Alcoholism, Alcohol Relapse, and Enabling

August 29th, 2009 by author

It is worthy of note to mention something that family members who have been harmfully affected by the alcoholism of another family member clearly do not grasp. It seems to be that by protecting the alcohol addicted individual with untruths and deceitfulness to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in effect created a situation that makes it easier for the alcoholic to persist and advance with his or her harmful, devastating way of living.

Indeed, instead of helping the alcohol dependent individual and themselves, these family members have in reality become enablers who have unintentionally helped negatively affect the alcohol addicted personâ€™s drinking problem even further.

The Likelihood of a Relapse is Real

Another key alcohol dependency issue concerns alcohol relapses.Â Relapses take place when an alcoholic has successfully undergone alcohol addiction treatment and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later.Â At first glance, this situation flies in the face of commonsensical thinking and sounds so improbable that it forces one to speculate why anyone who has experienced the awfulness of alcoholism can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after attaining sobriety.Â There are, for sure, many likely reasons for this.

It should be highlighted, on the other hand that alcoholism research that has centered on the lasting consequences of alcohol dependency has shown that long after the alcohol dependent person has discontinued his or her drinking, fundamental modifications in the way in which the alcohol dependent personâ€™s brain works are still present. As a result, all a recovering alcohol addicted individual has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the transformations that have taken place in the brain is to begin drinking once again.

A Requirement for An Important Lifestyle Modification

There are other reasons why more than a few recovering alcohol dependent individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after reaching sobriety. According to the alcohol dependency research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcohol dependent individual needs new ways of responding and thinking in order to deal more successfully with taxing alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.

Conditions such as returning to the same alcohol addictive environment or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the days when the alcohol dependent person was drinking excessively; or familiar songs, smells, or activitiesâ€”all of these situations can bring about memories that can prompt psychological tension or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol addicted individual to engage in irresponsible drinking once again. Unfortunately, all of these circumstances may not only work against ongoing alcohol recovery for the alcohol addicted person but they can also lead to relapse and therefore short-circuit oneâ€™s sobriety.

Conclusion

In an attempt to â€œprotectâ€ the family alcohol dependent individual, family members can in point of fact cause unintentional harm by enabling the destructive drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent person.

The addiction research literature demonstrates the fact that most people who effectively complete alcohol rehab experience at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get defeated or beleaguered when a relapse takes place.

Happily, taking part in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up counseling and training have resulted in more effective, enduring alcohol abuse and alcoholism therapeutic results, have helped decrease alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted persons accomplish long lasting alcohol recovery.