Alcohol Addiction

When Alcohol is consumed on a daily basis that starts affecting your personal , professional and social life and hence it is said that the person is suffering from alcohol addiction. Functionally all the above aspects of individual are affected. Once the addiction kicks in the individual feels to have more and more amount of alcohol to seek pleasure . This happens because the pleasure area of our brain is affected over a period of time when alcohol is consumed for a long period. Studies shows that if alcohol consumption is started at teen age , a person starts getting addiction within a year or two. Whereas if a person who starts drinking post 30 years of age it takes 5-10 years of age to fall for addiction. The few causes known for addiction to take place at early age are social pressure, peer pressure, out of curiosity to experiment new things, sexual abuse in few cases and difficulty controlling temper. When it comes to adults the reasons are majorly constant work or family stress, social pressure like having drinks in parties to be accepted, loss of near one or easily access to such materials

Now the question is how to identify whether the person is abusing alcohol or still having in limits:If there are changes in mood or behavior like becoming restless, irritable, lack of interests in activities that were previously liked, poor attendance in school,grades getting affected, frequent absenteeism at work place, rebelling against rules, not willing to do household work, physical or mental issues like unclear speech, lack of coordination, difficulty in memory, sleep disturbance, nausea, vomiting, sweating. Then these are warning signs suggesting to see a mental health professional who will help to control and recover through medicines and counseling .

Studies shows that based on cultural factors and countries approximately 10% of women and 20% of men have problem of alcohol addiction. In our country still there is a taboo of women abusing alcohol or being victim of alcohol addiction. But the important point to remember here is they are also going under same mental and physical changes and its equally stressful for women as well as the family. Often alcohol addiction problem is not discussed or hided at various places and the individual is seen as bad or labelled as alcoholic. One cannot change the society but one can be of help being a family by helping the individual to choose various correct choices and being there for him/her through out the process of healing.

Now the question comes to family members are what about the embarrassment caused due to addiction problem? Here we should focus more on our family member who is going through tough time rather than being concerned about what and how society will see it.

Many times question arises that how to help our family member who is going through addiction because we often run out of patience by merely telling them to stop drinking and what harm it does. Here one thing we should know is merely telling them facts will not be helpful as there is damage caused in one’s brain wherein the person loses his understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Controlling or stopping drinking habit is difficult for them even after knowing the consequences. First of all as a family member we should stop labeling and be more accepting of current scenario and your family member. Allowing space to talk his or her concerns and trying to know what is bothering inside when person is sober. Providing him or her with options like seeing a psychiatrist and counselor for help for faster and better recovery and there’s no taboo to it. Its just like any other medical illness where you require medicines and support. One can also attend support group meetings where people share there journeys of being under the influence of alcohol and how successfully they came out of it. For teens explore there what’s happening, any stress or bullied and know more about friends. Need to be more than parent and need to keep our fears under control only then we can patiently give teens the space needed to talk on substance abuse.

Many times patients have relapse and that are the most crucial times for the patient as well as for the family and often leads to loss of hope and give up attitudes. One should remember that its very natural to fall back to our old patterns to find comfort and that is what happens when patient has relapse because he finds easy to old drinking habits rather then working on himself or herself to deal with changes after stopping drinking.

For better recovery and reduce relapse important thing is adherence to treatment in terms of medicine and counseling as well as attaining self help groups that works on building support system and instilling hope that just how they came out of illness you too can. There are special rehabilitation centers designed for male and females to recover from alcohol addiction about which one can know from there psychiatrists and if suggested by doctor then one can enroll in such programs which helps in detoxing mind and body and teaching new ways to coping and staying away from drinking and change in atmosphere makes easy for the individual to quit drinking. Family members can also go for family therapy counseling to help the individual to deal with issues and how to reduce relapse by being an active support and also to make necessary changes in home environment if needed. Yoga, meditation and proper diet are one of the factors in healing from addiction and helps in restoring mind body synchronization that gets affected in addiction just like any other mental or physical diseases.