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Break through Alcohol Abuse with Psychotherapy

Marcelina Hardy | May 5, 2008

Many people that suffer from alcoholism do so because they feel alcohol helps them escape from life's troubles. Using alcohol to make you feel better about a certain physical or mental ailment means, you are self-medicating. The problem with self-medicating is you cause more problems rather than working through the issues that drove you to the alcohol in the first place.

The Physical Dependence of Alcoholism

When you start drinking alcohol regularly to numb the pain of a problem in your life, your body starts relying on it to get through each day. Your tolerance for levels of alcohol heightens which means you will need to drink more of it to get the same calming or numbing affect you experienced when you first started drinking. Increasing your tolerance for alcohol may sound like a good thing because you are still able to drink without suffering from the impairments associated with large consumption, but the affects of drinking more is devastating to your health. People who consume large amounts over a long period may experience the following medical problems:

Liver disease
High blood pressure
Alcohol poisoning
Stroke
Cardiovascular disease
Diabetes
Sexual dysfunction
Cancer
Injuries

Emotional Dependence on Alcohol

Alcoholism has both physical and emotional dependence components. The emotional dependence comes from knowing how alcohol makes you feel when you drink. If you are having a bad day and decide to fix yourself a drink so you can calm down or drink so much you forget what happened, you have an emotional dependence. Having an emotional dependence is just as harmful as the physical dependence because many people will take advantage of the affects of alcohol and drink more than their bodies can tolerate, which could lead to alcohol poisoning and death. Binging is much more popular than you might think even among people who are not suffering from alcoholism. Approximately 75% of all the alcohol adults drink is through binging (http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/quickstats/binge_drinking.htm).

How Psychotherapy Can Help You with Alcoholism

Life isn't easy and alcohol may seem like the only answer. However, other options are available to help you through troublesome times – psychotherapy. Working through issues in a sober state can help you develop the strength to overcome future obstacles along the way so you do not need to have a cocktail. The thing about drinking is that it's only a temporary solution to a permanent problem. A therapist can help you find a solution for permanent problems so you don't have to continue to mask them with alcohol. You can learn techniques on how to handle stress, how to make your life easier, and how to handle your thoughts and feelings. If you have trouble in social settings, your therapist can help you feel better about those types of situations. You can learn how to be outgoing and likable without having a cocktail or glass of wine.

Seeking help is the first step in overcoming alcoholism. It will be hard at first to get over the withdrawal symptoms you will face but soon you will be free from the dependency you have grown to rely upon. You can then start to face your life and the world with a new perspective so you can take back control.

References:
http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/faqs.htm#16