Teresa was a forty-eight-year-old marketing manager who realized that she had some problems with her drinking. For instance, within the past seven months she has felt the need to have a drink or two before going to work, five weeks ago she tested positive for a hair alcohol test at work, two weeks ago she got arrested for a DUI, and finally, for nearly three months she has started to forget what she does and says when she drinks with her pals.
Similar to other drinkers, Teresa’s involvement with alcohol started out at a “snail’s pace” and remained at this tempo for quite a long time because at times she engaged in sporadic social drinking. In truth, for approximately a year, every time she went out with her pals to drink, she made sure to drink in a responsible manner. Something about her drinking activities, nevertheless, seemed to drastically change when she got divorced.
In Order To Come to Terms With the Divorce of Her Husband More Quickly, Teresa Made Up Her Mind To Start Palling Around More Frequently With Some of Her Friends Who Love to Whoop it Up and Drink
Teresa got extremely sad about the loss of her husband, and as a way to quit her preoccupation with her depressing feelings she decided to start hanging around more regularly with some of her buddies who love to ”get down” and drink.
Quite honestly, Teresa concluded that having fun almost every day by getting “mellow” and drinking with her friends would help her get beyond the breakup of her husband more painlessly.
Teresa’s Drinking Escalates Substantially the More Often She Goes to Sporting Events, Dinner Dates, Happy Hours, Private Parties, and Family Get-Togethers With Her Pals
It didn’t take long, nevertheless, before her drinking increased to a significant extent the more habitually she went to and drank at dinner dates, happy hours, private parties, sporting events, and family get-togethers with her pals. Furthermore, the fact that her drinking friends were all younger than she was and therefore able to drink and party 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 drinking and having a great time just like everybody else in her group of buddies without much reflection about the negative effects of her excessive drinking.
Yet somewhere in her brain she knew that she most likely needed alcohol counseling but avoided the thought as much as she could.
Teresa Gets a Physical, Owns Up to the Facts About Her Abusive and Irresponsible Drinking to Her Healthcare Professional, and Discloses the Truth About Her General State of Despair
One afternoon during her six-month physical examination, her healthcare professional asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to lie to her doctor, Teresa owned up to the fact that she routinely drinks more than she should. In reality, she stated that she regularly drinks in an abusive manner. Then Teresa informed her healthcare professional about her dejection. More specifically, she stated that shattered relationships many times started a dismal sequence of events characterized by increased drinking which further resulted in more disheartening feelings that, in turn, resulted in even more drinking. And this is specifically what took place when her husband and she got divorced eleven months ago.
When her healthcare professional heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was examining, alcoholism and depression often take place in the same individual. He then informed her that some of the alcohol statistics, facts, and research investigations he has been reading about also underline the fact that individuals who drink excessively and who also suffer from depression need to obtain treatment for both medical conditions.
Teresa’s Healthcare Professional Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Evaluation and For an Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse Evaluation
Teresa’s physician then stated the following: “I am not trying to make a sudden analysis, but with your medical situation we may be confronting two separate concerns. Consequently, I think we need to schedule an appointment for you to get an alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse assessment from my partner, Dr. Galloway, who is an alcohol abuse and substance abuse specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more correlated with alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency 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 examination from another one of my partners, Dr. Knight, who is a psychologist. I want to get a better handle on your pessimism and see how much your drinking and depression are interrelated.” Teresa displayed her approval of her healthcare practitioner’s “game plan” and thanked him for his help and concern.
In all honesty, Teresa now felt a sense of personal self esteem and happiness because she finally became inspired to do something constructive about her excessive and abusive drinking and her depression. Not only this, but Teresa also realized that after alcohol rehab she would be more able to establish solid friendships and dating relationships. Now all she had to do was to try to trim down on her drinking and get ready for her appointments.
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