It is fascinating to articulate something that family members who have been adversely affected by the alcoholism of another family member plainly do not know. It appears that by shielding the alcohol addicted person with falsehoods and deceit to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in actual fact created a circumstance that makes it easier for the alcohol addicted person to persist and go forward with his or her unsafe, destructive lifestyle.
Clearly, instead of helping the alcohol dependent person and themselves, these family members have basically become enablers who have involuntarily helped worsen the drinking problems of the problem drinker even further.
Relapses Can and Do Occur
Another key alcohol addiction issue concerns alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol dependent individual has effectively undergone alcoholism treatment and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this predicament flies in the face of sound thinking and appears to be so far-fetched that it forces one to wonder why anyone who has lived through the dejection of alcoholism can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after reaching recovery. There are, of course, numerous likely reasons for this.
It should be mentioned, however that alcoholism research that has centered on the lasting effects of alcoholism has revealed that long after the alcohol addicted individual has halted his or her drinking, significant transformations in the way in which the alcohol dependent person’s brain functions are still present. As a result, all a recovering alcoholic has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the modifications that have occurred in the brain is to engage in drinking again.
The Need for A Fundamental Lifestyle Change
There are even more reasons why numerous recovering alcohol dependent individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol dependency research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcohol addicted person needs new ways of reacting and thinking in order to deal more successfully with taxing alcohol-related situations that will take place.
Issues such as returning to the same alcohol addictive environment or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the time when the alcohol dependent individual was drinking abusively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these circumstances can bring forth memories that can trigger psychological stress or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol addicted person to engage in excessive drinking once again. Sadly, all of these circumstances may not only get in the way of enduring sobriety for the alcohol addicted person but they can also result in relapse and thus work against one’s alcohol recovery.
Summary
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted individual, family members can in point of fact cause unintentional damage by enabling the unsafe drinking behavior of the alcoholic.
The alcohol abuse research literature highlights the fact that most individuals who successfully complete alcohol treatment experience at least one relapse. Alcohol addicted individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get crestfallen or overwhelmed when a relapse manifests itself.
Fortunately, participation in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up therapy and training have resulted in more successful, long-term alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction therapeutic outcomes, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted individuals reach long lasting sobriety.
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