A Woman Manifests Signs Of Depression And Alcohol Addiction, Gets Motivated And Inspired About Making An Appointment To See Her Physician About Her Excessive And Hazardous Drinking, And Feels A Sense Of Personal Happiness And Self Esteem
June 22, 2010 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
Teresa was a forty-two-year-old financial analyst who knew that she had a drinking problem. As an illustration, within the past seven months she has experienced the need to have three or four drinks before going to work, two months ago she failed to pass a random breathalyzer test at her place of employment, three weeks ago she got arrested by the state highway patrol for “driving under the influence”, and last but not least, for going on seven months she has begun to fail to remember what she says and does when she goes out drinking with her pals.
Similar to hosts of other drinkers, Teresa’s experiences with alcohol started out gradually and continued at this speed for quite some time because once in a “blue moon” she engaged in casual social drinking. If truth be told, for roughly nine months, every time she went out with her buddies to drink, she made sure to drink moderately. Something about her drinking behavior, nevertheless, seemed to drastically change when she got divorced.
So She Can Come to Terms With the Breakup of Her Husband In a Less Wearisome Manner, Teresa Determined That She Will Start Associating More Routinely With Some of Her Pals Who Love to Party
Teresa got awfully depressed about the breakup with her husband, and as a way to refrain from fixating on her dismal feelings she arrived at a decision that she would begin palling around more frequently with some of her friends who love to have fun drinking.
Quite honestly, Teresa believed that having fun almost every day by drinking with her buddies would help her come to terms with the divorce of her husband with less grief.
Teresa’s Drinking Escalates Significantly the More Frequently She Goes to Dinner Dates, Family Get-Togethers, Sporting Events, Happy Hours, and Private Parties With Her Buddies
It didn’t take long, nonetheless, before her drinking escalated substantially the more routinely she went to and drank at dinner dates, private parties, family get-togethers, sporting events, and happy hours with her friends. Not only this, but the fact that her drinking buddies were all much younger than she was and therefore able to party and drink harder and longer was one of the reasons why she didn’t center more of her attention on her increased drinking. In short, she was having a blast drinking just like everyone else in her group of friends without giving much thought to the outcome of her excessive and abusive drinking.
Yet someplace in her mind she realized that she probably needed alcohol treatment but kept away from the thought as much as she could.
Teresa Gets a Physical Exam, Discloses the Truth About Her Hazardous Drinking to Her Doctor, and ”Comes Clean” About Her General State of Despair
One morning during her yearly physical examination, her physician asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell “stories” to her physician, Teresa disclosed the truth that she commonly drinks more than she should. As a matter of fact, she stated that she frequently drinks in an irresponsible and hazardous manner. Then Teresa told her physician about her dejection. More explicitly, she stated that wrecked relationships frequently elicited a negative cycle of events typified by increased drinking which further led to more dismal feelings that, in turn, resulted in even more drinking. And this is exactly what happened when her husband and she got divorced five years ago.
When her physician heard this, he informed Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was reviewing, alcoholism and depression frequently happen in the same person. He then informed her that some of the alcohol statistics, facts, and research investigations he has been reading about also emphasize the fact that individuals who drink in an irresponsible and excessive manner and who also go through depression need to receive treatment for both medical conditions.
Teresa’s Physician Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Assessment and For an Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse Evaluation
Teresa’s healthcare practitioner then articulated the following: “I am not trying to make an unprepared judgment, but with your medical circumstances we may be working with two separate concerns. As a consequence, I think we probably should make an appointment for you to get an alcohol abuse and alcoholism appraisal from my partner, Dr. Abrams, who is a drug and alcohol abuse specialist. Whether your drinking problem is more associated with alcohol dependency or alcohol abuse is unknown at this time, but I feel that further evaluation is warranted. Then I think we should make an appointment for you to get a psychological assessment from another one of my partners, Dr. Miller, who is a counseling psychologist. I want to get a better understanding about your depression and see how much your drinking and depression are correlated.” Teresa showed her agreement with her healthcare professional’s “game plan” and thanked him for his time and concern.
In truth, Teresa now felt a sense of personal happiness and self esteem because she finally became inspired to do something positive about her abusive drinking and her depression. Now all she had to do was to try to cut back on her drinking and get ready for her appointments.