character traits that leads to rudeness, vulgarity, and laxity towards others.
- Deviation of behavior. People who drink constantly cannot forget their bad habit, acquire antisocial traits, often resort to physical and moral humiliation of their loved ones, steal money and valuables from home.
The active alcoholism that has occurred in our society in recent years not only leads to health problems for drinkers and a deterioration in the quality of life of society as a whole, but also leads to high mortality among young people.
How to convince an alcoholic to quit?
Due to the negative effect of ethanol on the brain, the drinker can perceive any information only one-sidedly: he hears and sees what he wants, ignoring everything else. Only such information penetrates into his consciousness that cannot harm the friendship with the "Green Snake". The alcoholic not only does not think about stopping drinking, but categorically does not recognize the existence of such a disease as alcoholism.
It is impossible to force an addict to stop drinking for any reason if posters are posted on the walls about the harms of alcoholism. It is easier to acquaint the addict with the dangerous facts of the harm caused by alcohol, then he will probably think about how to get rid of the habit that causes irreparable damage to his health, so that he can return to a sober life. The following facts can help an alcoholic find his way back to sobriety:
- a regular drinker only needs 10-20 years to "find out" liver shrinkage;
- after forgetting about alcohol during the stage of damage to internal organs, an alcoholic can live for about 10 more years, but if he does not stop abusing, death will occur much earlier;
- anyone who becomes an alcoholic before their thirtieth birthday is guaranteed to be in the grave by their fiftieth birthday.
Yes, these facts can influence the uncontrollable drinker to stop, but it is better if the motivation to treat alcoholism is done by an experienced psychologist. The Neoplus drug treatment clinic in Yekaterinburg offers an intervention service. A qualified psychologist goes to the home of an alcoholic who refuses inpatient treatment at the request of his relatives. After that, a motivational interview will take place. As a result of the professional motivation, in 98% of the cases, the addict appears to want to quit the addiction and voluntarily decides to undergo treatment.
Is self-treatment of alcoholism dangerous?
Unfortunately, the issue of quitting alcohol abuse does not affect people who are addicted to alcohol, but their loved ones. Relatives of alcoholics, exhausted from their regular drinking, who realize the futility of persuading them to seek treatment, seek information on how to stop drinking. It must be said right away that self-medication for alcoholism, which is a fairly common practice in our modern society, poses a serious threat not only to health, but also to human life, and is completely useless.
An addict cannot stop drinking alcohol until he recognizes the danger of his habit and wants to give it up, and self-medication for alcoholism, especially without the patient's knowledge, is dangerous because:
- The use of drugs that eliminate the desire for regular alcohol consumption or that cause negative somatic reactions to alcohol, not only the taste but also the smell, without the prescription of a qualified narcologist poses a serious threat to the health and life of the patient. the alcoholic. By giving the patient secretly, independently selected medicines, his loved ones put him at risk of developing serious somatic diseases and worsening of chronic diseases.
- Those folk remedies, with which it is impossible to consume alcohol due to immediate vomiting, can cause an acute allergic reaction in the form of suffocation. Dysfunction of the respiratory system quickly leads to suffocation and, in most cases, ends in early death, since the immediate increase in clinical symptoms does not have time for ambulances to arrive.
In addition, such treatment, which is not supervised by a doctor, can have the following irreversible consequences:
- worsening mental problems;
- causes injury to others or himself;
- the emergence of suicidal tendencies and suicide.
To prevent such consequences, you need to persuade your loved one who started drinking heavily to go to a special clinic. This should be done as soon as possible when the first signs appear that a relative is developing an alcohol addiction. It should be remembered that a person suffering from chronic addiction can stop drinking alcohol only after completing a full rehabilitation course. A delay can be fatal.
Professional methods of treating alcoholism in a private clinic
Many people are concerned with the question of how to return to sobriety with the help of professionals. It is often asked on the Internet. In order to fully figure out how to forget alcohol if you cannot do it on your own, it is worth considering the alcoholism treatment methods used in our clinic. After the alcoholic is admitted to the hospital, a full diagnostic examination is prescribed. The process reveals:
- general condition of the patient;
- developmental stage of addiction;
- the presence of damage caused by alcohol to the internal organs and the psyche.
Based on the results obtained, an individual treatment regimen is assigned to each patient, but all selected measures are included in several general stages.
Cleansing the body
Without this stage, it is impossible to start the full treatment of alcoholism. Detoxification is done by infusion of absorption (toxin-binding) solutions. To these are added the individually prescribed medications that alleviate the withdrawal symptoms of the alcoholic in question. If necessary, non-drug detoxification can also be performed - plasmapheresis, hemosorption, hemodialysis.
Regenerative drug therapy
Alcohol-dependent patients admitted for treatment in our hospital also receive restorative and restorative therapy. Medicines individually selected by specialists cooperating with the Neoplus clinic allow you to quickly:
- restore internal organs damaged by the decomposition products of psychoactive substances;
- normalizes the functioning of the cardiovascular system, the nervous system and the digestive system.
If a person who cannot stop drinking has a serious illness, hepatitis, HIV infection, borderline mental state, psychosis, epilepsy, etc. are diagnosed, the specialists cooperating with our clinic prescribe additional therapy for their treatment or to maintain the state of remission. .
Psychological rehabilitation
The main and longest stage of alcoholism treatment, without which you cannot cope with this disease, which forces a person to drink alcohol constantly. The psychotherapy treatment protocol includes the following:
- group psychological trainings;
- individual lessons, discussions and consultations with a psychologist;
- The 12-step program has long proven its high efficiency.
In addition, our psychologists conduct free work with codependent relatives of patients, which is aimed at preventing possible breakdowns after leaving the clinic.
Resocialization
This stage consists of restoring the relationship with society when the addict consumed alcohol, which is an effective prevention of relapse after treatment and a guarantee that the person can stop drinking alcohol forever. The therapeutic programs used in this phase are as follows:
- detailed analysis of problems and irritants leading to breakdowns;
- simulation study of situations that cause relapse of the disease.
Our social workers and psychologists help patients to change unfavorable behavior patterns, break with their previous environment, restore everyday or professional skills and, if necessary, acquire a new profession.
How to stop drinking forever, advice from a narcologist
There are no former alcoholics. Just because an addict has stopped abusing, that doesn't mean they've quit forever. There is no advice on how to quit drinking on your own. The only way for an alcoholic to stop drinking is consultation with an experienced narcologist and full treatment at an inpatient drug treatment clinic. The help of professionals can consciously make a person stop drinking alcohol. The success of the treatment depends on how strong the patient's desire to give up alcohol is.
The following will help you forget alcohol:advice:
- refuse all offers of drinks;
- always check the amount of alcohol consumed;
- Avoid companies where people drink a lot.
In order to stop abusing alcohol, you need to learn to relax in alcohol-free ways: find a hobby, play sports, etc. If you are concerned about insomnia and anxiety, consult a psychotherapist at the clinic.
If you are showing signs of alcohol dependence, contact a professional drug treatment provider who will provide you with free and anonymous alcoholism treatment advice at any time of the day.