Teresa was a forty-one-year-old recreation therapist who knew that she had some drinking issues. For example, within the past seven months she has experienced the need to have more than a few drinks before going to work, three weeks ago she failed a random blood alcohol test where she works, five weeks ago she got stopped by the state highway patrol for a DUI, and finally, for roughly five months she has begun to fail to remember what she does and says when she drinks with her pals.
Not unlike multitudes of other individuals, Teresa’s experiences with alcohol began gradually and remained at this pace for quite some time due to the fact every so often she engaged in casual social drinking. In reality, for about nine months, every time she went out with her buddies to drink, she made sure to drink in a responsible manner. Something about her drinking behavior, however, seemed to drastically change when her husband divorced her.
In Order To Get Beyond the Divorce of Her Husband In a More Trouble-Free Manner, Teresa Decided to Start Palling Around More Routinely With Some of Her Pals Who Love to Drink and Have Fun
Teresa got dreadfully despondent about the divorce from her husband, and as a way to abstain from dwelling on her disheartening emotions she decided to begin going out more repeatedly with some of her pals who love to drink and have fun.
Quite forthrightly, Teresa figured that having fun nearly every day by drinking and partying with her friends would help her recover from the breakup of her husband in a less wearisome manner.
Anger, Time, and Stress Management Issues
Teresa also thought that drinking with her friends would help her steer clear of her time, stress, and anger management difficulties.
Teresa’s Drinking Escalates Greatly the More Often She Goes to Private Parties, Sporting Events, Family Get-Togethers, Dinner Dates, and Happy Hours With Her Friends
It didn’t take long, however, before her drinking increased to a significant extent the more often she went to and drank at private parties, happy hours, sporting events, dinner dates, and family get-togethers with her buddies. Not only this, but the fact that her drinking friends were all many years younger than she was and therefore able to party harder and more frequently was one of the reasons why she didn’t focus more on her increased drinking. In a word, she was having a blast drinking just like everyone else in her group of friends without much forethought about the consequences of her excessive and hazardous drinking.
Yet somewhere in her mind she knew that she most likely needed alcohol rehab but kept away from the thought as much as possible.
Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, Owns Up to the Facts About Her Hazardous and Excessive Drinking to Her Physician, and Owns up to the Facts About Her Melancholy
One late afternoon during her yearly physical exam, her physician asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to lie to her doctor, Teresa owned up to the truth that she often drinks more than she should. In actual fact, she stated that she frequently drinks in an irresponsible and abusive manner. Then Teresa informed her healthcare professional about her general state of gloom. More precisely, she articulated that broken relationships commonly caused a negative chain of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more discouraging feelings that, in turn, resulted in more drinking. And this is explicitly what took place when her husband and she got divorced five years ago.
When her doctor heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was researching, alcoholism and depression often arise in the same person. He then told her that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been looking into also emphasize the fact that people who drink in an irresponsible manner and who also experience depression need to obtain treatment for both medical conditions.
Teresa’s Healthcare Practitioner Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Assessment and For an Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Addiction Evaluation
Teresa’s physician then said the following: “I am not trying to make a spur-of-the-moment diagnosis, but with your medical circumstances we may be working with two separate problems. As a result, I think we should make an appointment for you to get an alcohol dependency and alcohol abuse appraisal from my partner, Dr. Galloway, who is an alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse specialist. Whether your drinking circumstance is more related to alcohol addiction or alcohol abuse is unknown, but I believe that further assessment is justifiable. Then I feel we ought to schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological evaluation from another one of my partners, Dr. Shapiro, who is a counseling psychologist. I want to get a better read on your melancholy and see how much your drinking and depression are related.” Teresa displayed her endorsement of her healthcare practitioner’s strategy and thanked him for his help.
Teresa Deals With Her Anger, Time, and Stress Management Problems
In reality, Teresa now felt a sense of personal self esteem and happiness because she finally got inspired to do something constructive about her excessive drinking and her depression. What is more, Teresa also realized that after alcohol rehab she would be more able to confront her time, stress, and anger management difficulties. Now all she had to do was to try to decrease her drinking and get ready for her appointments.
