Alcohol addiction is a problem that is familiar to many families. Some do not realize the danger of alcohol cravings, considering it a common bad habit that can be dealt with with a simple effort of will. In fact, with the development of psychological and physical addiction to alcohol, the patient can only be helped by professional drug therapists who know how to stop drinking.
Alcoholism is a dangerous chronic disease. Without timely treatment, it leads to pathological disorders in the work of internal organs and systems, personality degradation, and the likelihood of premature death increases.
How to convince someone to stop drinking
One of the main problems faced by the addict's relatives is how to convince a person to stop drinking. The problem is that after the formation of his addiction, a person loses the ability to objectively assess the surrounding reality. Because of this, he can sincerely believe that everything is in order for him, if necessary, he will give up alcohol on his own at any time.
In fact, by this time, physical dependence has time to develop. Ethanol toxins penetrate into tissues and internal organs, are actively involved in metabolism. Alcohol becomes necessary for the normal functioning of the body, as soon as its level decreases, a person begins to experience excruciating withdrawal symptoms. The easiest way to deal with them is by taking another dose of alcohol. This leads to prolonged binge drinking, dependence develops, concomitant chronic diseases appear.
Getting an alcoholic to quit is not easy, and coercive therapy is prohibited. Such a decision can only be made in court. However, the provision of medical care without the consent of the patient is ineffective. As long as the person does not want to stop drinking, the likelihood of relapse will remain very high.
Alternatives to compulsory treatment
In order to obtain consent from an alcoholic, relatives are advised to intervene. To do this, all family members must unite and act together:
- Refuse ultimatums, threats and scandals. This will not help convince the alcoholic to get rid of the addiction. Instead, a person can become even more self-contained.
- It is necessary to refuse any help in solving problems provoked by alcoholism until the patient agrees to accept 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 worsen, and alcoholism will move on to the next stage.
- Instead, you need to choose a drug treatment clinic in advance.
- Take advantage of the situation when the patient is suffering from withdrawal symptoms. They are so excruciating that most agree to see a doctor to stop suffering.
Another way is to contact psychologists-motivators from the drug treatment clinic. They conduct confidential conversations at home, they are well aware of the peculiarities of the psychology of alcoholics in order to achieve a result.
Motivation to get rid of addiction
A frank conversation will help the alcoholic to make an important choice and agree to go through all the stages of complex therapy. During it, relatives will be able to give weighty arguments and motives that should convince a person to make this responsible decision. These motives may include:
- Children and Family - Waiting or planning for a child is incompatible with alcoholism, as is raising young children. For some, the decisive factor is the emergence of a real and tangible threat of losing a family.
- A state of health, when new diseases begin to be detected in a person, internal organs gradually fail, systemic failures occur in the body, this becomes a clear proof that it is necessary to stop.
- Careers begin to suffer greatly due to addiction. The prospect of losing a job, everything to be achieved earlier in the professional field, become a good incentive. Drinking alcohol over time inevitably affects labor success: brain activity decreases, the sense of responsibility weakens, discipline is lame.
- Reputation does not often become the main reason for quitting drinking, but it does exist. At a minimum, this argument should be used along with other motives 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 achieve that a person takes an objective look at himself from the outside, realizes the meaninglessness and hopelessness of such a situation. The main thing may be the fact that the patient ceases to get pleasure from alcohol, from the satisfaction that was before, not a trace remains.
- Significant changes in life. In this case, a clear awareness of the dullness of the current reality and the desire to radically change everything should play a role.
Having achieved voluntary and informed consent to the complex treatment of alcoholism, you need to move on to the stages of therapy. The program is developed on an individual basis, taking into account the psychological and physiological characteristics of the patient. Regular meetings with a psychotherapist are held, if necessary, to maintain the level of motivation at the proper level.
How to start addiction treatment?
Patients and their relatives should be prepared for the fact that the fight against alcoholism will take a long time - on average, about one year. To begin with, doctors are doing everything possible to free the body of alcohol residues and ethanol toxins.
For this, drug detoxification is carried out if the patient cannot simply endure a week without alcohol on his own. They also do the same when withdrawing from hard drinking.
The patient is given a dropper with potent drugs 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 many posts on the Internet:
- Only an experienced doctor, based on the results of express diagnostics, can determine which drugs to include in the dropper, what the dosage should be.
- Mostly, when removing a person from hard drinking and cleansing the body of toxins, potent drugs are used, which can be bought at a pharmacy only with a doctor's prescription.
The dropper is put on for about two hours. All this time, the narcologist is next to the alcoholic, monitoring the indicators of vital organs. When he leaves, he leaves drugs for the relatives for the next few days, gives advice on what to do when the patient comes to his senses.
Diagnostics
To decide which methods of treating alcohol dependence should be used, you need to conduct a comprehensive examination. It allows you to make an accurate diagnosis of the patient, to establish all existing risk factors.
Diagnostics includes examination and questioning of the patient, the appointment of laboratory tests. The complex of these measures allows you to establish:
- stage of addiction;
- physiological and psychological characteristics;
- how long and how often a person has been drinking alcohol, what kind of alcoholic beverages he prefers;
- if the treatment is not carried out for the first time, the past experience is specified, for what reason there was a relapse;
- concomitant chronic diseases and dangerous disorders;
- allergic reactions;
- intolerance to individual components of drugs;
- the level of the patient's motivation, how much he wants to get rid of the addiction.
After assessing the results obtained, the narcologist, during the consultation, together with the patient and his relatives, discusses a comprehensive treatment program, gives recommendations on how to carry out the therapy most effectively.
Coding
The next step in fighting alcohol addiction is coding. Doctors use medication and non-medication methods. Diagnostics just helps to establish which of the options will be effective and safe.
Alcohol coding can be done at home or in a hospital setting. It all depends on the patient's condition and the recommendations of the attending physician. Common coding methods for drinking alcohol include:
- Implant filing or other methods of introducing drugs based on disulfiram into the body. The active ingredient blocks the liver enzymes responsible for the breakdown of ethanol toxins into water and carbon dioxide that are completely harmless to humans. When this does not happen, the breakdown patient experiences excruciating symptoms of severe intoxication. The patient's condition deteriorates sharply in just a few minutes, even from a small dose of alcohol. This is an effective method of prohibitive therapy, as a person forms a stable psychological barrier. He constantly remembers that he can die if he dares to drink. The likelihood of death is high if an effective antidote is not given in time.
- Use of drugs based on naltrexone. 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 sense of pleasure from drinking. As a result, if the patient, after the coding, still dares to drink, he simply will not feel anything. Because of this, he will decide to give up alcohol, since it is pointless, at least for the duration of the coding.
- A psychotherapeutic technique based on the patient's immersion 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 doctor gives clear guidelines for aversion to alcohol and a healthy lifestyle in the future.
The coding period ranges from several months to five years. Often they choose an encoding for a period of one year, this time is just enough to quit drinking, the patient managed to realize the benefits of a sober life, go through the rest of the stages of complex therapy.
Psychological rehabilitation
To consolidate the effect achieved after coding, it is required to undergo a course of psychological rehabilitation in an inpatient department of a narcological clinic. If the previous stages of treatment could be organized at home, now hospitalization is required. This is the only way to exclude the possibility of relapse, protecting a 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 the patient to understand their problems, learn to solve life difficulties and have fun without drinking alcohol.
- The 12-step rehabilitation program is an effective technique originally from the USA. It is based on the recognition of helplessness in the face of solving a problem, accepting help from a Higher Power (it can be a religion or a mentor - an ex-alcoholic who has been successfully cured thanks to this program).
- The Day Top rehabilitation program is based on the possibility of self-healing, the doctor takes an observant position.
- Family psychotherapy helps not only the alcoholic, but also his relatives, when they develop codependency, helps to restore relationships in the family.
To exclude a relapse, after discharge, each patient receives psychological post-rehabilitation support.