It is remarkable to articulate something that family members who have been unfavorably affected by the alcoholism of another family member plainly do not grasp. It appears that by protecting the alcohol addicted person with falsehoods and dishonesty to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have actually created a situation that makes it easier for the alcohol addicted person to persevere and go forward with his or her injurious, devastating style of life.
Clearly, instead of helping the alcoholic and themselves, these family members have basically become enablers who have unintentionally helped negatively affect the alcohol addicted individual’s problem drinking circumstance even more.
Relapses Can Occasionally Take Place From Time to Time
Another key alcohol dependency issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol dependent individual has fruitfully undergone alcohol addiction rehab and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this situation flies in the face of rational thinking and sounds so unbelievable that it forces an individual to question why anyone who has lived through the dreadfulness of alcohol dependency can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol treatment and in turn after attaining recovery. There are, of course, more than a few possible reasons for this.
It should be mentioned, however that alcoholism research that has focused on the enduring effects of alcohol dependency has demonstrated-proven that long after the alcoholic has quit his or her drinking, significant modifications in the way in which the alcohol dependent individual’s brain functions are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol dependent person has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the transformations that have taken place in the brain is to begin drinking again.
A Requirement for A Crucial Lifestyle Modification
There are even more reasons why many recovering alcohol addicted individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol addiction research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcoholic needs new ways of responding and thinking in order to deal more efficiently with demanding alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.
Conditions such as returning to the same alcohol addictive atmosphere or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the days when the alcohol dependent person was drinking abusively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these circumstances can bring about memories that can prompt psychological stress or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcoholic to engage in hazardous drinking once again. Unfortunately, all of these situations may not only negate ongoing sobriety for the alcohol dependent individual but they can also result in relapse and as a result negate one’s sobriety.
Conclusion
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted person, family members can in fact cause unplanned harm by enabling the unhealthy drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent individual.
The drug abuse research literature confirms the fact that most individuals who successfully complete alcohol rehab go through at least one relapse. Alcohol addicted persons and their family members need to know this so that they do not get defeated or overwhelmed when a relapse takes place.