Alcohol addiction is a problem that is familiar to many families. Some do not realize the danger of craving for alcohol, considering it to be a common bad habit that can be treated with a simple effort of willpower. Indeed, with the development of psychological and physical dependence on alcohol, the patient can only be helped by professional drug addicts 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, a deterioration of the personality, and the likelihood of premature death increases.
How to get someone to stop drinking
One of the main problems faced by those close to the addict 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 himself will give up alcohol at any time.
In fact, at this point, the physical addiction has time to develop. Ethanolic toxins enter tissues and internal organs and actively participate 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 it is to take another dose of alcohol. This leads to prolonged excessive alcohol consumption, addiction develops, concomitant chronic diseases appear.
Getting an alcoholic to quit smoking is not easy, and coercive therapy is prohibited. Such a decision can only be taken in court. However, providing medical care without the patient's consent is ineffective. As long as the person does not want to stop drinking, the likelihood of a relapse will remain very high.
Alternatives to compulsory treatment
In order to obtain the consent of an alcoholic, relatives are advised to intervene. To do this, all family members must unite and act together:
- Refuse ultimatums, threats and scandals. It will not help convince the alcoholic to get rid of the addiction. Instead, a person can become even more withdrawn.
- It is necessary to refuse all help in solving problems caused by alcoholism until the patient agrees to accept drug treatment.
- The use of folk remedies and methods should be abandoned. They can only help in the early stages of addiction, and not even always. Often the patient's condition can only worsen, and alcoholism will pass to the next stage.
- Instead, you need to choose a drug treatment clinic ahead of time.
- 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 the pain.
Another way is to contact the psychologist-motivators at the addiction treatment clinic. They conduct confidential conversations at home, they know well the peculiarities of the psychology of alcoholics in order to achieve a result.
Motivation to get rid of addiction
Open conversation will help the alcoholic make an important choice and come to terms with all the stages of complex therapy. During this, relatives will be able to give weighty arguments and reasons that should convince a person to make this responsible decision. These reasons may include:
- Children and Family - Expecting or planning for a child is incompatible with alcoholism, as is raising young children. For some, the deciding 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 clear evidence that it is necessary to stop.
- Careers begin to suffer greatly due to addiction. The prospect of losing your job, whatever needs to be done sooner in the professional field, becomes a good incentive. Drinking alcohol over time inevitably affects the success of work: brain activity decreases, the sense of responsibility weakens, discipline is lame.
- Reputation doesn't often become the number one reason to quit drinking, but it does exist. At a minimum, this argument should be used along with other reasons for the alcoholic to give up alcohol. If the patient is chronically dependent, self-esteem loses value due to severe psychological changes and degradation in personality.
- Moral or physical fatigue due to the systematic consumption of alcohol. In some cases, it is possible to achieve that a person looks at himself from the outside objectively, realizes the absurdity and hopelessness of such a situation. The main thing may be the fact that the patient ceases to enjoy alcohol, to the satisfaction of before, no trace of it remains.
- Important changes in life. In this case, a clear awareness of the monotony of current reality and the desire to radically change everything should play a role.
Having obtained voluntary and informed consent to the complex treatment of alcoholism, you need to proceed 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 organized, if necessary, to maintain the level of motivation at the right level.
How to start a detoxification cure?
Patients and their relatives should be prepared for the fact that the fight against alcoholism will take a long time - on average, about a year. For starters, doctors do everything they can to free the body of alcohol residues and ethanol toxins.
For this, drug detox is carried out if the patient cannot just endure a week without alcohol on his own. They also do the same when they withdraw from alcohol consumption.
The patient is given a dropper with strong 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 a lot of articles on the Internet:
- Only an experienced doctor, based on the results of express diagnostics, can determine which drugs to include in the dropper, what should be the dosage.
- Most of the time, when removing a person from excessive alcohol consumption and cleansing the body of toxins, strong drugs are used, which can only be purchased at a pharmacy with a prescription from a doctor.
The dropper is put in place for about two hours. All this time, the narcologist is next to the alcoholic, monitoring indicators of vital organs. As he leaves, he leaves the drugs with loved ones for the next few days, advises on what to do when the patient comes to himself.
Diagnostic
To decide which methods of treatment for alcohol dependence should be used, you need to conduct a thorough examination. It makes it possible to make a precise diagnosis of the patient, to establish all the existing risk factors.
Diagnosis includes examination and questioning of the patient, the appointment of laboratory tests. All of these measures make it possible to establish:
- stage of addiction;
- physiological and psychological characteristics;
- how long and how often has a person been drinking alcohol, what type of alcoholic drinks he prefers;
- if the treatment is not carried out for the first time, then 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 motivation of the patient, how much he wants to get rid of the addiction.
After evaluating the results obtained, the narcologist, during the consultation, discusses with the patient and his relatives a comprehensive treatment program, gives recommendations on how to conduct therapy most effectively.
Coding
The next step in the fight against alcohol addiction is coding. Doctors use drug and non-drug methods. Diagnosis simply helps determine 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 alcohol consumption include:
- Implant deposition or other methods of introducing disulfiram drugs into the body. The active ingredient blocks the liver enzymes responsible for breaking down the toxins in ethanol into water and carbon dioxide which are completely harmless to humans. When this does not happen, the broken down patient experiences excruciating symptoms of severe poisoning. The patient's condition deteriorates sharply within a few minutes, even from a small dose of alcohol. It is an effective method of prohibitive therapy, because 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 on 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 sensation of pleasure from drinking. As a result, if the patient, after coding, still dares to drink, then he simply will not feel anything. Therefore, he will decide to give up alcohol, because it is useless, at least for the duration of the coding.
- A psychotherapeutic technique based on the immersion of the patient in a state of deep trance. In this position, the patient's suggestibility is greatly increased, while he is fully aware of where he is, of what is happening to him. An experienced doctor gives clear guidelines for alcohol aversion 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 a year, this time is just enough to stop drinking, the patient has managed to realize the benefits of a sober life, to go through the rest of the stages of complex therapy.
Psychological rehabilitation
To consolidate the effect obtained after coding, it is necessary 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, hospitalization is now required. This is the only way to exclude the possibility of a 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 understand his problems, learn to solve life difficulties and have fun without drinking alcohol.
- The 12-step rehabilitation program is an effective technique that originated in the USA. It is based on the recognition of helplessness in the face of solving a problem, accepting help from a Higher Power (this can be a religion or a mentor - an ex-alcoholic who has been healed withsuccess through this program).
- The Day Top rehabilitation program is based on the possibility of self-healing, the doctor adopts an observer position.
- Family psychotherapy not only helps the alcoholic, but also those close to him, when they develop codependency, helps restore relationships within the family.
To exclude a relapse, after discharge, each patient benefits from post-rehabilitation psychological support.