Alcohol addiction is a problem familiar to many families.Some people do not realize the danger of alcohol craving, considering it to be an ordinary bad habit that can be overcome with a simple effort of will.In fact, with the development of psychological and physical dependence on alcohol, only professional narcologists who know how to stop drinking can help the patient.
Alcoholism is a dangerous chronic disease.If it is not treated in time, it causes pathological disorders in the work of internal organs and systems, degradation of personality, and the probability of premature death increases.
How to convince a person to stop drinking
One of the main problems faced by the relatives of an addict is how to convince a person of the need to stop drinking.The problem is that after the addiction, a person loses the ability to objectively evaluate the surrounding reality.For this reason, he can honestly believe that everything is fine with him;if necessary, he will give up alcohol independently at any time.
In fact, by this time, physical dependence has had time to develop.Ethanol toxins penetrate tissues and internal organs and actively participate in metabolism.Alcohol is necessary for the normal functioning of the body, as soon as its level decreases, a person begins to experience painful withdrawal symptoms.The easiest way to fight them is to take another dose of alcohol.This leads to long-term bouts of drinking, addiction develops, and accompanying chronic diseases appear.
It is not easy to give up an alcoholic, and forced therapy is prohibited.Such a decision can only be made in court.However, providing medical care without the patient's consent is ineffective.As long as a person does not want to stop drinking, the likelihood of relapse will remain very high.
Alternatives to compulsory treatment
It is recommended to intervene with loved ones to get consent from the alcoholic.For this, all family members must unite and act together:
- Refuse ultimatums, threats and scandals.It will not help convince the alcoholic to give up their addiction.On the contrary, a person can become even more closed.
- It is necessary to refuse any help in solving problems caused by alcoholism until the patient agrees to accept drug treatment.
- The use of folk methods and methods should be abandoned.They can only help in the initial stages of addiction, and even then not always.Often, the patient's condition can only worsen, and alcoholism moves to the next stage.
- Instead, you should choose a pre-medication clinic.
- Take advantage of a situation where the patient is suffering from withdrawal symptoms.They are so painful that most agree to see a doctor to stop the suffering.
Another way is to contact the motivational psychologists of the drug treatment clinic.They conduct confidential conversations at home and know well the characteristics of the psychology of alcoholics to get results.
Motivation to overcome addiction
A sincere conversation will help the alcoholic make an important choice and agree to go through all the stages of complex therapy.During it, relatives will be able to present strong arguments and motives that should convince a person to accept this responsible decision.These motives may 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 real and perceived threat of losing their family.
- When a person begins to develop more and more new diseases, when internal organs gradually fail, when systemic failures occur in the body, the state of health becomes a clear evidence that it is necessary to stop.
- Your career starts to suffer a lot due to addiction.The prospect of losing a job, anything previously achieved in the professional field is a good incentive.Over time, drinking alcohol inevitably affects the success of work: brain activity decreases, the sense of responsibility weakens, and discipline weakens.
- Reputation is not often the main reason people give up drinking, but it is a possibility.At the very least, this argument should be used in conjunction with other reasons why an alcoholic should give up alcohol.If the patient has chronic addiction, he loses his self-esteem value due to serious psychological changes and personality degradation.
- Mental or physical fatigue from systematic alcohol consumption.In some cases, it is possible to ensure that a person looks at himself objectively from the outside, realizes the meaninglessness and hopelessness of such a situation.The main thing is that the patient stops enjoying alcohol;there is no trace of the previous satisfaction.
- Significant changes in life.In this case, a clear understanding of the grayness of the current reality and the desire to radically change everything should play a role.
For the comprehensive treatment of alcoholism, you should proceed to the therapy stages after obtaining voluntary and informed consent.The program is prepared individually, taking into account the psychological and physiological characteristics of the patient.If necessary, regular meetings with a psychotherapist are held to maintain the level of motivation.
Where to start addiction treatment?
Patients and their relatives should be prepared that the fight against alcoholism will take a long time - on average, about a year.To begin with, doctors do everything possible to rid the body of the remains of alcohol and ethanol toxins.
For this purpose, if the patient cannot tolerate only one week without alcohol, drug detoxification is carried out.This is also done when giving up excessive drinking.
The patient is placed on a drip with strong drugs in the form of solutions.Even if you read a lot of articles on the Internet, there are two reasons why you cannot arrange diffusion therapy yourself:
- Only an experienced doctor, based on the results of express diagnostics, can determine which drugs should be included in the drip and what dosages should be.
- Basically, when weaning a person from drinking and cleansing the body of toxins, strong drugs are used that can only be purchased at a pharmacy with a doctor's prescription.
The drop is placed for about two hours.All this time, the narcologist is with the alcoholic, monitoring the vital organs.When he leaves, he leaves relatives with medicines for the next few days and gives advice on what to do when the patient regains consciousness.
Diagnostics
In order to decide which treatment methods to use for alcohol addiction, you should undergo a thorough examination.This makes it possible to make an accurate diagnosis of the patient and establish all existing risk factors.
Diagnostics includes examination and questioning of the patient, ordering laboratory tests.The complex of these measures allows to establish the following:
- dependence stage;
- physiological and psychological characteristics;
- how much and how often a person drinks alcohol, which alcoholic drinks he prefers;
- if the treatment is not carried out the first time, the past experience is clarified, what is the reason for the relapse;
- accompanying chronic diseases and dangerous disorders;
- allergic reactions;
- intolerance to individual components of drugs;
- the motivation level of the patient, how much he wants to get rid of addiction.
Assessing the obtained results, the narcologist discusses the complex treatment program in consultation with the patient and his relatives and gives recommendations on the most effective way of conducting the therapy.
Encoding
The next stage in the fight against alcohol addiction is coding.Doctors use medicinal and non-medicinal methods.Diagnostics help determine which option will be effective and safe.
Coding for alcoholism can be done at home or in an inpatient setting.It all depends on the condition of the patient and the recommendations of the attending physician.Common coding methods for drinking alcohol include:
- Implants or other methods of introducing disulfiram-based drugs into the body.The active substance blocks liver enzymes responsible for breaking down ethanol toxins into water and carbon dioxide, which are completely harmless to humans.When this does not happen, the relapse patient experiences painful symptoms of severe intoxication.Even from a small dose of alcohol, the patient's condition deteriorates sharply within a few minutes.This is an effective method of prohibitive therapy, because a person develops a stable psychological barrier.He constantly remembers that he may die if he dares to drink.If an effective antidote is not given in time, the possibility of death is high.
- Use of drugs based on naltrexone.This is another method of drug coding, but not as radical as the previous one.In this case, the active substance blocks the brain receptors responsible for the pleasure of drinking alcohol.As a result, if the patient is still at risk of drinking after coding, he will simply not feel anything.Therefore, he will decide to give up alcohol, because it is pointless, at least during the coding period.
- A psychotherapeutic technique based on putting the patient in a deep trance state.In this case, if the patient knows exactly where he is and what is happening to him, his ability to suggest is greatly increased.An experienced doctor gives clear instructions on how to avoid alcoholic beverages and continue a healthy lifestyle in the future.
Coding period is from several months to five years.Often they choose coding for a year, this time is enough to stop drinking, the patient has time to realize the benefits of a sober life and go through the remaining stages of complex therapy.
Psychological rehabilitation
To strengthen the effect achieved after coding, it is necessary to undergo a course of psychological rehabilitation in the inpatient department of a drug treatment clinic.If the previous stages of treatment could be organized at home, now hospitalization will be required.This is the only way to eliminate the possibility of relapse, protecting a person from negative external social influences.
During psychological rehabilitation, it is possible to finally eliminate physical and psychological cravings for alcohol.The following methods are used for this:
- Individual and group psychological classes help the patient to understand his problems, learn to solve life's difficulties and have fun without alcohol.
- The 12-step rehabilitation program is an effective technique originally from the United States.It is based on the recognition of helplessness in solving the problem, accepting help from a Higher Power (this can be religion or a mentor - a former alcoholic who successfully recovered thanks to this program).
- The Day Top rehabilitation program is based on the possibility of self-healing;the doctor takes an observer position.
- Family psychotherapy helps not only alcoholics, but also their relatives when communication addiction occurs and helps to restore family relationships.
After discharge from the hospital, each patient receives post-rehabilitation psychological support to exclude relapses.