Alcoholism, a form of drug addiction, was recognized by official medicine as a serious mental illness as early as 1952, the symptoms of which tend to constantly increase. The disease manifests itself in an uncontrollable craving for alcohol. A person begins to drink alcohol uncontrollably, may binge drink for several days, or drinks a certain amount of alcohol each day "out of fatigue, " to relieve stress, or just to relax.
How to stop drinking and what dangers does alcoholism pose?
Most people addicted to alcohol are not fully aware of the dangers of this disease. They don't believe that just returning to a sober lifestyle can save them from health problems, so they won't stop drinking alcohol. The question of how to get rid of alcoholism usually worries their relatives, who turn to specialists for help.
In order to understand the danger to health posed by chronic alcoholism, it is worth remembering the serious illnesses that arise in every alcoholic after several years of persistent alcohol addiction. 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: 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 is pancreatitis, a specific disease of alcoholics that can quickly lead to the development of a cancerous tumor in the pancreas. If an alcohol-dependent person continues to drink alcohol regularly and uncontrollably despite the developing illness, he or she has no more than ten years to live.
A drunk person does not control his actions, which is why drunk drivers and pedestrians most often cause traffic accidents. Most crimes are committed through the fault of 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 turns into something amorphous, his life progressing in a vicious circle, going from pile to pile through the hangover phase. Chronic alcoholism provokes:
- Cessation of development and decline in social status.
- A negative change in ethical and moral character traits, leading to rudeness towards others, vulgarity and carelessness.
- Behavioral deviation. People who constantly drink, cannot forget their bad habit, acquire antisocial character traits, often resort to physical and moral humiliation of loved ones, and steal money and valuables from the house.
Active alcoholization, which has appeared in our society in recent years, leads not only to health problems among drinkers and a deterioration in the quality of life throughout society, but also to high mortality among young people.
How to convince an alcoholic to quit smoking?
Due to the negative effect of ethanol on the brain, a drinker can only perceive all information one-way: he hears and sees what he wants and ignores everything else. Only information that cannot harm 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 an addict to stop drinking for any reason by hanging posters on the walls about the damage caused by alcoholism. It is easier to acquaint the addict with the dangerous facts of the harm caused by alcohol, then he will probably think about how to give up the habit that causes irreparable harm to his health in order to return to a sober life. Facts that can help an alcoholic get sober include:
- A regular drinker only needs 10-20 years to "deserve" liver cirrhosis;
- If an alcoholic has forgotten about alcohol at the stage of damage to internal organs, he can still live about 10 years. However, if you don't stop abusing, death will come much sooner.
- A person who becomes a binge drinker before his thirtieth birthday is sure to end up in the grave by his fiftieth birthday.
Yes, these facts can affect an uncontrollable drinker and make him stop drinking, 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. At the request of his relatives, a trained psychologist goes to the home of an alcoholic who refuses to undergo inpatient treatment. A motivational interview is then held. The result of professional motivation in 98% of cases is that the addict develops the desire to give up his addiction and makes a voluntary decision to undergo treatment.
Is it dangerous to self-medicate alcoholism?
Unfortunately, the question of how to stop abusing alcohol concerns not people addicted to alcohol, but their relatives. It is the relatives of alcoholics, exhausted by regular drinking and realizing the futility of trying to persuade them to seek treatment, who are looking for information on how to stop drinking. It should be said right away that self-medication for alcoholism, which is widespread in our modern society, poses a serious threat not only to health, but also to human life, and, moreover, is completely useless.
An addict cannot stop drinking alcohol until he realizes the danger of his habit and wants to give it up, and self-medication of alcoholism, especially without the patient's knowledge, is dangerous because:
- Taking medications that eliminate the desire to drink alcohol regularly or cause negative somatic reactions to alcohol, not only to its taste, but also to its smell, without the prescription of a qualified narcologist, poses a serious danger to health andthe life of dar the alcoholic. By secretly administering independently selected medications to the patient, his relatives expose him to the risk of developing serious somatic diseases and aggravating chronic diseases.
- Folk remedies that involve not drinking 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 without medical supervision can lead to the following irreversible consequences:
- worsening mental health problems;
- injure people around him;
- the emergence of suicidal tendencies and suicide.
To prevent such consequences, you need to convince your relative who has started drinking heavily to visit a specialist clinic. This should be done as early as possible when the first signs appear that a loved one is developing an alcohol addiction. It must be remembered that a person with a chronic addiction can stop drinking alcohol only after completing full rehabilitation. A delay could be fatal.
Professional methods of treating alcoholism in a private clinic
The question of how to return to sobriety with the help of professionals interests many. It's often asked online. To fully figure out how to forget about alcohol if you can't do it on your own, it is worth considering the methods of treating alcoholism used in our clinic. After the alcoholic is hospitalized, he is prescribed a comprehensive diagnostic examination. In the course of the process it comes out:
- general condition of the patient;
- stage of addiction development;
- the presence of damage to the internal organs and psyche caused by alcohol.
Based on the results achieved, 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 occurs through infusion of absorption solutions (toxin binding solutions). In addition, there are individually prescribed medications to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms of a particular alcoholic. If necessary, non-drug detoxification can be carried out - plasmapheresis, hemosorption, hemodialysis.
Regenerative drug therapy
Patients with alcohol addiction admitted to our hospital for treatment are additionally prescribed restorative and restorative therapy. Medicines selected individually by specialists working with the Neoplus clinic allow you to quickly:
- Restoration of internal organs damaged by the breakdown products of psychoactive substances;
- normalize the functioning of the cardiovascular, nervous and digestive systems.
If a person unable to stop drinking is diagnosed with serious illnesses, hepatitis, HIV infection, borderline mental states, psychoses, epilepsy, etc. , specialized specialists working with our clinic prescribe additional therapies, aimed at treating or maintaining the state of remission.
Psychological rehabilitation
The most important and longest stage of treatment for alcoholism, without which it is impossible to cope with this disease, which forces a person to constantly drink alcohol. The psychotherapeutic treatment protocol includes:
- group psychology training;
- Individual lessons, conversations and consultations with a psychologist;
- The 12-step program has long proven its high effectiveness.
In addition, our psychologists carry out free work with codependent relatives of patients to prevent possible breakdowns after discharge from the clinic.
Rehabilitation
This phase is about restoring connections to society that were lost during the period of alcohol consumption. This is an effective prevention of relapses after treatment and a guarantee that the person can stop drinking alcohol forever. Therapy programs used in this phase include:
- detailed analysis of problems and disruptive factors that lead to failures;
- Simulation study of situations that can provoke a relapse of the disease.
Our social workers and psychologists support patients in changing unfavorable behavior patterns, breaking with their previous environment, restoring everyday or professional skills and, if necessary, learning a new profession.
How to stop drinking forever, advice from a narcologist
There are no former alcoholics. When an addict has stopped abusing, it does not mean that they have managed to stop for good. There is no advice to stop drinking alcohol yourself. The only way out for an alcoholic to stop drinking is a consultation with an experienced narcologist and full treatment in an inpatient drug clinic. The help of specialists can awaken a conscious desire to stop drinking alcohol. The success of treatment depends on how strong the patient's desire is to give up alcohol.
The following will help you forget about alcohol:advice:
- refuse any offer to drink;
- Always control the amount of alcohol consumed.
- Avoid companies where there is a lot of drinking.
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 afraid of insomnia and anxiety, you should visit a psychotherapist in the clinic.
If you have signs of alcohol addiction, you should contact a professional drug clinic, which will provide you with free and anonymous advice on alcoholism treatment at any time of the day.