Enabling, Alcohol Relapse, and Alcohol Dependency

August 28th, 2009 by author

It is worthy of note to articulate something that family members who have been adversely affected by the alcoholism of another family member clearly do not comprehend. It appears that by protecting the alcoholic with falsehoods and dishonesty to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have basically created a condition that makes it easier for the alcohol dependent individual to continue and advance with his or her damaging, devastating daily life.

Undeniably, instead of helping the alcohol dependent person and themselves, these family members have essentially become enablers who have unintentionally helped negatively affect the drinking problems of the problem drinker even more.

Relapses Can and Do Happen

Another key alcoholism issue has to do with alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted person has fruitfully gone through alcoholism therapy and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this circumstance flies in the face of logical thinking and appears to be so unrealistic that it forces one to speculate why anyone who has lived through the terror of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol treatment and in turn after attaining recovery. There are, without a doubt, numerous conceivable reasons for this.

It should be highlighted, then again that alcohol addiction research that has focused on the long standing outcomes of alcohol addiction has revealed that long after the alcohol addicted individual has terminated his or her drinking, significant modifications in the way in which the alcohol dependent individualâ€™s brain operates are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol addicted person has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the changes that have taken place in the brain is to engage in drinking again.

The Need for A Radical Lifestyle Transformation

There are even more reasons why more than a few recovering alcohol addicted persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol addiction research literature, to make a successful recovery, the alcohol dependent individual needs new ways of reacting and thinking in order to deal more competently 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 time when the alcohol dependent individual was drinking excessively; or familiar songs, smells, or activitiesâ€”all of these conditions can bring about memories that can trigger psychological tension or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol addicted individual to engage in excessive drinking once again. Regrettably, all of these circumstances may not only get in the way of long lasting alcohol recovery for the alcohol addicted individual but they can also lead to relapse and as a result work against oneâ€™s alcohol recovery.

Summary

In an attempt to â€œprotectâ€ the family alcohol addicted person, family members can essentially cause unintentional destruction by enabling the negative drinking behavior of the alcohol addicted individual.

The alcohol abuse research literature demonstrates the fact that most individuals who effectively complete alcohol therapy experience at least one relapse. Alcoholics and their family members need to know this so that they do not get crestfallen or overwhelmed when a relapse occurs.

Luckily, participation in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up therapy and education have resulted in more productive, long standing alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction treatment outcomes, have helped decrease alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcoholics reach lasting sobriety.