Alcohol Rehab

What is Alcohol Rehab?

Alcohol rehab, alcohol rehabilitation, or alcohol treatment programs all refer to the specialised facilities or mental health clinics that work with individuals who are addicted to alcohol.

In alcohol treatment programs or at the facility, individuals learn how to overcome their addiction to alcohol as well as learn how to live life without taking a drink.

Most people turn to alcohol rehab when their drinking begins to interfere with their relationships, marriage, work, or other aspects of their lives. The way the majority of alcohol rehab programs work is help those dependent on alcohol to relearn how to live their lives without taking a drink.

What is involved with Alcohol rehab?

There are different types of alcohol rehab programs and according to the type chosen there are different aspects involved.

A few of the programs include twelve-step alcohol treatment programs, therapeutic community alcohol treatments, religious based alcohol treatment programs, and medical model alcohol treatments, with the most popular alcohol rehab program being the twelve step program.

The various forms of alcohol rehab programs are normally divided into biological alcohol treatment, psychological alcohol treatment and social alcohol treatment, with some programs including all of these forms.

The first step no matter which program you choose to use, is that you must come to the conclusion that you have a problem with alcohol and that you want help. No one can make this decision for you or the program will not be successful.

Detoxification is the next step. During this time, your body will be learning how to function without any alcohol.

Withdrawal symptoms can include shakes, sweats, panic, anxiety, and withdrawal fits. In the majority of cases, medication will be given to women that drink more than 12 units per day and men that drink more than 16 units per day to help during this process.

All individuals are advised to not stop drinking all at once due to the life threatening risk factors, which include seizures, Delirium Termens, and Wernicke’s Encephalopathy.

All of the various alcohol rehab programs have some of the same factors. The majority of rehab programs agree with some type of support system whether through friends, family, individual counselling or group counselling.

If a resident alcohol rehab program is chosen, the individual must be drug and alcohol free, but will still be allowed to use tobacco.

All alcohol rehab programs provide a structured program of psychological, educational and social therapy. The idea is to help the person learn to handle their life without the use of alcohol. In this type of alcohol rehab program, every day will be structured from the time you wake up to the time the lights go out at night.

In most cases, a person will be living in this structured environment for one month or 28 days. During the time spent at the rehab center, all individuals will be required to attend self-help classes, counselling sessions both individual and in a group, and do chores.

Counselling is the most important factor in alcohol rehab programs as individuals can learn to work through their problems or situations that often bring on the desire to drink.

How can Alcohol Rehab Help?

If the person is ready to stop drinking, alcohol rehab can be successful.

An alcohol rehab program helps a person learn to live a normal life without drinking as well as learn how to face the problems they experience without resorting to drinking.

Once the body has detoxed, living a life without alcohol can be achieved with support of other ex-drinkers, family, friends, or counsellors.

Many of these alcohol rehab programs such as the 12 steps gives you a person to call when you feel that you need a drink. You sponsor or helper will help you through the craving so you do not slide back into drinking again.

Alcohol rehab can and does help many individuals that are not only mentally addicted to alcohol, but also physically addicted.

The programs work with the entire body to ensure that the individual both physically and mentally can live a life free from the addition of alcohol.

While some individuals may be able to have a drink now and then without problems, there are others who allow alcohol to control their lives. Alcohol rehab programs help these individuals take control of their lives and enjoy life without the need for alcohol.

 Learn more about alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, & alcohol addiction treatment.

Alcohol Addiction Treatment

The very first step in any alcohol addiction treatment is the realisation that a problem exists.

If you are trying to help another person to kick their alcohol addiction, you will not get anywhere at all unless the person admits they have a problem and want help. When a person is ready to stop drinking, the next step is getting sober.

Getting sober will not be as easy as you might think. Some individuals will need medical help during the withdrawal stage, and should not stop “cold turkey” without consulting a medical professional.

During the detox stage, as it is known, a variety of symptoms may be experienced, including withdrawal symptoms which include irritability, insomnia, agitation, nausea, vomiting, headache, loss of appetite, hand tremors, increased blood pressure, rapid pulse, low grade fever, heart palpitations, delusions, hallucinations, and seizures.

Alcohol Addiction Treatments available:

There are different alcohol addiction treatment programs available, with the majority using the same factors such as learning to live life without alcohol and counselling to help the individual to learn how to cope.

Residential treatment involves the person living at a treatment facility in which the patient must be drug and alcohol free.

In the majority of cases, the person will live at the facility for a period of 30 days to 90 days. During this time, they will be living a dorm type building with others that are either addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Each day will be structured including the time to wake up and the time for bed. During the time spent at the Residential treatment center, all individuals will be required to attend self-help classes, counselling sessions (both individually and in a group), and do chores such as keeping their area clean, working in the kitchen, or other areas around the facility.

Partial hospitalisation is a relapse prevention program that normally meets between three and five times per week for around four to six hours each session. In the majority of cases, the individuals are required to receive medical monitoring as an outpatient.

Intensive outpatient programs are also relapse prevention programs but are normally scheduled around a persons work, school, or family schedule. Patients meet three days per week for between two and four hours.

Twelve step programs are programs in which individuals meet normally once or twice per week.

During these meetings, each person has a chance to speak about how they are coping being alcohol free as well as learning how others are coping. These programs often use a buddy system, so the person will always have a person to call if they are having problems with their cravings.

Counselling is often included in each of the above treatments.

If the counselling is not included with the treatment, it is often used after a person has gone through treatment to help them to learn to cope with the problems of every day life.

The counselling can be individual, group, couple, or family sessions.

Once counselling has begun, the person often learns the causes of their alcohol abuse or alcohol addiction and can learn how to cope with these issues without feeling as though they need to turn to alcohol.

The success of any alcohol addiction treatment program has more to do with the person than the program.

One person can attend a 12-step program and never drink again, while another person can graduate from a 90-day residential treatment program and start drinking within a week of leaving the facility. If a person truly wants to stop drinking then any alcohol treatment program will be successful.

All alcohol treatment programs help a person become sober, learn to live their lives without alcohol, and even work with each individual to help them cope.

Once the body has detoxed and the withdrawal symptoms are gone, living a life without alcohol can be achieved once a person learns how to carry on their day-to-day lives without drinking.

Residential treatment programs often have a better success rate as they work on the whole body, not just the addiction to alcohol. During the time in the residential treatment program, a person will learn a schedule and will learn that they can cope with alcohol free life again.

Living in the treatment center, doing every day chores, and counselling sessions will help the person be prepared to begin their life anew, alcohol free.

Learn more about alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, & alcohol rehab.

Alcohol Addiction

How is alcohol addiction defined?

Alcohol addiction (also known as alcoholism) is the incontrollable need for alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, and other spirits – this is different to alcohol abuse.

A person considered an alcoholic craves alcohol and cannot stop once they begin drinking. A person addicted to alcohol can start drinking the minute they awake and throughout the entire day. The craving to drink is so strong that nothing else matters except the next drink, which bears a strong resemblance to drug addiction.

People suffering from alcohol addiction will steal money from family members to buy alcohol, and even sell belongings.

As a person begins to rely on the alcoholic beverage to handle their emotions, the more alcohol a person will need in order to reach that same state. If the person does not have a drink, they can experience shakiness, sweating, anxiety, and nausea.

Signs and Symptoms of Alcohol Addiction

With alcohol addiction, there are both physical and psychological signs.

The physical signs you can watch for with alcohol addiction include:

• Passing Out
• Black Outs – doing things that are not remembered
• Weight loss
• Upset stomach
• Sore stomach
• Redness in the face
• Redness in the cheeks
• Numbness in the hands and feet
• Tingling in the hands and feet

Another physical sign is that of tolerance which means that the body begins to depend on the alcoholic drink and will need more in order to have the same effect.

Those that drink heavily may experience shaking in the morning, and if they do not obtain an alcoholic drink their body can react in ways such as not only shaking but also sweating, vomiting, confusion, seizures, and hallucinations.

Psychological & behavioural signs that you can watch for with alcohol addiction include:

• Unable to control or supress the urge to drink alcohol
• Irrational or dangerous behaviour such as driving while intoxicated
• Increased irritability
• Increased agitation
• Increased anger
• Lowered threshold for violence
• Avoiding events where alcohol will not be served
• Sudden & unexpected weeping
• Sudden & unexpected emotional displays
• Unexplained absences
• Unexplained days off work
• Failure to uphold commitments
• Sleeping too much
• Problems sleeping

Causes of Alcohol Addiction

Some scientists believe that alcohol addiction is hereditary or that if a person in your family was an alcoholic then children exposed to this behaviour may also be at a greater risk of having an alcohol addiction themselves.

Alcohol addiction has been seen to develop or become worse due to a persons environment or if they have had a traumatic experience. Other causes may include peer pressures, family, friends, and culture.

As with other addiction, research is ongoing to determine if hereditary or environmental factors may be at the root cause of alcohol addiction.

Dangers of Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol addiction can lead to all kinds of problems not only for the person with the addiction but others that may come in contact with the person.

At this time it is estimated that alcohol plays a part in about half of all crimes, murders, accidental deaths, and suicides in the UK.

Health problems associated with alcohol addiction include brain damage, diseases of the liver, and heart disease. If a person does not stop drinking, they reduce their life expectancy by ten to fifteen years.

Brain damage occurs due to the fact that too much alcohol can detroy brain cells which of course will cause brain damage.

In addition to harming the brain, alcohol can also damage the central nervous system by disturbing its structure and function.

If the central nervous system is damaged the result can include the obstruction of the ability to retrieve, combine, and process information.

A person that is addicted to alcohol can also experience inflammation in the mouth, stomach, and esophagus, which could lead to cancer in these areas, especially if the person is a smoker.

Alcohol has been known to damage sexual function, harm the vision, cause water retention, cause malnutrition, and cause slow circulation. Alcohol in large quantities can lean to skin disorders, pancreatic disorders, weakening of the muscles, weakening of the bones, and a decrease in the immune system.

The liver is often the worst hit when a person is addicted to alcohol, since the majority of the alcohol is broken down in the liver.

As a person consumes excessive amounts of alcohol over time, the liver can suffer from disorders or serious damage.

Liver damage from alcohol addiction is seen in three stages including:

1. Stage 1: liver enlargement – liver cells have been attacked with abnormal fatty tissue
2. Stage 2: alcoholic hepatitis – liver cells swell, become inflamed, and then die
3. Stage 3: cirrhosis – fibrous scar tissues are formed

Eventually the liver can be irreparably damaged requiring a liver transplant, or of course, death.

Learn more about alcohol rehab, alcohol abuse, & alcohol addiction treatment.

Alcohol Abuse

What is Alcohol Abuse?

The definition of alcohol abuse is very close to alcohol addiction or alcoholism, but can be stopped before it leads to this addiction.

Alcohol abuse is a pattern of drinking that includes one or more of the following:

• If a person cannot carry on their responsibilities at home, work, or school due to drinking they are abusing alcohol.
• If drinking puts a person in dangers way such as driving while drinking the person is abusing alcohol.
• If a person is having legal problems due to drinking, they are abusing alcohol.
• If a person keeps drinking even though it is causing relationship problems then they are abusing alcohol.

Alcohol addiction and alcoholism are the physical dependence on alcohol. Alcohol abuse does not include a physical dependence. However, if a person does not seek help, alcohol abuse can easily lead to an alcohol addiction.

How alcohol abuse effects people short term

Binge drinking is often the type of abusive drinking that is witnessed, since most individuals that abuse alcohol are still employed and only drinking at weekends, thus they drink as much as possible during this time to get as drunk or intoxicated as possible.

The short-term affects of alcohol abuse include:

• Hangovers
• Violent behavior – alcohol is a deppresant that affects the mood, so one minute a person could be happy, then sad, and then angry and violent.
• Accidents – forty percent of household fires are due to excessive drinking – seven percent of drownings are due to alcohol use – half of the adults seen at hospital with head injuries were drunk at the time.
• Hospitalisation – Alcohol intoxication is the major problem seen in those under the age of 15 with close to 1,000 being seen every year.
• Regretted sex – since a persons inhibitions are lowered, it is possible to have sex that will later be regretted. Since a person is drinking they may forget to use protection, may have sex with someone they would not normally associate with, and of course, this increases the risk of a sexually transmitted disease.

How alcohol abuse effects people long term

There are all kinds of problems that affect individuals that abuse alcohol long term including:

• hepatitis
• cirrhosis of the liver
• ulcers
• gastritis – inflammation of the lining of the stomach
• pancreatitis – inflammation of the pancreas
• high blood pressure
• mouth cancer
• throat cancer
• larynx cancer
• pharynx cancer
• oesophagus cancer
• liver cancer
• stomach cancer
• colon cancer
• rectum cancer
• brain damage – loss of brain cells
• heart disease
• heart failure
• neurological problems
• vitamin deficiency – drinking alcohol leads to a loss of vitamin B complex which can lead to diarrhea, depression, anemia, and skin damage.
• Reproductive problems – men can experience the inability to obtain an erection, shrinking penis, shrinking testes, and reduced sperm count. Women – disrupted menstrual cycle, and the increased risk of miscarriage.
• Mental health – alcohol abuse has been linked to such problems as clinical depression and around 65 percent of suicides.
• Dependence also known as alcoholism – Alcoholism affects 9.7% of adults in the United Kingdom.

How alcohol abuse affects the unborn child

Women that drink heavily while pregnant are at risk of having a baby with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Fetal alcohol syndrome can result in deficiencies in growth, problems with the nervous system, facial abnormalities, and decreased intelligence.

At birth, many of these symptoms are not present and many parents do not realize the child has been affected until the child does not develop properly. Besides fetal alcohol syndrome, women can give birth to babies that are stillborn or have low birth weight.

Low birth weight is often seen when a woman drinks more than 10 to 15 units per week.
 
How alcohol abuse affects people psychologically

The psychological effects of alcohol abuse are often at first the feeling of relaxation and peace. This is the major reason that most people begin drinking  - to help them to relax.

Even one drink per night can lead to alcohol abuse if a person begins to drink more to achieve the same affect as their bodies tolerance to alcohol increases with increased consumption.

Problems appear when the person believes they must have a drink in order to relax and that one drink becomes more.

Long-term excessive alcohol abuse can lead to depression, anxiety, problems sleeping, violent behavior, mood swings, and suicide.

Learn more about alcohol addiction, alcohol addiction treatment, & alcohol rehab.

Alcohol Rehabilitation

This section deals with alcohol rehabilitation, alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol addiction treatment, and alcohol rehab.

You can access the information your need from the links above or from the drop down menu.

The aim is to give people who have issues with alcohol, and their families and friends, the information they need to start and address the problems faced by alcohol dependence.