Alcoholism, which is one of the types of drug addiction, was recognized by official medicine as a serious mental illness in 1952, and its symptoms tend to increase constantly. The disease manifests itself as an uncontrollable desire to drink alcohol. A person begins to drink alcohol uncontrollably, it can continue for a long period lasting several days, or he can drink a certain amount of alcohol every day "out of fatigue" to relieve stress or just to relax.
How to stop drinking and what are the dangers of alcoholism?
Most people suffering from alcohol addiction are not fully aware of the dangers of this disease. They do not think that only returning to a sober lifestyle can save them from health problems, so they will not give up alcohol. The issue of getting rid of alcoholism usually worries relatives who turn to specialists for help.
To understand the danger of chronic alcoholism to health, it is worth remembering the serious diseases that develop in any alcoholic after several years of continuous alcohol dependence. The main place among them is the following:
- from the digestive system: gastritis, ulcer, enterocolitis;
- from the cardiovascular system: cardiomyopathy or cardialgia;
- from the liver: cirrhosis or hepatitis;
- from the brain: alcoholic pellagra, Morel's disease;
- from psyche: delirium (delirium tremens) or psychosis.
Among the causes of serious deterioration of health, leading to premature death, we can mention pancreatitis, a special disease of alcoholics, which can quickly lead to the development of a cancerous tumor in the pancreas. If a person with alcohol addiction continues to drink alcohol regularly and uncontrollably, despite his developing disease, he will not live more than ten years.
A person who is drunk does not control his actions, so drunk drivers and pedestrians become the cause of traffic accidents. Most of the crimes are committed due to the guilt of people who are addicted to alcohol.
Social problems of alcoholics
For a person who begins to drink regularly and uncontrollably, alcohol replaces family, work and hobbies. It slowly turns into an amorphous thing, its life flowing from the suspension stage from heap to heap, in a vicious circle. Chronic alcoholism provokes:
- Stopping development and decreasing social status.
- A negative change in ethical and moral character traits that lead to rudeness, rudeness, laziness towards others.
- Behavioral deviation. People who drink regularly, who cannot forget their bad habits, and acquire social characteristics, often resort to physically and morally humiliating their loved ones, stealing money and valuables from home.
Active alcoholism, which has occurred in our society in recent years, leads not only to health problems of drinkers and deterioration of the quality of life of society as a whole, but also to high death rates among young people.
How to convince an alcoholic to quit?
Due to the negative effect of ethanol on the brain, a person who drinks alcohol can receive any information only 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 the abuse of alcohol, but also definitely does not accept the existence of a disease such as alcoholism.
It is not possible to force an addict to stop drinking for any reason by hanging posters on the walls about the harm caused by alcoholism. It is easier to acquaint the addict with the dangerous facts of the harm caused by alcohol, then he will begin to think about how to get rid of the habit that irreparably harms his health in order to return to a sober life. Facts that can help get an alcoholic back on the road to sobriety include:
- a regular drinker needs only 10-20 years to "win" cirrhosis;
- an alcoholic who forgets about alcohol in the stage of damage to internal organs can live another 10 years, but if you do not stop abusing, death will occur sooner;
- a drunk before the age of thirty is guaranteed to be in the grave by the age of fifty.
Yes, these facts can affect an uncontrollable drinker and force him to quit, but motivation for alcoholism treatment is better if it is done by an experienced psychologist. The Neoplus drug treatment clinic in Yekaterinburg offers an intervention service. At the request of his relatives, a qualified psychologist goes to the house of an alcoholic who refuses a course of inpatient treatment. Then a motivational conversation is held, in 98% of cases, the result of professional motivation is that the addict wants to quit his addiction and he makes a voluntary decision to undergo treatment.
Is it dangerous to treat alcoholism alone?
Unfortunately, the question of how to get rid of alcohol abuse does not concern people who are addicted to alcohol, but their loved ones. It is the relatives of alcoholics, tired of regular drinking and realizing the futility of persuading them to seek treatment, that seek information on how to stop drinking. It should be said right away that self-treatment for alcoholism, which is a fairly common practice in our modern society, poses a serious threat not only to health, but also to human life, and is completely useless.
An addict cannot stop drinking alcohol until he realizes the danger of his habit and does not want to give it up, and it is dangerous to self-medicate alcoholism, especially without the patient's knowledge:
- Regular use of drugs that eliminate the desire to drink alcohol or create negative somatic reactions to alcohol, not only its taste, but also its smell, without a prescription from a qualified narcologist, poses a serious threat to their health and life. alcoholic. By secretly giving the patient independently selected drugs, relatives put him at risk of developing serious somatic diseases and exacerbation of chronic diseases.
- Folk remedies, where it is impossible to drink 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, because the ambulance does not have time to come due to the immediate increase in clinical symptoms.
In addition, such treatment, which is not under the supervision of a doctor, can lead to the following irreversible consequences:
- worsening of mental problems;
- injury to others or oneself;
- emergence of suicidal tendencies and suicide.
To avoid such consequences, you should convince your loved one who started drinking too much to refer to a special clinic. This should be done as soon as possible when the first signs of a relative developing alcohol addiction appear. It should be remembered that a person with chronic addiction can stop drinking alcohol only after completing a full rehabilitation course. Delaying this can be fatal.
Professional methods of treatment of alcoholism in a private clinic
Many are interested in the question of how to return to sobriety with the help of professionals. It is often asked on the Internet. If you cannot do alcohol yourself, it is worth considering the methods of treatment of alcoholism used in our clinic to fully understand how to forget alcohol. After the alcoholic is admitted to the hospital, a complete diagnostic examination is prescribed. During the process it becomes known:
- general condition of the patient;
- developmental stage of addiction;
- the presence of alcohol damage to internal organs and psyche.
Based on the results, an individual treatment regimen is assigned to each patient, but all selected measures are included in several common stages.
Cleansing the body
Without this stage, it is impossible to start full treatment of alcoholism. Detoxification is carried out by infusion of absorption (toxin-binding) solutions. To these are added individually prescribed drugs to eliminate the withdrawal symptoms present in a particular alcohol. If necessary, non-drug detoxification can be carried out - plasmapheresis, hemosorption, hemodialysis.
Regenerative medicine treatment
Patients with alcohol addiction admitted to our hospital for treatment are prescribed a restorative and restorative therapy course. Medicines individually selected by specialists cooperating with the Neoplus clinic allow you to quickly:
- restoration of internal organs damaged by the breakdown products of psychoactive substances;
- normalize the work of the cardiovascular, nervous and digestive systems.
A person who cannot stop drinking has serious diseases, hepatitis, HIV infection, borderline mental states, psychoses, epilepsy, etc. if diagnosed, specialized specialists collaborating with our clinic prescribe additional therapy for their treatment or maintenance of remission. .
Psychological rehabilitation
It is the main and longest stage of the treatment of alcoholism, without which it is impossible to cope with this disease, which forces a person to constantly drink alcohol. Psychotherapeutic treatment protocol includes:
- group psychological exercises;
- private lessons, conversations and consultations with a psychologist;
- The 12-step program has long been proven to be highly effective.
In addition, our psychologists conduct free work with dependent relatives of patients aimed at preventing a possible breakdown after leaving the clinic.
Resocialization
This stage consists in the restoration of social relations of the addict, which were severed during alcohol consumption, which is an effective prevention of relapses after treatment and a guarantee that a person can give up alcohol forever. Therapeutic programs used at this stage include:
- detailed analysis of problems and irritants that cause malfunctions;
- a simulation study of situations that may lead to disease relapse.
Our social workers and psychologists help patients to change unpleasant behavior patterns, break away from the previous environment, restore daily or professional skills, and, if necessary, learn a new profession.
How to quit drinking forever, advice from a narcologist
No former alcoholics. If an addict has stopped abusing, it doesn't mean they've quit for good. There is no advice on how to quit alcohol on your own. The only way out for an alcoholic to stop drinking is consultation with an experienced narcologist and complete treatment in an inpatient narcology clinic. The help of experts can make a person consciously want to give up alcohol. The success of the treatment depends on how strong the patient's desire to give up alcohol is.
The following will help you forget about alcohol:advice:
- refuse any offer to drink;
- always control the amount of alcohol consumed;
- Avoid companies where people drink too much.
To make sure you stop abusing alcohol, you should learn to relax using non-alcoholic methods: find a hobby, exercise, etc. If you are worried about insomnia and anxiety, you should consult a psychotherapist at the clinic.
If you have symptoms of alcohol addiction, you should contact a professional drug clinic, which will give you free and anonymous advice on the treatment of alcoholism at any time of the day.