Alcohol Addiction Guide

Beating Alcohol Addiction

2009-03-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

If you want to beat alcohol addiction then there are a number of things that you need to do. First of all you should consider the idea of going to rehab. This is important because rehab can provide you with a safe detoxification process from alcohol. Some people do not realize that alcohol withdrawal is very dangerous and can actually kill you. Yes, you can die from NOT taking a drink. Therefore, please get medical help if you are shaking from alcohol withdrawal.

Second of all, you can benefit from going to treatment because the environment there is safe and protected from temptation. Consider how easy it is to get a hold of some alcohol when you are out in the real world. In rehab, you are protected from this problem because no alcohol or drugs will be available to you. Sometimes we need protection from ourselves in order to overcome alcohol addiction.

Finally you will gain a ton of much needed support from the peers you will meet in a rehab setting. These are the other people that you will meet in treatment who are all trying to quit drinking just like you are. You need to understand that we can help each other to recover from alcohol addiction and that we cannot do this alone. If we could stop drinking on our own then it would not be an addiction. So use your peers in recovery as a support network and try to reach out and help others as well.

In trying to help others you will strengthen your own recovery. This is a critical concept of long term sobriety and if you make a habit of helping others then you will have a much easier time remaining sober.

Alcohol and Drug Addiction

2009-03-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

There is a bit of disinformation that floats around out there that states that alcoholism and drug addiction are two different things.

They're not. They are one and the same.

Allow me to clarify. This is important. Alcohol is a drug.

In fact we could wipe out the term "alcoholism" all together and simply refer to alcoholism and alcohol addiction as drug addiction. Because alcohol is, in fact, just another drug.

Now people like to confuse the issue, and many people in recovery will speak of "cross-addiction," which simply means that they feel that they are addicted to multiple drugs. But none of this nomenclature is really necessary because a drug is a drug is a drug.

If you are hooked on painkillers then you also have a drinking problem. You might not realize that you do (yet), but if you continue to substitute one drug for another (alcohol for painkillers) then eventually you will see that you are in fact "cross-addicted."

I knew this guy in treatment once and he was a crack addict. He claimed that he had never had a problem with booze and he really didn't care much for drinking and so he never really drank and he never go drunk. Crack Cocaine was his big thing and that was what he was in treatment for.

Well guess what? He left treatment and he stayed off the crack for a while but he had a beer with his dinner once. And then a week later he had a glass of wine with another dinner date. And before you knew it he was back in treatment again! He told me at that point that the alcohol seemed to be fine at first but it eventually led him back to his drug of choice. Thus if you are addicted to one drug you had better learn to steer clear of them all.

Signs of Alcohol Addiction

2009-03-04T05:01:00.000-08:00

One thing you have to watch out for when trying to identify the signs of alcohol addiction is in regards to the whole "abuse versus addiction" issue.

In some cases someone is merely abusing alcohol. They are not truly alcoholic but they certainly drink like one in the short term. However, in the case of alcohol abuse, the person is not really addicted to alcohol.

On the other hand, some people really are addicted to alcohol. They have a most sustainable pattern of lifelong alcohol addiction, displaying all the classic symptoms of both craving and withdrawal.

So if you are trying to look for signs of alcoholism then you have to realize that simply identifying heavy drinking does not qualify as being alcohol addiction. Instead you have to look for more than just that. In particular, watch out for:

1) A sustained pattern of abuse over a long period of time.

2) Withdrawal symptoms when the person stops drinking abruptly.

3) Signs of craving when the person is not drinking.

4) The inability to stop drinking after they have started.

Unfortunately, any of these could really be seen in anyone who is merely abusing alcohol as well, so the key is to look for recurring patterns over time.

Remember that only the alcoholic can diagnose themselves (for it to do any good). If they are going to change their life then they have to make this admission on their own. Having someone else diagnose them will not be enough to elicit any change on their part.

Alcohol Addiction Treatment

2009-03-02T04:58:00.000-08:00

Alcohol addiction treatment can vary quite a bit depending on where you go. There are plenty of treatment centers out there and they all offer a program of recovery for people to follow in order to stay clean and sober after they leave. While there are a variety of programs available, the vast majority of them are 12 step based programs (Alcoholics Anonymous).

You will find if you call around to local treatment centers in your area that 90 percent of them are going to be 12 step based programs. Most people will not be able to find an alternative within a reasonable distance, in fact. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

It's good because the fellowship of AA has tons of meetings everywhere throughout the world and the level of support you can get from these meetings is tremendous. It's also good because the meetings are completely free and no one ever demands that you pay them a single penny in order to attend an AA meeting. The people that you meet there are genuine and the majority of them really want to help you.

On the other hand this lock-in to the 12 step program is bad because the success rate with it is quite low. It is difficult to get accurate data but regardless of who you ask the numbers are not good. AA themselves publish census data every ten years about their membership and this has stated that the success rates are quite low as well. There is nothing wrong with AA in this sense and it does still help a lot of people, but it is not necessarily a comprehensive recovery solution for everyone, as the numbers seem to be indicating.

So what is the ideal treatment? I have found it to be a combination of many things; an integrated approach if you will. Specifically, I believe that alcohol addiction can best be treated by using:

1) An holistic approach to growth - you have to push yourself to grow in many areas of your life (not just spiritually).

2) A focus on health and well being - you have to take care of yourself in recovery, and more than just your physical body.

3) Networking and support - you have to form connections with others in recovery who are on the same path as you are.

These are the primary strategies that produce meaningful recovery. These are not specific to any program and can actually be used regardless of what recovery program you are following. But any treatment that does not utilize these core strategies is bound to fail.

Causes of Alcohol Addiction

2009-03-01T10:35:00.001-08:00

What are the causes of alcohol addiction?

Well the first thing you should realize is that the cause does not really matter. Later on in the course of treatment, there might be some small benefit to examining the root causes of what caused us to drink to excess, but in the beginning of our recovery the exact cause does not really matter.

What matters is action. What matters is a solution. That we are moved to do something about our drinking problem. This is what is important when it comes to our disease.

People always point to the stereotypical causes of alcohol addiction, such as being abused as a child, or being abandoned at a young age, and so on. But many people go through these situations without becoming addicted to alcohol. Likewise, many other people who become alcoholics later in life have not had any traumatic experiences in childhood whatsoever. So there really is no rhyme or reason to the disease, no firm causes that can be identified.

Furthermore, they have done studies and determined that the idea of an "addictive personality" cannot really be seen as being conclusive. This label has become meaningless and has no predictive power to it whatsoever. This can be misleading of course, because in retrospect it is quite easy to look at a person and see how they had an "addictive personality," but we have found in our research that it is impossible to predict alcohol addiction based on a person's personality.

In light of the typical causes to alcoholism, it really does not matter what the apparent cause was that created an addiction in someone. Those causes might be issues to be dealt with later as someone reviews their resentments in either stepwork or therapy, but it does nothing to change early recovery. We still have to sober up and take meaningful action in order to change our lives, regardless of what caused our alcoholism.

Alcohol Addiction Cure

2009-02-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, there is no cure for alcohol addiction at the present time, and I'm convinced that there never will be one.

The reason for this is due to the nature of addiction. Alcoholism is but a symptom of a larger, deeper problem within an individual, and the primary outlet for this problem is through self destruction.

I not only am a recovering alcoholic but I also have privilege of being able to work with them on a daily basis. I firmly believe that alcohol addiction has it's root causes in low self esteem. Some might disagree with this assessment but I see that as being a workable solution with almost every alcoholic that I have come into contact with. Every single one of them suffers from some variation of poor self esteem. Sometimes this is masked at first or it comes out as overconfidence in the other direction, but this problem is always there.

There is no cure for alcohol addiction but I think there is a solution. The solution is not a program of recovery because I think that term is a bit misleading and can get people off track. What we really need is not just a program of recovery but an integrated approach to recovery.

A comprehensive solution

If you want to overcome alcohol addiction in the long run then there is what I suggest you do:

1) Make a decision - on a really deep level that you are going to change your life. This is known as surrender. Unfortunately there is no way to fake this, nor is there a way to convince yourself to do it if your heart is not really into it. But this step is certainly necessary.

2) Ask for help - If you could quit drinking on your own then you would not need to ask for help, right? But you've failed to quit on your own so you need help. Ask for it. Don't know who to ask? Try a counselor, a priest, a teacher, a trusted friend or relative, a guidance counselor, or call up a rehab center or a help line. If you don't get any answers then keep asking people.

3) Go to treatment - there are a number of benefits to treatment and the first is that it is a protected environment where you won't be tempted to drink. Get some sober time under your belt and start learning the tools of recovery.

4) Follow up care - do what they suggest after you leave treatment. Follow through is important. It is all about action.

5) Live a new life - Ultimately you must create a new life for yourself in recovery. If you just stop drinking then you'll be left with a shell of a life and if you don't find something to be passionate and purposeful about then you will return to the bottle some day.

There is no cure but if you follow these guidelines then you will have a good chance of staying sober over the long run. It is not easy but the payoff is huge.