Alcohol addiction is a problem familiar to many families. Some fail to realize the danger of cravings for alcohol, considering it a common bad habit that can be overcome with a simple effort of will. In fact, the patient with the development of psychological and physical dependence on alcohol can only be helped by professional drug therapists who know 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, loss of personality, and the likelihood of premature death increases.
How to convince someone to stop drinking
One of the main problems faced by the addict's family members is how to convince a person to stop drinking. The problem is that once an addiction is formed, a person loses the ability to objectively assess the reality around them. For this reason, he can sincerely believe that everything is fine for him, if necessary, he will at any time refrain from alcohol himself.
In fact, at this point the physical addiction has time to develop. Ethanol toxins penetrate tissues and internal organs, are actively involved in metabolism. Alcohol becomes necessary for the normal functioning of the body, once its levels decrease a person begins excruciating withdrawal symptoms. The easiest way to deal with them is to take another dose of alcohol. This leads to persistent binge drinking, addiction develops, and chronic comorbidities appear.
It is not easy to get an alcoholic to quit, and forced therapy is prohibited. Such a decision can only be made in court. However, medical care without the patient's consent is ineffective. As long as the person does not want to stop drinking, the likelihood of relapse remains very high.
Alternatives to coercive treatment
In order to obtain the consent of an alcoholic, relatives are advised to intervene. To do this, all family members must unite and act together:
- Refuse ultimatums, threats and scandals. This will not help convince the alcoholic to get rid of the addiction. Instead, a person can withdraw even more into himself.
- It is necessary to refuse any help in solving problems caused by alcoholism until the patient agrees to drug treatment.
- It is necessary to abandon the use of folk remedies and methods. They can only help in the early stages of the addiction, and then not always. Often times, the patient's condition can only worsen, and alcoholism moves on to the next phase.
- Instead, you need to choose a drug treatment clinic in advance.
- Take advantage of the situation if the patient is suffering from withdrawal symptoms. They are so appalling that most agree to see a doctor to end the suffering.
Another option is to contact psychologist motivators from the drug treatment clinic. You conduct confidential conversations at home, are aware of the specifics of the psychology of alcoholics, in order to achieve a result.
Motivation to Get Rid of Addiction
Having an open conversation will help the alcoholic make an important decision and agree to go through all stages of complex therapy. Relatives can bring forward weighty arguments and motives that should convince a person to make this responsible decision. These motifs can be:
- Children and Family - Waiting or planning a child is incompatible with alcoholism, as is raising young children. For some, the determining factor is the emergence of a real and tangible threat of family loss.
- A state of health in which new diseases are discovered in a person, internal organs gradually fail, systemic failures appear in the body, this is clear evidence of the need to stop.
- Careers start to suffer greatly from addiction. The prospect of job loss, everything that should be achieved earlier in the professional field, becomes a good incentive. Over time, alcohol consumption inevitably affects the success of work: brain activity decreases, the sense of responsibility decreases, the discipline paralyzes.
- Reputation isn't often the main reason to stop drinking, but it does exist. At the very least, this argument should be used along with other motives for the alcoholic to abstain from alcohol. If the patient is chronically addicted, self-esteem loses value due to severe psychological changes and personality losses.
- Moral or physical fatigue from systematic alcohol consumption. In some cases it can be achieved that a person looks at himself objectively from the outside, recognizes the futility and hopelessness of such a situation. The main thing may be the fact that the patient no longer has any pleasure in alcohol, there is no trace of the satisfaction that was before.
- Significant changes in life. A clear awareness of the inertia of current reality and the desire to radically change everything should play a role here.
After receiving voluntary and informed consent to complex treatment for alcoholism, it is necessary to proceed to the phases of therapy. The program is developed individually, taking into account the psychological and physiological characteristics of the patient. In order to keep the motivation at the right level, regular meetings with a psychotherapist take place if necessary.
How do you start addiction treatment?
Patients and their loved ones should be prepared that the battle against alcoholism will take a long time - about a year on average. First of all, the doctors do everything they can to rid the body of alcohol residues and ethanol toxins.
For this purpose, a drug detox is carried out if the patient cannot endure a week alone without alcohol. They do the same when they withdraw from heavy drinking.
The patient is given a pipette with effective drugs in the form of solutions. There are two reasons why it is not possible to organize diffuse therapy yourself, even if you read many posts on the Internet:
- Only an experienced doctor can use the results of express diagnostics to determine which drugs should be added to the pipette and how high the dosage should be.
- Most often, strong drugs are used to remove a person from heavy drinking and cleanse the body of toxins, which can only be purchased from a pharmacy with a doctor's prescription.
The pipette is put on for about two hours. All the while the narcologist is next to the alcoholic and monitors the indicators of the vital organs. When leaving, he leaves the relatives with the medication for the next few days, gives advice on what to do when the patient comes to his senses.
diagnosis
In order to decide which methods of treating alcohol addiction should be used, it is necessary to conduct a thorough examination. It allows you to make an accurate diagnosis of the patient and identify any risk factors that are present.
Diagnostics includes the examination and questioning of the patient, the appointment of laboratory tests. The complex of these measures allows you to establish:
- Stage of addiction;
- physiological and psychological properties;
- how long and how often a person drank alcohol, what kind of alcoholic beverages they prefer;
- if treatment is not carried out for the first time, the past experience is indicated, the reason for which the relapse occurred;
- accompanying chronic diseases and dangerous disorders;
- allergic reaction;
- Intolerance to individual components of drugs;
- the patient's motivation for how much they want to get rid of the addiction.
After evaluating the results achieved, the narcologist discusses a comprehensive treatment program with the patient and his / her relatives in a consultation, and makes recommendations on how to carry out the therapy most effectively.
Coding
The next step in the fight against alcohol addiction is coding. Doctors use drugs and non-drug methods. The diagnosis only helps determine which of the options are effective and safe.
Alcohol coding can be done at home or in a hospital. It all depends on the patient's condition and the recommendations of the attending physician. Common coding methods for alcohol consumption are:
- Implantation or other methods of introducing disulfiram-based drugs into the body. The active ingredient blocks the liver enzymes that are responsible for breaking down ethanol toxins in water and carbon dioxide, which are completely harmless to humans. If this does not happen, with the breakdown the patient will experience appalling symptoms of severe intoxication. The patient's condition deteriorates sharply in just a few minutes, even with a small dose of alcohol. This is an effective method of prohibitive therapy because a person forms a stable psychological barrier. He constantly remembers that if he dares to drink, he can die. The probability of death is high if an effective antidote is not administered 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 ingredient blocks the receptors in the brain that are responsible for drinking pleasure. As a result, if the patient still dares to drink after coding, they will simply not feel anything. Because of this, he will choose to give up alcohol, as it is pointless, at least for the duration of the coding.
- A psychotherapeutic technique based on immersing the patient in a deep state of trance. In this position, the patient's suggestibility is greatly increased, while he is fully aware of where he is and what is happening to him. An experienced doctor will give clear guidelines for future alcohol aversion and a healthy lifestyle.
The coding period ranges from several months to five years. Often they choose to code for a period of one year, just enough time to stop drinking, the patient has managed to see the benefits of an empty life and go through the remaining stages of complex therapy.
Psychological rehabilitation
In order to consolidate the effect achieved after coding, psychological rehabilitation in an inpatient department of a narcological clinic is required. If the previous treatment steps could be organized at home, a hospital stay is now necessary. This is the only way to rule out the possibility of relapse and protect a person from negative external social influences.
In psychological rehabilitation it is possible to finally eliminate the physical and mental desire for alcoholic beverages. The following techniques are used:
- Individual and group psychological sessions that will help the patient understand their problems, solve life problems and have fun without drinking alcohol.
- The 12-step rehabilitation program is an effective technique that originated in the United States. It is based on the recognition of helplessness in the face of solving a problem, the acceptance of help from a Higher Power (it can be a religion or a mentor - a former alcoholic who was successfully cured thanks to this program).
- The Day Top rehabilitation program is based on the possibility of self-healing, the doctor takes an attentive attitude.
- Family psychotherapy not only helps the alcoholic but also his loved ones when they develop codependency, helps restore relationships in the family.
In order to rule out a relapse, every patient receives psychological follow-up care after discharge.