Why do People Abuse Alcohol?
Do you know someone that has a problem with alcohol do they drink to excess and are you worried about it do you know the difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism. When we’re worried about somebody misusing alcohol we’re worried about whether or not they’re at alcoholic now alcoholism it can end careers, crippled families, and change somebody’s life forever.
Background
But this may sound funny because what I’m more worried about are those people who abuse alcohol more than the people that are alcoholics. so yes alcoholism is the most severe form the symptoms of being an alcoholic they’re really obvious abusing alcohol though they’re less obvious. It’s harder to detect the symptoms of somebody who is abusing alcohol you know the problems fester and fester undetected until you guessed it there’s a crisis as a psychologist. It’s the person who abuses alcohol that scares me the most because when they’re abusing alcohol there’s a slow burn of destruction in their relationships and in the quality of their life for the people who are abusing alcohol they will tell me I’m not an alcoholic because I go days without drinking.
Reasons for Alcohol Abuse
I get up every morning I go to work my job isn’t in jeopardy, I’m in good health so there’s nothing to worry about. So when someone says that to me I tell them you’re abusing alcohol if someone close to you has told you that they’re worried about the drinking you use it as a way to cope with your day you are secretive about your alcohol consumption you are failing in your responsibilities at work at school or at home you are dangerous about your drinking and you continue to drink despite having an ongoing relationship problem.
That’s caused or worsened by drinking so alcoholism is different it’s the chronic compulsive uncontrolled consumption of alcohol. It’s similar to alcohol abuse but it’s way more severe and it has one additional symptom and that’s a physical dependency. If you rely on alcohol to function and you feel physically compelled to drink then more than likely you are an alcoholic. There are two major warning signs of alcoholism tolerance and withdrawal tolerance means that over time you need more and more alcohol to feel the same effects with withdrawal drinking to relieve or avoid those withdrawal symptoms. That’s a huge red flag when you drink heavily your body gets used to the alcohol and experiences withdrawal symptoms. If it’s taken away everyone who eventually becomes an alcoholic at some point abused alcohol, but not everybody who abuses alcohol will for sure go on to become an alcoholic.
Conclusion
Now without intervention chances are pretty good that alcohol abuse will turn into alcoholism. So what do you do about it you talk about the white elephant in the room you don’t dance around the subject and just keep secrets you tell them you’re worried about them and you tell them you want to help them get some help?
When you’re trying to help somebody who has an alcohol problem as much as you may want to and as hard as it is for you to watch you can’t make somebody stop drinking. The choice is really up to them the person that you care about is going to need treatment they’re going to need support and new coping skills to overcome a serious drinking problem recovery is hard it requires a lot of time and patience and it’s going to require your support somebody who has a problem with alcohol isn’t going to just magically be a different person once you’re sober the problems that led to their abuse they have to be face to if you smell alcohol or you see the remnants of alcohol you surround it’s very likely that they have a problem don’t fall for all those ways they try to deceive you if they don’t want you to know thing it’s very likely you’re not going to find out unless you go look people who have problems with alcohol very likely also have trouble with anxiety depression the stress of everyday events or they may even have feelings of insecurity the alcohol abuse may be away they’re trying to feel numb instead of face the issues triggers stimulate a relapse it’s important to know all those things that may be triggers identify what the triggers are and help that person find substitutes when someone believes they can handle their triggers on their own you know what they’re more likely to relapse unfortunately many people have trouble with relapse after they get treatment this doesn’t mean the treatment failed try to help the person you care about see relapse as a chance to do better and to keep working on those skills to avoid drinking if you’re the person that has a problem with alcohol get some help call your physician to talk to your clergy, go see a psychologist, tell a friend you don’t have to go through the process of getting sober all alone.
