Talking to Your Doctor About Your Alcohol Problems and Your Depression

September 27th, 2009 by author

Denny is a nineteen-year-old youth who has finally determined that he needs to go and see his family doctor about his drinking problems. At first, Denny thought he would be able to simply go online, look for some basic alcohol info and determine whether or not he was an alcoholic.

Not unexpectedly, he located a number of websites that itemized some of the usual alcoholism symptoms. Thatâ€™s the positive news. The less positive news, regrettably, was that Denny presented a host of these alcoholism symptoms.

Symptoms of Alcohol Addiction: Some Examples

For instance, Denny has been drinking a lot more than customary and he has begun to have more fiery bickering with his girlfriend. What is more, for the first time in his young life he has been having sleeping issues. Likewise, Denny frequently has felt depressed and on an escalating basis he has been exhibiting limited concentration in class. In addition, he has felt highly stressed and more jumpy on a day-to-day basis and for the past four or five months he has shown evidence of foggy thinking in the classroom. Because Denny has been displaying all of these symptoms, he was understandably worried about his careless and abusive drinking.

So Denny eventually made up his mind that he needed to make a phone call to his doctor and ask for an appointment. As it happens, this was problematic for Denny because his doctor was also his parentsâ€™ doctor. The root of his worry was this: at the risk of embarrassing his family, he had to go and make known his excessive and abusive drinking behavior to his healthcare professional.

When Denny arrived at the family healthcare practitionerâ€™s office, he frankly notified the doctor about the trepidation he has about his hazardous drinking behavior. When the physician asked what was prompting this consternation, Denny mentioned that he had gone online and read about alcohol dependency and especially about alcoholism symptoms. He then mentioned all of the alcohol dependency symptoms that he unmistakably thought he possesses.

An Exhaustive Physical Evaluation and Outpatient Alcohol Rehabilitation

The family physician informed Denny that it was prudent of him to attend to his problem drinking, he gave Denny a comprehensive physical assessment, and recommended that he talk to his Mom and Dad about enrolling in an out-patient alcohol treatment program that was supervised by Doctor Jordan, one of his doctor associates who is a substance abuse and alcohol abuse specialist.

In the same way, when Denny expressed the fact that he has been feeling a sense of melancholy more frequently, the physician informed Denny that depression and alcoholism often happen in the same individual. As a result, the family doctor also recommended that Denny talk to his Mother and Father about getting counseling in order to attend to his sense of gloom. In fact, Denny can go to the local mental health center and make an appointment with Doctor Bakos, a well known clinical psychologist who specializes in treating adolescents.

The Significance of Coping With Your Drinking Issues and Getting Encouraged About Making Positive and Healthy Changes in Your Life

The healthcare professional made it a point to tell Denny that he might not necessarily be dependent on alcohol, but that he was undoubtedly drinking in an irresponsible manner. Stated more precisely, Denny was engaging in teen alcohol abuse. The family doctor then notified Denny that the reason he recommended alcohol rehab in the first place was because he wanted him to face his drinking problems, make sure that he stopped them from going from bad to worse, and start to live in a more healthy manner, even if it meant that he had to entirely abstain from drinking.

In a word, by effectively treating his drinking problems, Denny would be able to get his drinking difficulties under control and refrain from the negative sequence of events that could almost certainly result in alcohol dependency.

Denny justifiably did not look forward to facing his Mother and Father about his depression and his drinking issues. And he certainly did not want to face the thought of getting admitted into an alcohol treatment program. And last of all, he was not thrilled about going to a therapist about his excessive sadness. Notwithstanding these trepidations, then again, Denny actually experienced some psychological relief for the first time in quite a few months because he finally gave up making excuses for himself and at long last decided to do something productive about his abusive drinking.