Alcohol addiction is a problem familiar to many families. Some people are not aware of the danger of drinking alcohol, and think that this is a common bad habit that can be solved by simple willful efforts. In fact, with the development of psychological and physical addiction to alcohol, patients can only turn to professional pharmacists who know how to give up alcohol.
Alcoholism is a dangerous chronic disease. If it is not treated in time, it will lead to pathological obstacles in the work of the visceral system, personality deterioration, and an increase in the possibility of premature death.
How to persuade others to stop drinking
One of the main problems facing the relatives of drug addicts is how to persuade a person to quit drinking. The problem is that after addiction, a person loses the ability to objectively evaluate the reality around him. Because of this, he can sincerely believe that everything is for himself, and if necessary, he will give up drinking by himself at any time.
In fact, by this time, physical dependence has had time to develop. Ethanol toxin penetrates into tissues and internal organs and actively participates in metabolism. Alcohol is necessary for the normal functioning of the body. Once the alcohol concentration drops, a person will begin to experience unbearable withdrawal symptoms. The easiest way to deal with them is to drink another dose of wine. This can lead to long-term overeating, dependence, and accompanying chronic diseases.
Getting alcoholics to quit smoking is not easy, and compulsory therapy is prohibited. Such a decision can only be made in court. However, providing medical services without the patient’s consent is invalid. As long as the person does not want to stop drinking, the possibility of relapse will be high.
Alternatives to mandatory treatment
In order to obtain the consent of alcoholics, it is recommended that relatives intervene. To this end, all family members must unite and act together:
- Reject ultimatums, threats and scandals. This does not help persuade alcoholics to get rid of drug addiction. Conversely, a person may become more introverted.
- Before the patient agrees to receive medication, he must refuse any help to solve the problem caused by alcoholism.
- The use of folk remedies and methods must be abandoned. They can only help in the early stages of addiction, and even this is not always the case. Usually the patient's condition will only get worse, and alcoholism will enter the next stage.
- Instead, you need to choose a medication clinic in advance.
- Use this situation when the patient has withdrawal symptoms. They are so painful that most people agree to see a doctor to stop the pain.
Another way is to contact the psychologist—the motivator in the medication clinic. They conduct confidential conversations at home, and they understand the psychological peculiarities of alcoholics in order to obtain results.
Motivation to get rid of drug addiction
Frank talk will help alcoholics make important choices and agree to go through all stages of complex treatment. During this period, relatives will be able to give strong arguments and motivations to persuade a person to make this responsible decision. These motivations may include:
- Children and Family-Waiting or planning to have children is incompatible with alcoholism, and the same is true for raising young children. For some people, the decisive factor is the emergence of a real and tangible threat of losing their family.
- A state of health. When a person begins to discover a new disease, the internal organs gradually fail and the body becomes exhausted. This becomes clear evidence that it must be stopped.
- Because of addiction, his career began to suffer huge losses. The prospect of losing a job and everything that was achieved early in the professional field becomes a good incentive. Long-term drinking will inevitably affect the success of childbirth: reduced brain activity, reduced sense of responsibility, and lax discipline.
- Reputation is not usually the main reason for abstinence, but it does exist. At the very least, this argument should be used in conjunction with other motivations for alcoholics to stop drinking. If the patient is addicted for a long time, self-esteem will lose value due to severe psychological changes and personality degradation.
- Mental or physical fatigue caused by systemic drinking. In some cases, it is possible to realize that one looks at oneself objectively from the outside and realizes the meaninglessness and hopelessness of this situation. The main thing may be the fact that patients no longer get pleasure from alcohol, and there is no trace of satisfaction from the previous experience.
- A major change in life. In this case, a clear awareness of the boring current reality and the desire to fundamentally change everything should play a role.
After obtaining voluntary and informed consent for the complex treatment of alcoholism, you need to enter the treatment phase. The plan is based on individual circumstances and takes into account the patient's psychological and physical characteristics. If necessary, meet with a psychotherapist regularly to keep the level of motivation at an appropriate level.
How to start addiction treatment?
Patients and their relatives should be prepared for the fact that it takes a long time to fight alcoholism—about a year on average. First of all, doctors are doing everything possible to remove alcohol residues and ethanol toxins from the body.
For this reason, if the patient cannot stand alone without drinking for a week, detoxification is performed with drugs. They will do the same when they stop drinking.
Give the patient a dropper with a strong medicine in the form of a solution. Even if you read many posts on the Internet, there are two reasons why you cannot organize diffusion therapy on your own:
- Only experienced doctors can determine which drugs should be contained in the dropper and what the dosage should be based on the results of a quick diagnosis.
- In most cases, powerful drugs are used when giving up alcohol and removing toxins from the body. These drugs can only be purchased in pharmacies with a doctor's prescription.
Wear the dropper for about two hours. For a long time, anesthesiologists have been around the alcoholic, monitoring the indicators of vital organs. After leaving, he left the medication for the next few days with relatives and gave advice on what to do when the patient regained his sanity.
diagnosis
To decide which treatments should be used for alcohol dependence, you need to undergo a thorough examination. It allows you to make an accurate diagnosis of the patient to determine all existing risk factors.
Diagnosis includes examination and questioning of patients, and designated laboratory examinations. The complexity of these measures allows you to establish:
- Addiction stage
- Physical and psychological characteristics;
- When and how often a person drinks, what kind of alcoholic beverages he likes to drink;
- If the treatment is not the first time, explain the past experience and the reason for the recurrence;
- Concomitant chronic diseases and dangerous diseases;
- Allergic reactions;
- Intolerance to individual components of the drug;
- The patient’s motivation level, the degree to which he wants to get rid of drug addiction.
After evaluating the results obtained, the anesthesiologist discusses a comprehensive treatment plan with the patient and their relatives during the consultation, and makes recommendations on how to perform the most effective treatment.
coding
The next step in the fight against alcohol addiction is coding. Doctors use drugs and non-drug methods. Diagnosis only helps determine which options will be effective and safe.
Alcohol coding can be done at home or in a hospital setting. All this depends on the patient's condition and the advice of the attending doctor. Common drinking coding methods include:
- Implanting disulfiram-based drugs into the body or other methods. The active ingredients block the liver enzymes responsible for breaking down ethanol toxins into water and carbon dioxide that are completely harmless to humans. If this does not happen, patients with mental breakdown will have intolerable symptoms of severe poisoning. The patient's condition deteriorated drastically in just a few minutes, even with a small amount of alcohol consumption. This is an effective prohibition therapy, because a person will form a stable psychological barrier. He always remembered that if he dared to drink, he would die. If an effective antidote is not given in time, the possibility of death is high.
- Use naltrexone-based drugs. This is another drug coding technique, but not as compelling as the previous one. In this case, the active substance blocks the receptors in the brain responsible for the pleasure from drinking alcohol. In this way, if the patient dared to drink after coding, he would not feel any at all. Therefore, he will decide to abstain from drinking, because it makes no sense, at least during coding.
- A psychotherapy technique based on the patient's immersion in a deep trance. In this position, the patient's suggestiveness is greatly increased, and at the same time he is fully aware of where he is and what is happening. An experienced doctor will give clear guidelines to keep you away from alcohol and a healthy lifestyle in the future.
The coding period varies from a few months to five years. Usually they choose a one-year code, which is just enough to stop drinking, and the patient manages to realize the benefits of waking life and go through the rest of the complex treatment.
Psychological rehabilitation
In order to consolidate the effect of coding, it is necessary to carry out a psychological rehabilitation course in the inpatient department of the drug rehabilitation center. If the previous treatment can be organized at home, hospitalization is now required. This is the only way to rule out the possibility of recurrence and to protect a person from negative external social influences.
In the process of psychological rehabilitation, the physical and mental craving for alcoholic beverages can be finally eliminated. To this end, the following techniques are used:
- Individual and group psychology courses to help patients understand their problems, learn to solve the difficulties in life and have fun without drinking alcohol.
- The 12-step rehabilitation plan is an effective technique originated from the United States. It is based on the awareness of the inability to solve the problem and accepts the help of a higher power (can be a religion or a mentor-a former alcoholic who has been successfully cured through the program).
- The Day Top rehabilitation plan is based on the possibility of self-healing, and doctors take an observational stance.
- Family psychotherapy can help not only alcoholics, but also his relatives, and help restore family relationships when they are dependent on each other.
In order to rule out recurrence, each patient will receive psychological support after recovery after being discharged from the hospital.