Altenative Alcoholism Treatment
Alcoholism is a disease. The social and personal cost of alcoholism is enormous. People with this disease are often lonely, isolated, angry, and depressed, often taking out their frustrations on family members and friends. They have difficulty sleeping or eating – sometimes even obsessively so. They find it hard to concentrate or remember things that happened hours ago but other people seem unaffected by these problems in their lives.
About three percent of adults in the U.S. have a drinking problem. This number is considerably larger among adolescents, who constitute approximately 60% of those seeking treatment for alcohol problems. Alcoholism is extremely common among people who abuse drugs and is one of the most serious preventable causes of death in this age group (see the article on Liver Disease Treatment ).
Alcoholism presents in many forms and mostly affects men and women, although alcoholics can take on different roles depending on the type of treatment they seek and participate in. Inpatient treatment adds structure to life while outpatient treatment allows people to continue to function as active members of society, but with moderation as a goal. Living in an environment where alcohol is not part of their daily routine has been shown to help reduce a person's craving for alcohol.
Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) has been formed by people with alcoholism and continues to be formed by those seeking recovery and fellowship. The A.A. program is drug-free, Twelve Step based and geared toward the entire family context. The 12 Steps provide structure and guidance to allow people with alcoholism to develop healthier relationships with themselves and others as they work through their illness.
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are meant to be individualized by the person whose life they are working to change:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. (See list below)
– 6 . Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
– 7 . Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
– 8 . Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
– 9 . Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
– 10 . Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
– 11 . Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
-12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The psychological approach includes a number of methods for helping people with alcohol problems through individual and group therapy sessions. Behavior therapy , for instance, has been effective in eliciting desired changes in drinking behavior (reducing the amount drank or drinking only on weekends). Clinical psychologists have developed an approach called motivational enhancement that has been shown to be effective for many people with alcoholism. This method relies on cognitive-behavioral techniques such as role play, rehearsal and feedback.
The NIAAA recommends a variety of treatment programs for alcoholics.
Inpatient Treatment: Inpatient programs provide a safe and structured environment, allowing people to focus solely on their recovery and not have to worry about the demands of everyday life. These programs generally consist of detoxification, medical management, education about the disease of alcoholism, counseling, support groups and relapse prevention groups. On average inpatient treatment is 28 days in duration but this can vary from 7-60 days depending on the person's needs. It is often easier for people to begin working on their alcohol problem when they are removed from their normal environment that allows them to continue their drinking patterns or enables them to socialize with others drinking as well.
Outpatient treatment is more flexible and less intense. It can be individual or group based. Some programs require as little as one hour per week while others may require participants to attend three times a week for several weeks before they can discontinue the program. Before and aftercare are both offered at many of these outpatient programs in order to help the person maintain their sobriety following treatment, but this is not generally required. Most people begin the outpatient program after they have completed their inpatient program and continue their recovery at home with the help of family members and friends who are willing to provide support on a consistent basis, including aftercare meetings for continued support.
Many 12-step programs exist today that utilize a similar structure as A.A. but are geared toward certain populations and provide their own set of steps to recovery. The most notable of these include Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Cocaine Anonymous (CA), and Gamblers Anonymous (GA). These programs follow similar themes as A.A, but are not necessarily religious based and can work with anyone who feels they need the support of a group from their specific area of need.
In addition to behavioral therapy and psychotherapy, medications may be used to treat alcohol use disorders, especially if they are a manifestation of bipolar disorder or depression. Antidepressant medications such as bupropion (Wellbutrin) or fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem) may be prescribed. Other classes of drugs that are occasionally prescribed include the benzodiazepines like temazepam and aripiprazole (Abilify), which may help improve sleep patterns and reduce anxiety and agitation associated with alcoholism. In addition, there are medications with anticonvulsant properties such as carbamazepine (Tegretol and Equetro), valproic acid, gabapentin (Neurontin), lorazepam, or clonazepam. The latter two medications are used to treat seizures and may help reduce alcohol craving.
Group therapy may also be useful in treating alcohol problems. For example, a group program that includes behavioral elements as well as cognitive techniques may be more effective than an individual counseling session with the same goals in mind. Group therapy can provide an environment where people can share their feelings, thoughts and experiences with a group of support individuals they trust. Group therapy can also provide opportunities for socialization and exercise, thereby helping people to enjoy life more freely while they work on recovering from their self-induced trauma associated with dependence on alcohol or other drugs of abuse.
Conclusion
The history of Alcoholics Anonymous has proven that it is useful for many people. The 12-step program is simple, and the structure helps people who need a reasonable structure to recover. After getting sober, most members of A.A continue to regularly attend at least one meeting a week. According to A.A., working the 12 steps helps them stay sober even after they leave the confines of the structured setting of an inpatient treatment facility or outpatient treatment program. In addition, in 2010 there were 17,935 active A.A groups in 131 countries around the world, with an estimated 2 million members attending these groups regularly (the majority were not residents of the US).