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Monday, May 4th, 2009

Alcohol Abuse Therapy

How to get success in Alcohol Abuse Treatment

Treatment of alcoholism or abuse, an identified medical disease, is a long term process. Almost 20 million Americans needed treatment for alcohol abuse in 2007. The vast majority needed treatment at facilities specially designed to assist those with the problem but not obtain it. For the last 5 years, things have not changed.

Dependence on alcohol is characterized by: craving alcohol, personal lack of control over drinking and dependence. It is a chronic medical illness that has both genetic and environmental factors affecting its presentation in people’s lives. A family history is often prevalent. One’s environment also is important in shaping a person’s drinking habits: is alcohol readily available, do your friends drink and what is your life outlook and sense of realty. All these issues dynamically interact. It can be successfully treated with medications and in alcohol treatment programs behavioral alteration.

Levels of success in the treatment of alcohol abuse vary like in any disease. Some people quit drinking forever while others lower their intake or fall back to drinking. New therapies are constantly being developed. This tells us that current methods are not 100% perfect. Current methodologies for treatment are based on counseling of one sort or another. Several frequently followed programs are successful and reduce drinking behavior significantly over the first year and after three years one in three were still doing well. The programs are the 12 step program, cognitive behavior and motivation enhancement therapies. There are also short intervention programs for marriage intervention therapy and individual programs for those abusing alcohol but not yet dependent.

The process begins with medically directed detoxification and withdrawal from the drug. Placement in a facility for education and counseling is meets the needs of the patient and requires adequate time. Here, abusers receive non-threatening intervention, guidance and education about their disease and drugs. It is a self learning experience. This is critical. The learn how to stay sober. Input by trained therapists gives support and direction. They learn about the program, self help and family/group assistance.

Finally, some medications can used to help. Disulfiram, naltrexone and acamprosate can be used to help avoid alcohol. Disulfiram causes sickness after drinking while the others inhibit the craving and reward one gets in drinking. The problem is that they are oral drugs and must be taken to be effective. Compliance can be a problem and a way of avoidance. Naltrexone can be given in an injectable longer acting form.

Alcoholism is a disease that can successfully be treated but has a high relapse rate.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 8:41 am and is filed under Alcohol Abuse Therapy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Alcohol Abuse Therapy”

metrony Says:
May 5th, 2009 at 3:46 am

What is the recovery versus relapse rate. Does it improve as a direct relationship with the amount of time sober? Is AA the most effective rehab method??

marge s. Says:
May 5th, 2009 at 4:43 am

I have a son that has been in and out of treatment since he was 30 now he is 41 and it is really very bad he can go into treatment and gradulate and do really well and within one month of coming out of treatment he is drunk and into other things–regardless of the treatment he been in several treatment centers in different states and and the results are all the same–he really doesnt want to go to aa he says he can do it on his own–I have let go and letting God–I cant help I am only his mother–he is homeless now and all I can do is pray for him

karen Says:
May 5th, 2009 at 7:22 am

This article provided an excellent overview of abuse treatment…one that I wished I’d understood everytime we took my brother into the hospital for detox. He typically entered the hospital or abuse program for a week, maybe two or even a month. Once completed we all held our breath, hoping that this time something would be different. I can not count the number of detoxifications he completed but did notice as they increased in frequency while the cycle repeated itself.

The last time he left a brief abuse treatment he embraced the 12 Step program. Its only been 4 months but his demeanor, his attitude and outlook are dramatically different than anything we’ve experienced over the years. He learned to accept that he could not do it alone, that he needed help. His willingness to accept this simple fact lifted a burden he had always carried alone. With that help he has developed friendships and obtained a sponsor that has gone out of his way to consistently provide the support, encouragement and reinforcement of his new perspective.

He may not be successful but I do know that he has learned what he needs to do to succeed. He has embraced a new peace of mind with his willingess to accept help and practice what has been preached…or taught.

Now I know that the standard practice of detox with a subsequent few week stay offers merely a reprieve from the downward spiral. That said, my brother’s recent success seems to be sheer luck but his acceptance of the 12 Step program is the long term “treatment” he has never embraced in the past.

Shawn Says:
May 20th, 2009 at 8:55 am

I battled with alcohol for all of my life. I did programs, cold turkey, and 12 step. You name it, I did it. None of them worked. The torture that I felt inside was unbearable. How come every one else can stop, and I can’t? Why am I continuously failing at this? The inner turmoil that took place on a daily basis was incredible. I did things that were so embarrasing to myself and my family. Yet it continued. I was a blackout drinker as well. This made it even worse because I could not remember the stupid things that I said or did, and now had to take responsibility for. Then I went to my doctor after some blood tests came back,and he told me that I had fatty infiltration of my liver and if I kept drinking that it would turn into cirrhosis of the liver and that I would die if I kept drinking. Needless to say I made a decision right there on the spot to stop immediately. But that’s wherethe story begins. My doctor recommended that I take this Presciption called Toppomax, which he said he has prescribed to police officers in the area (NEW YORK) with great success, and the reason that he knows that, is because each officer keeps tabs on the other for him. So I began to use it twice a day, once in the morning and once inthe evening, and I cannot believe the results. I dont even think about drinking, let alone get tempted, and I have to tell,I never used to get tempted, I got sucked,like a magnet was pulling me, but never tempted like you get when you want that extra piece of chocalate cake after dinner. No, when I decided to drink, it was as if something or someone inside of me was not going to stop until alcohol was going down the throat. It was not controllable!People that do not battle on these battlefields do not believe you or do not understand you. So to those of you who have written before me, see your doctor and ask about Toppomax. I am a person who knows what your loved one is going through because until 5 months ago I went through it for 34 long, loneley, painful years. Dont give up on them now because I am living proof that this works with absolutely no side affects at all. What do you have to lose? What kills me is that this stuff is off the radar and nobody knows about it.

frank erwin Says:
June 28th, 2009 at 2:09 am

being addicted to alcohol has been my constant companion for 45 years.i have been going to a 12 step program for 37 years with no more than 2-3 years soberity at any one time.the twelve steps of aa is a very hard discipline to accept and follow.however i personally know people with many years of soberity that has used the 12 step program. AA itself tells that only thee(3) in a hundred 100 remain sober six months.Less than one percent make a year.So what is the answer?i have been sober three years now with a combination of medically prescripted anti-depressants and a drug named seroquel.i also attend A.A. meetngs and REALLY WANT TO BE SOBER.ALCOHOL is truely a killer of people like me and i do survive one day at a time.God bless–don’t give up.

Adam B Says:
September 8th, 2009 at 5:02 am

I walked into a detox when I was 24 years old. that was in 1991 I am now 42 yrs old and have been Sober for over 18 yrs. AA works when your desperate. and here is why.
I became willing to take action that i didnt agree with. I took the 12 steps and had a profound personality change that MILLIONS of people can attest to.

Thats it> i let down my defenses long enough to take simple direction – no relapse YET Y.our E.ligible T.oo

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