Treatments Of Alcoholism

Treatments of Alcoholism

Alcoholism can destroy the life of an alcoholic and devastate the alcoholic's family. But it also has overwhelming consequences for society. Consider these statistics from the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence:

*In 1988, alcoholism and problems related to it cost the United States an estimated $85.8 billion in mortality and reduced productivity;

*Fetal alcohol syndrome, caused by a woman's drinking during pregnancy, afflicts five thousand infants a year; it costs about $1.4 billion annually to treat the infants, children and adults afflicted with FAS;

*More than twenty thousand people die annually in alcohol related car accidents.

(Institute of Medicine, 1989)

Clearly alcoholism harms society in numerous ways and it is in society's best interest to find effective treatments for alcoholics.

The primary goal of all treatments for alcoholism is to get the alcoholic to stop drinking and refrain from abusing alcohol in the future. The paths to this goal are diverse. Several factors - biological, social and psychological - influence why an individual becomes an alcoholic. So treatments vary, depending upon why the alcoholic drinks and what the physician or therapist believes is the best method for recovery. Some treatments focus on the physical addiction of alcoholism. Others emphasize the alcoholic's social or psychological cravings. Alcoholics Anonymous and Rational Recovery are two support groups that help alcoholics recover. Other alcoholics benefit from one-on-one therapy with counselors, who may help patients understand drinking and change their behavior.

Finally for some alcoholics, the most effective treatments are those that combine medical treatment with counselling. Such treatments enable the alcoholic to more easily break the physical addiction to alcohol as they evaluate their social and psychological reasons for drinking. Two of these treatments are: Nutritional Therapy and Network Therapy.

Nutritional Therapy

"Alan Dalum was 37 years old and thoroughly convinced he was soon going to die. Dalum was not dying of cancer, heart disease or any other illness from which one can leave the world with dignity. Dalum was dying of alcoholism."

(Ewing, 1978) Just when he lost all hope for recovery, Dalum discovered a center that emphasized the importance of biochemical rep...

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...ent of the harmful nature of drug use can emerge. Addicts can experience a "conversion" of sorts, perhaps gradual, but real nonetheless.

(Johnson, 1980)

There is hardly any disorder more complicated and difficult to treat than alcohol/drug dependence. Perhaps because alcohol dependence is so complex, it has attracted various professions and approaches, each having its own notion of etiology and treatment. The point is that treatment needs to be conceptualized for the patient as a long term process of years with the principle task for recovery being to provide the most effective treatment for a given person with a given problem. But until and unless researchers find a specific biological cause and cure for alcoholism, treatments will continue to vary, depending upon the alcoholic and the therapist.

References

Ewing, J. (1978). Drinking. Chicago: Nelson Hall Institute of Medicine. (1989).

Broadening the Base of Treatment for Alcoholic Problems. New York: Bergin

Publishers Inc.

Johnson, V. (1980). I'll Quit Tomorrow. New York: Harper & Row.

Newman, S. (1987). It Won't Happen To Me. Toronto: General Publishing Co.

Stepney, R. (1987) Alcohol. New York: Aladdin Books