Alcoholism, one of the varieties of drug addiction, was recognized by official medicine in 1952 as a serious mental illness, the symptoms of which tend to constantly increase. The disease manifests itself as an uncontrollable desire to drink alcohol. A person begins to drink alcohol uncontrollably, can go on long binges lasting several days or drink a certain amount of alcohol every day "out of tiredness", to relieve stress or simply to relax.
How to stop drinking and what are the dangers of alcoholism?
Most people suffering from alcohol addiction are not fully aware of the dangers of this disease. They do not think that only returning to a sober lifestyle can save them from health problems, so they will not stop drinking alcohol. The question of getting rid of alcoholism usually worries their relatives, who turn to specialists for help.
To understand the danger of chronic alcoholism to health, it is worth remembering the serious diseases that develop in every alcoholic after several years of persistent alcohol dependence. The main place among them is occupied by:
- from the digestive system: gastritis, ulcer, enterocolitis;
- from the cardiovascular system: cardiomyopathy or cardialgia;
- from the liver: cirrhosis or hepatitis;
- from the brain: alcoholic pellagra, Morel's disease;
- from the psyche: delirium (delirium tremens), or psychosis.
Among the causes of serious deterioration in health, leading to premature death, we can mention pancreatitis, a specific disease of alcoholics, which can quickly lead to the development of a cancerous tumor in the pancreas. If a person with alcohol dependence, despite the developing disease, continues to drink alcohol regularly and uncontrollably, he will not have more than ten years to live.
A drunk person does not control his actions, which is why drunk drivers and pedestrians often become the culprits of road accidents. Most crimes are committed by people addicted to alcohol.
Social problems of alcoholics
For a person who begins to drink regularly and uncontrollably, alcohol replaces family, work and hobbies. He gradually transforms into something amorphous, his life flows in a vicious circle, from one pile to another through the hangover phase. Chronic alcoholism causes:
- Cessation of development and decline in social status.
- A negative change in ethical and moral character traits, leading to rudeness towards others, vulgarity, laxity.
- Behavioral deviation. People who constantly drink, unable to forget their bad habit, acquire asocial character traits, often resort to physical and moral humiliation of loved ones, stealing money and valuables from home.
Active alcoholization, which has occurred in recent years in our society, leads not only to health problems among drinkers and a deterioration in the quality of life of society as a whole, but also to high mortality among young people.
How to convince an alcoholic to quit?
Due to the negative effect of ethanol on the brain, a drinker can perceive any information only one-sidedly: he hears and sees what he wants and ignores everything else. Only information that cannot harm the friendship with the "Green Snake" penetrates his consciousness. An alcoholic not only does not think about stopping alcohol abuse, but also categorically does not recognize the existence of such a disease as alcoholism.
It is impossible to force a drug addict to stop drinking for any reason by hanging posters on the walls about the harm caused by alcoholism. It is easier to familiarize the addict with the dangerous facts of the harm caused by alcohol, then he will probably begin to think about how to quit the habit that is causing irreparable harm to her health in order to return to a sober life. Facts that can help get an alcoholic back on the road to sobriety include:
- to "earn" cirrhosis, a person who drinks regularly needs only 10-20 years;
- having forgotten alcohol at the stage of damage to internal organs, an alcoholic can live about another 10 years, but if he does not stop abusing, death will occur much earlier;
- a person who becomes an alcoholic before turning thirty will surely end up in a grave by her fiftieth birthday.
Yes, these facts can influence an uncontrollable drinker and force him to quit, but it is better if the motivation for alcoholism treatment is carried out by an experienced psychologist. The Neoplus drug treatment clinic in Yekaterinburg offers an intervention service. A qualified psychologist goes to the home of an alcoholic who refuses to undergo hospital treatment, at the request of his relatives. Then a motivational conversation is held. The result of professional motivation in 98% of cases is the emergence of the desire in the addicted person to abandon his addiction and voluntarily makes the decision to undergo treatment.
Is it dangerous to cure alcoholism on your own?
Unfortunately, the question of how to stop abusing alcohol concerns not people addicted to alcohol, but their loved ones. It is the relatives of alcoholics, exhausted from regular alcohol consumption and realizing the futility of persuasion to undergo treatment, who are looking for information on how to stop drinking. It should be said right away that self-medication for alcoholism, which is a fairly common practice in our modern society, poses a serious threat not only to health, but also to human life, and is also completely useless.
A drug addict cannot stop drinking alcohol until he realizes the danger of his habit and does not want to give it up, and self-medication of alcoholism, especially without the patient's knowledge, is dangerous because:
- The use of drugs that eliminate the desire to drink alcohol regularly or that cause negative somatic reactions to alcohol, not only to taste, but also to smell, without the prescription of a qualified narcologist, represents a serious threat to health and people's life. the alcoholic. Secretly giving the patient independently selected drugs, loved ones expose him to the danger of developing serious somatic diseases and exacerbation of chronic diseases.
- Folk remedies with which it is impossible to drink alcohol due to immediate vomiting can cause an acute allergic reaction in the form of suffocation. Dysfunction of the respiratory system quickly leads to asphyxia and, in most cases, ends in premature death, since the ambulance does not have time to arrive due to the immediate increase in clinical symptoms.
In addition, such treatment, not supervised by a doctor, can lead to the following irreversible consequences:
- worsening of mental problems;
- cause injury to people around him;
- the emergence of suicidal tendencies and suicide.
To avoid such consequences, you need to convince your loved one, who has started drinking heavily, to go to a specialized clinic. This should be done as soon as possible when the first signs appear that a relative is developing an addiction to alcohol. It should be remembered that a person with chronic addiction can stop drinking alcohol only after completing a full course of rehabilitation. Delaying it could prove fatal.
Professional methods for treating alcoholism in a private clinic
The question of how to return to sobriety with the help of professionals is of interest to many. This is often asked online. To understand how to forget about alcohol if you cannot do it yourself, it is worth considering the alcoholism treatment methods used in our clinic. After the alcoholic is admitted to the hospital, he is prescribed a comprehensive diagnostic examination. During the trial, it is revealed:
- general condition of the patient;
- stage of development of addiction;
- the presence of damage caused to internal organs and the psyche by alcohol.
Based on the results obtained, each patient is assigned an individual treatment regimen, but all selected measures are included in several general stages.
Cleansing the body
Without this stage it is impossible to begin full treatment of alcoholism. Detoxification is carried out by infusion of absorption solutions (binding toxins). Added to these are medications individually prescribed to relieve the withdrawal symptoms present in a particular alcoholic. If necessary, non-pharmacological detoxification can be performed: plasmapheresis, hemosorption, hemodialysis.
Regenerative drug therapy
Patients with alcohol addiction admitted for treatment to our hospital are also prescribed a course of restorative and restorative therapy. The medicines, individually selected by the specialists who collaborate with the Neoplus clinic, quickly allow:
- restore internal organs damaged by degradation products of psychoactive substances;
- normalize the functioning of the cardiovascular, nervous and digestive systems.
If a person who cannot stop drinking is diagnosed with serious illnesses, hepatitis, HIV infection, borderline mental states, psychosis, epilepsy, etc. , the specialized specialists who collaborate with our clinic prescribe additional therapy aimed at curing it or keeping it in a state of remission.
Psychological rehabilitation
The main and longest stage of treatment of alcoholism, without which it is not possible to cope with this disease, which forces a person to constantly drink alcohol. The psychotherapeutic treatment protocol includes:
- group psychological training courses;
- individual lessons, conversations and consultations with a psychologist;
- The 12 Steps program has long proven its high effectiveness.
In addition, our psychologists carry out free work with codependent relatives of patients, aimed at preventing possible burnout after discharge from the clinic.
Resocialization
This stage consists in restoring ties with society lost during the period when the addict drank alcohol, which is an effective prevention of relapse after treatment and a guarantee that the person will be able to stop drinking alcohol forever. Therapeutic programs used in this phase include:
- detailed analysis of problems and irritants that lead to failures;
- simulative study of situations that can cause a relapse of the disease.
Our social workers and psychologists help patients to change unfavorable patterns of behavior, to break with their previous environment, to restore everyday or professional skills and, if necessary, to acquire a new profession.
How to stop drinking forever, advice from a narcologist
There are no ex-alcoholics. If a drug addict has stopped abusing, this does not mean that he has managed to stop forever. There is no advice on how to stop drinking on your own. The only way out for an alcoholic to stop drinking is a consultation with an experienced narcologist and comprehensive treatment in a drug treatment hospital clinic. The help of specialists can make a person want to consciously stop drinking alcohol. The success of treatment depends on how strong the patient's desire to give up alcohol is.
The following will help you forget about alcohol:advise:
- refuse any offer to drink;
- always check the amount of alcohol consumed;
- Avoid companies where people drink a lot.
To ensure that you stop abusing alcohol, you should learn to relax using non-alcoholic methods: find a hobby, play sports, etc. If you are worried about insomnia and anxiety, you should consult a psychotherapist in the clinic.
If there are signs of alcohol addiction, you should contact a professional drug treatment clinic, which will advise you on alcoholism treatment for free and anonymously at any time of the day.