Alcohol addiction is a known problem in many families. Some do not realize the danger of alcohol cravings, considering it a common bad habit that can be resolved with a simple effort of will. In fact, with the development of psychological and physical dependence on alcohol, the patient can only be helped by professional pharmaceutical therapists who know how to stop drinking.
Alcoholism is a dangerous chronic disease. Without timely treatment, it leads to pathological disturbances in the functioning of internal organs and systems, personality degradation and increases the probability of premature death.
How to convince someone to stop drinking
One of the main problems faced by the addict's family is how to convince the person to stop drinking. The problem is that, after the formation of his addiction, the person loses the ability to objectively assess the reality that surrounds him. Therefore, he can sincerely believe that everything is fine with him; if necessary, he will give up alcohol on his own at any time.
In fact, at this point, the physical addiction has time to develop. Ethanol toxins penetrate internal tissues and organs and are actively involved in metabolism. Alcohol becomes necessary for the normal functioning of the body, as soon as its level decreases, the person begins to experience excruciating withdrawal symptoms. The easiest way to deal with them is to take another shot of alcohol. This leads to excessive alcohol consumption for a long time, the development of dependence and the appearance of concomitant chronic diseases.
Getting an alcoholic to stop smoking is not easy, and coercive therapy is prohibited. Such a decision can only be taken in court. However, providing medical care without the patient's consent is ineffective. As long as the person doesn't want to stop drinking, the probability of relapse will remain very high.
Alternatives to mandatory treatment
To obtain an alcoholic's consent, relatives are advised to intervene. To do this, all family members must come together and act together:
- Refuse ultimatums, threats and scandals. This will not help convince the alcoholic to kick the habit. Instead, the person can become even more closed in on himself.
- It is necessary to refuse any help in solving the problems caused by alcoholism until the patient agrees to accept the drug treatment.
- The use of folk remedies and methods must be abandoned. They can only help in the early stages of addiction, and even then not always. Often the patient's condition can only get worse and alcoholism moves to the next stage.
- Instead, you need to choose a drug treatment clinic in advance.
- Take advantage of the situation where the patient is suffering from withdrawal symptoms. They are so painful that most agree to see a doctor to stop suffering.
Another way is to contact motivational psychologists at the drug treatment clinic. They hold confidential conversations at home, know the quirks of alcoholic psychology well enough to arrive at an outcome.
Motivation to get rid of addiction
Open conversation will help the alcoholic make an important choice and agree to go through all stages of complex therapy. In it, relatives will be able to give strong arguments and reasons that should convince a person to take this responsible decision. These reasons can include:
- Children and family - Expecting or planning a child is incompatible with alcoholism, as is raising young children. For some, the deciding factor is the emergence of a real and tangible threat of losing a family.
- A state of health, when new diseases start to be detected in a person, the internal organs gradually fail, systemic failures occur in the body, this becomes clear evidence that it is necessary to stop.
- Careers start to suffer a lot due to addiction. The prospect of losing a job, all to gain earlier in the professional field, becomes a good incentive. Alcohol consumption over time inevitably affects success at work: brain activity declines, sense of responsibility weakens, discipline is weak.
- Reputation doesn't always become the main reason to stop drinking, but it does exist. At the very least, this argument should be used along with other reasons for the alcoholic to give up alcohol. If the patient is chronically addicted, self-esteem loses value due to severe psychological changes and personality degradation.
- Moral or physical fatigue from the systematic use of alcohol. In some cases, it is possible to get a person to look objectively at himself from the outside, to realize the meaninglessness and hopelessness of such a situation. The main thing may be the fact that the patient no longer feels pleasure with alcohol, the satisfaction he had before, no trace remains.
- Significant changes in life. In this case, a clear awareness of the monotony of the current reality and the desire to radically change everything must play a role.
Once you have obtained voluntary and informed consent for the complex treatment of alcoholism, you need to move on to the stages of therapy. The program is developed individually, taking into account the patient's psychological and physiological characteristics. Regular meetings with a psychotherapist are held, if necessary, to maintain the proper level of motivation.
How to start anti-drug treatment?
The patient and their families must be prepared for the fact that combating alcoholism will take a long time - on average, about a year. For starters, doctors are doing everything they can to rid the body of alcohol residues and ethanol toxins.
For this, drug detox is performed if the patient simply cannot endure a week without alcohol on their own. They also do the same when they stop drinking heavily.
The patient is given a dropper with potent medications in the form of solutions. There are two reasons why it is not possible to organize diffuse therapy on your own, even if you read a lot of posts on the Internet:
- Only an experienced physician, based on the results of expressed diagnostics, can determine which medications to include in the dropper, what the dosage should be.
- Mainly, in removing a person from excessive alcohol consumption and cleansing the body of toxins, potent medications are used, which can only be purchased at the pharmacy with a prescription.
The dropper is put on for about two hours. All this time, the narcologist is at the alcoholic's side, monitoring vital organ indicators. Leaving, he leaves the medicine to his relatives for the next few days, gives advice on what to do when the patient comes to his senses.
Diagnosis
To decide which alcohol addiction treatment methods to use, you will need to undergo a comprehensive examination. It allows you to make an accurate patient diagnosis to establish all existing risk factors.
Diagnosis includes examination and questioning of the patient, appointment of laboratory tests. The complex of these measures allows you to establish:
- dependency stage;
- physiological and psychological characteristics;
- how long and how often has a person been drinking alcohol, what kind of alcoholic beverage he prefers;
- if the treatment is not performed for the first time, the past experience is specified, the reason for the relapse;
- concurrent chronic illnesses and dangerous disorders;
- Allergic reactions;
- intolerance to individual drug components;
- the patient's level of motivation, how much he wants to get rid of the addiction.
After evaluating the results obtained, the narcologist, during the consultation, together with the patient and their families, discusses a comprehensive treatment program, gives recommendations on how to carry out the therapy more effectively.
Codification
The next step in the fight against alcohol addiction is codification. Doctors use both medicated and non-medicated methods. Diagnosis only helps to establish which option will be effective and safe.
Alcohol coding can be done at home or in a hospital. It all depends on the condition of the patient and the recommendations of the treating physician. Common coding methods for drinking alcohol include:
- Archiving implants or other methods of introducing disulfiram-based medications into the body. The active ingredient blocks the liver enzymes responsible for breaking down the toxins in ethanol into water and carbon dioxide, which are completely harmless to humans. When this does not happen, the collapsing patient experiences excruciating symptoms of severe intoxication. The patient's condition worsens dramatically in just a few minutes, even with a small dose of alcohol. This is an effective method of prohibitive therapy as the person forms a stable psychological barrier. He is constantly reminded that he can die if he dares to drink. The probability of death is high if an effective antidote is not administered in time.
- Use of naltrexone-based medications. This is another drug coding technique, but not as dramatic as the previous one. In this case, the active substance blocks the receptors in the brain, which are responsible for obtaining a feeling of pleasure when drinking. As a result, if the patient, after coding, still dares to drink, he will simply not feel anything. Therefore, he will decide to give up alcohol, as it doesn't make sense, at least for the duration of the encoding.
- Psychotherapeutic technique based on immersing the patient in a deep trance state. In this position, the patient's suggestibility is greatly increased, while he is fully aware of where he is, what is happening to him. An experienced physician provides clear guidance on alcohol aversion and a healthy lifestyle in the future.
The coding period ranges from several months to five years. They often opt for a coding for a period of one year, this time is just enough to stop drinking, the patient was able to perceive the benefits of a sober life, going through the other stages of the complex therapy.
psychological rehabilitation
To consolidate the effect achieved after coding, it is necessary to take a course on psychological rehabilitation in an inpatient unit of a narcology clinic. If the previous stages of treatment could be organized at home, hospitalization is now necessary. This is the only way to exclude the possibility of relapse, protecting the person from negative external social influences.
During psychological rehabilitation, it is possible to finally eliminate the physical and psychological craving for alcoholic beverages. For this, the following techniques are used:
- Individual and group psychological sessions that help patients understand their problems, learn to solve life's difficulties and have fun without drinking alcohol.
- The 12-step rehabilitation program is an effective technique originating in the USA. It is based on acknowledging helplessness in solving a problem, accepting help from a Higher Power (it could be a religion or a mentor - a former alcoholic who was successfully cured thanks to this program).
- The Day Top rehabilitation program is based on the possibility of self-healing, the doctor assumes an observer posture.
- Family psychotherapy not only helps the alcoholic, but also his relatives, when they develop co-dependence, it helps to reestablish family relationships.
To exclude a relapse, after discharge, each patient receives post-rehabilitation psychological support.