When faced with confronting our loved ones with their alcoholism, many more times than not it is a lot harder than we anticipate. They may deny their addiction has even happened or refuse to accept help from anyone because they believe they can conquer it alone. No matter how strong their fight is against getting help and receiving treatment, your main reason to continue on until they agree should be to help them live a longer, happier life. Not only will they be grateful you stepped in to help them realize the potential of gaining their sobriety back, but you will help save their life and be able to have them around a lot longer to celebrate.
Why Addiction Happens
Life can sometimes get us down. The weight of stress and anxiety from day to day can become overwhelming, and with this comes the risk of turning to substances like alcohol in order to escape from the everyday struggles we all face. Not everyone will turn to
Drinking once in a blue moon to numb the pain of a certain situation going wrong in life is not something that should be worried about. Everyone should be allowed to have a drink or two after a breakup, loss of a job, being stressed out, etc. to relax and relieve some anxiety. The problem of alcoholism occurs when someone decides to drink every once in a while isn’t enough, and they begin to use alcohol to cope with everyday life.
Signs of Alcohol Addiction
No matter what kind of alcohol is being consumed, various signs will hallmark an addiction. For example, consider the following:
Seclusion from Others: People struggling with alcoholism may want to be alone the majority of the time and hide in their homes instead of agreeing to outside plans. In addition, they also lose interest in hobbies they previously enjoyed.
Possible Depression or Anxiety: In some cases, addiction can bring about a co-existing mental health condition. For example, some people suffer from accompanying depression and anxiety when they face alcoholism.
Physical Changes: Physical changes are common and can include many things. Some people may not be interested in bathing, brushing their hair, or handling other self-care tasks. Other signs may include red eyes and dark circles from lack of sleep, as well.
Extreme Mood Swings: Someone addicted to alcohol will oftentimes act completely normal when under the influence. As the amount of consumed alcohol goes up or once the individual experiences the “coming down” from a drunk, their mood will change. They can become angry or extremely sad one minute and experience a completely different mood the next.
The First Step to Helping Someone With an Addiction
Family and friends who have been faced with alcoholism will oftentimes refuse help or hide from their addiction. In order for them to know that they will not have to go through the process of recovery alone, it is important to stage an intervention. An intervention is when loved ones who care about the affected individual’s well-being schedule a gathering where they show their support and worries about the individual’s addiction. The people in attendance will share personal stories about their experience with the person’s addiction and how it has affected their relationship.
The goal of the intervention should be to express concerns in a helpful way and to give the addict their options. They will hopefully decide to receive treatment instead of continuing to travel down the path they’re on. Our specialists here at Sana Lake Recovery Center are able to provide more information on intervention preparation and shed light on what professional help for the individual will look like once at our treatment center.
Five Reasons to Encourage Getting Treatment
Because addiction treatment has such a negative connotation, it is important to come up with a variety of reasons to show the person you know struggling with alcoholism of what they could achieve by going to a rehabilitation center. There are many reasons to include, but we believe five of the main reasons are:
- Gaining Financial Stability. Although treatment costs are high, spending a large amount on an addict’s future health versus being a prisoner to substance abuse is a worthwhile investment. After the treatment is finished and sobriety is achieved, it will be a lot easier for the affected individual to go back to work and financially support themselves than when they were addicted to alcohol.
- Repairing Relationships. When going through addiction, many individuals lose sight of what is important. They place their substance over everything, including their relationship with their loved ones. By beating their addiction, they will be able to focus on rebuilding their relationships they once lost.
- Building a Support System. Addicts oftentimes believe they are facing their struggles and worries alone, which is why they turn to alcohol in the first place. By participating in group therapy and family therapy programs at Sana Lake, they will be able to turn to others instead of turning to a substance for support.
- Developing Passions. Alcohol becomes the only thing someone cares about during his or her addiction. Once sobriety has been achieved, they are able to see the many other options for happiness that life has to offer.
- Saving Their Life. If alcoholic individuals carry down the same path for too long, their bodies and minds will eventually start to give out to their addictions. By attending our programs at Sana Lake, they will have a better chance of living a longer, healthier life than they would have when facing their addiction by themselves.
Alcoholism Treatment Services Provided at Sana Lake Recovery
Medically Monitored Inpatient Detoxification: Detoxification refers to the process of weaning an individual’s body off the substance they were abusing. It’s been proven the safest to slowly clear the body of the unwanted substance as opposed to going cold turkey
Adult Substance Use Disorder Residential and Outpatient Psychosocial Services: Inpatient services are provided around the clock at treatment facilities for those who require more care for their addiction. Outpatient treatments allow patients to maintain somewhat of a normal lifestyle, so they can continue to go to school or work to provide for their families.
Naturopathic and Holistic Treatment: Both of these treatments require a desire to not only help one’s body but also one’s mind and spirit. Naturopathic treatments focus on using natural remedies to cure the body like acupuncture and massaging to relieve excess stress. Holistic treatments are centered on finding the “bigger picture,” and they encourage patients to believe in something larger than this life has to offer.
Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment (Individual and Group Therapy): When someone is diagnosed with a substance disorder, it is often accompanied by a mental disorder. This treatment is to help someone struggling with multiple disorders and focuses on how to treat both at the same time.
Trauma Therapy (Individual and Group Therapy, including EMDR): Individual and group trauma treatment focuses on pinpointing the time in a person’s life that inflicted so much mental or even physical pain on them that it caused them to want to turn to a substance to help cope with the memory. Included in this are the EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy that uses an individual’s eye movements to decrease the power of emotionally charged memories.
Medication-Assisted Treatment: This is the common term for prescribing patients medication in order to cope with certain disorders, whether it is substance abuse or a mental disorder.
Family Programming: These programs aim to help all individuals affected by substance abuse, not just the patient. They encourage family members to attend these sessions to help them understand why their loved one has developed an addiction.
Wellness Programming: These programs intend to show former addicts how to live a healthy lifestyle. Patients are taught how to eat healthily, exercise and even develop their spirituality. All of these encourage them to find another, healthier outlet to avoid the substance they abused for so long.
Clinical Staff
Our Sana Lake staff works around the clock to ensure that patients are receiving the full amount of assistance they need to overcome their disorder. Our psychiatrists and clinicians assess the severity of the condition a patient is in. They then work to create a plan that best suits what the patient requires, whether it is inpatient or outpatient services. Once admitted into the program, our medical professionals begin the detoxification process that will ultimately lead the patient to other treatment programs.
Our nursing staff is trained to manage all medications prescribed to patients while in the facility. We have EMDR trained therapists that use eye movement techniques to reduce the severity of emotionally charged memories. Also present at the facility are individual and family therapists that focus directly on the patient and their families in order to help all parties involved understand why the disorder occurred. All of these professionals strive to meet the needs and goals of each patient that is admitted into our facility here at Sana Lake.
About Sana Lake Recovery Center
Our Dittmer team strives to service and educate individuals needing assistance with helping their loved ones receive the treatment they need. We are able to help not only the Missouri community but also individuals across the nation. If you believe you or a loved one needs more information on alcohol abuse recovery, please contact us today at 636-337-3155.
Sana Lake Recovery Center is a Joint Commission Accredited addiction treatment program. We offer a safe and trustworthy facility for people struggling with substance abuse.
