Alcohol addiction is a problem that is familiar to many families.Some people do not realize the danger of craving for alcohol, considering it a common bad habit that can be overcome with a simple effort of will.In fact, with the development of a psychological and physical addiction to alcohol, only professional narcologists who know how to stop drinking can help a patient.
Alcoholism is a dangerous chronic disease.Without timely treatment, it leads to pathological disorders in the functioning of internal organs and systems, personality degradation, and the likelihood of premature death increases.
How to convince someone to stop drinking
One of the main problems that relatives of an addict face is how to convince a person of the need to stop drinking.The problem is that after developing an addiction, a person loses the ability to objectively assess the surrounding reality.Because of this, he may sincerely believe that everything is fine with him; if necessary, he will independently refuse alcohol at any time.
In fact, by this time physical dependence has time to develop.Ethanol toxins penetrate tissues and internal organs and actively participate in metabolism.Alcohol becomes necessary for the normal functioning of the body, as soon as its level decreases, the person begins to experience painful withdrawal symptoms.The easiest way to deal with them is by taking another dose of alcohol.This leads to prolonged drinking bouts, addiction develops, and concomitant chronic diseases appear.
Getting an alcoholic to quit is not easy, and forced therapy is prohibited.Such a decision can only be made in court.However, providing medical care without the patient's consent is ineffective.Until a person himself wants to stop drinking, the likelihood of relapse will remain very high.
Alternatives to forced treatment
To obtain consent from the alcoholic, relatives are advised to conduct an intervention.To do this, all family members must unite and act together:
- Refuse ultimatums, threats and scandals.This will not help convince an alcoholic to quit his addiction.Instead, the person may become even more withdrawn.
- It is necessary to refuse any help in solving problems caused by alcoholism until the patient agrees to accept drug treatment.
- The use of folk remedies and methods should be abandoned.They can only help in the early stages of addiction, and even then not always.Often the patient’s condition can only worsen, and alcoholism will move to the next stage.
- Instead, you need to choose a drug treatment clinic in advance.
- Take advantage of a situation where the patient is suffering from withdrawal symptoms.They are so painful that most agree to visit a doctor to stop suffering.
Another way is to contact motivational psychologists from a drug treatment clinic.They conduct confidential conversations at home and are well aware of the peculiarities of the psychology of alcoholics in order to achieve results.
Motivation to get rid of addiction
In order for an alcoholic to make an important choice and agree to undergo all stages of complex therapy, a frank conversation will help.During it, relatives will be able to present weighty arguments and motives that should convince the person to make this responsible decision.These motives may include:
- Children and family - expecting or planning a child is incompatible with alcoholism, as is raising young children.For some, the decisive factor is the emergence of a real and tangible threat of losing their family.
- A state of health when a person begins to develop more and more new diseases, internal organs gradually fail, systemic failures occur in the body, this becomes clear evidence that one needs to stop.
- Because of addiction, your career begins to suffer greatly.The prospect of losing a job, everything that was previously achieved in the professional field, becomes a good incentive.Over time, drinking alcohol inevitably affects work success: brain activity decreases, the sense of responsibility weakens, and discipline is lame.
- Reputation is not often the main reason people quit drinking, but it is a possibility.At a minimum, this argument should be used along with other reasons why an alcoholic should give up alcohol.If the patient has a chronic addiction, self-esteem loses value due to serious psychological changes and personality degradation.
- Moral or physical fatigue from systematic alcohol consumption.In some cases, it is possible to ensure that a person takes an objective look at himself from the outside, and realizes the meaninglessness and hopelessness of such a situation.The main thing may be the fact that the patient ceases to enjoy alcohol; not a trace remains of the satisfaction that was before.
- Significant changes that have occurred in life.In this case, a clear awareness of the grayness of the current reality and the desire to radically change everything should play a role.
Having achieved voluntary and informed consent to comprehensive treatment of alcoholism, you need to move on to the stages of therapy.The program is developed individually, taking into account the psychological and physiological characteristics of the patient.If necessary, regular meetings with a psychotherapist are held to maintain the level of motivation at the proper level.
Where to start treating addiction?
Patients and their relatives should be prepared for the fact that it will take a long time to fight alcoholism - on average about one year.To begin with, doctors are doing everything possible to rid the body of the remnants of alcohol and ethanol toxins.
For this purpose, drug detoxification is carried out if the patient cannot simply withstand a week without alcohol on his own.This is also done when withdrawing from binge drinking.
The patient is placed on a drip with potent medications in the form of solutions.There are two reasons why you won’t be able to organize diffuse therapy yourself, even if you read many posts on the Internet:
- Only an experienced doctor, based on the results of express diagnostics, can determine which medications to include in the drip and what the dosages should be.
- Mostly, when removing a person from binge drinking and cleansing the body of toxins, potent drugs are used, which can be bought in a pharmacy only with a doctor’s prescription.
The drip is placed for about two hours.All this time, the narcologist is next to the alcoholic, monitoring the vital organs.When leaving, he leaves the relatives with medications for the next few days and gives advice on what to do when the patient comes to his senses.
Diagnostics
To decide which alcohol addiction treatment methods should be used, you need to conduct a comprehensive examination.It allows you to make an accurate diagnosis of the patient and establish all existing risk factors.
Diagnostics includes examination and questioning of the patient, ordering laboratory tests.The complex of these measures allows you to establish:
- stage of dependence;
- physiological and psychological characteristics;
- how long and how often a person drinks alcohol, what alcoholic drinks he prefers;
- if treatment is not carried out for the first time, past experience is clarified, for what reason the relapse occurred;
- concomitant chronic diseases and dangerous disorders;
- allergic reactions;
- intolerance to individual components of medications;
- the level of motivation of the patient, how strongly he wants to get rid of addiction.
Having assessed the results obtained, the narcologist, in consultation with the patient and his relatives, discusses a comprehensive treatment program and gives recommendations on how to carry out the therapy most effectively.
Coding
The next stage in the fight against alcohol addiction is coding.Doctors use medicinal and non-medicinal methods.Diagnostics helps to determine which option will be effective and safe.
Coding for alcoholism can be carried out at home or in an inpatient setting.It all depends on the patient’s condition and the recommendations of the attending physician.Common coding methods for drinking alcohol include:
- Filing an implant or other methods of introducing disulfiram-based drugs into the body.The active substance 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 relapsed patient experiences painful symptoms of severe intoxication.The patient's condition sharply worsens in just a few minutes even from a small dose of alcohol.This is an effective method of prohibitive therapy, as a person develops a stable psychological barrier.He constantly remembers that he could die if he dares to drink.The likelihood of death is high if an effective antidote is not given in time.
- Use of drugs based on naltrexone.This is another method of drug coding, but not as radical as the previous one.In this case, the active substance blocks the brain receptors responsible for obtaining a feeling of pleasure from drinking alcohol.As a result, if the patient still risks drinking after coding, he simply will not feel anything.Because of this, he will decide to give up alcohol, since it is pointless, at least for the duration of the coding period.
- A psychotherapeutic technique based on immersing the patient in a state of deep trance.In this position, the patient’s suggestibility greatly increases, while he is fully aware of where he is and what is happening to him.An experienced doctor gives clear instructions on aversion to alcoholic beverages and maintaining a healthy lifestyle in the future.
The encoding period ranges from several months to five years.Often they choose coding for a period of one year, this time is just enough to stop drinking, the patient has time to realize the benefits of a sober life, and go through the remaining stages of complex therapy.
Psychological rehabilitation
To consolidate the effect achieved after coding, it is necessary to undergo a course of psychological rehabilitation in the inpatient department of a drug treatment clinic.If the previous stages of treatment could be organized at home, now hospitalization will be required.This is the only way to eliminate the possibility of relapse, protecting a person from negative external social influences.
During psychological rehabilitation, it is possible to finally eliminate physical and psychological cravings for alcoholic beverages.The following methods are used for this:
- Individual and group psychological classes that help the patient understand his problems, learn to solve life’s difficulties and have fun without drinking alcohol.
- The 12-step rehabilitation program is an effective technique originally from the USA.It is based on the recognition of helplessness in solving the problem, accepting help from a Higher Power (this can be religion or a mentor - an ex-alcoholic who has successfully recovered thanks to this program).
- The Day Top rehabilitation program is based on the possibility of self-healing; the doctor takes an observant position.
- Family psychotherapy helps not only the alcoholic, but also his relatives when they develop codependency, and helps restore family relationships.
To exclude relapse, after discharge each patient receives psychological post-rehabilitation support.