Wendy was the mother of three children. Wendy had been feeling quite tense lately and started to “medicate” herself by having three or four glasses of wine each evening after she tucked her children into bed. After approximately eight months of this drinking routine, she at last realized that instead of helping her ”take it easy” and deal with her problems, drinking made her feel less restful when she awakened in the morning. This, in turn, made her feel more anxious throughout the day.
After thinking about her predicament for two or three days, Wendy made up her mind to discuss her drinking problem with her best friend. In actual fact, approximately thirty minutes into their chat, Wendy’s friend, Kassandra, told her that she knew about a very helpful and competent doctor at the local alcohol and drug treatment center. After talking to her friend, Wendy without delay got encouraged to call the rehab facility and make an appointment.
Nine days later she finally got to meet the physician her friend had talked about. After their brief introduction, Wendy explained to the doctor that ever since she and her former husband got divorced, she has been struggling spiritually, financially, and psychologically.
At times, she felt that the divorce was behind her. Recently, though, she has been feeling extremely depressed about the fact that she and her former husband couldn’t “make it”. When asked by the physician how long she and her former husband went together before they got married, Wendy explained to the doctor that she and her former husband, Robert, went out for five years and then lived together for two years before they got married.
As Wendy was talking to the physician, she stressed the point that she frankly thought that she and her former husband waited long enough to know each other well enough before they got married. After the children started to arrive, to the contrary, everything appeared to fall apart. Moreover, both Robert and she started to drink, and their hazardous and abusive drinking negatively affected their relationship, their love for one another, and their finances.
When things went from bad to worse, Robert got a divorce attorney and filed for a divorce. Even though things were noticeably not going well and even though she was habitually depressed, Wendy told the physician that she did not want to bring an end to their relationship. Once she was served her divorce papers, however, she knew that their marriage was over.
The physician told Wendy that the stress, tension, and anxiety that she has been going through regarding her careless and hazardous drinking are some of the more commonplace alcohol abuse effects and that the best solution for this situation is treatment for one’s alcohol abuse. In fact, getting alcohol abuse treatment is critical because chronic drinking can get the drinker into even more severe alcohol and alcoholism difficulties.
After several counseling sessions with her psychiatrist, Wendy was slowly but surely able to see that the real root of her anxiety and her depression was that she had not resolved her resentful feelings she has for her former husband who had divorced her four years ago. With these insights and with the meds her physician prescribed, she eventually quit drinking, she began to feel considerably less depressed, and she started making more time for social activities with her friends and family. A few months after receiving counseling from her doctor, she even began to date once again.
It was clear that Wendy had come a long way. In point of fact, just about five months after she completed her rehab, Wendy had finally laid the harmful thoughts of her ex-husband to rest, she was beginning to feel more self respect, and she was discovering how to feel more successful in her life.
When I was a sophomore in high school, I enrolled into a substance abuse class. At that age, I did not grasp the fact that alcohol abuse in truth was a sub category of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse and especially about alcohol side effects, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for individuals all over the world. I also learned quite a bit about alcohol rehabilitation and the various alcohol rehab clinics that are often available to individuals who engage in heavy drinking.
Negative Effects That are Associated With Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse
Some of the detrimental outcomes associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class unquestionably alarmed me. The ruined lives and many difficulties experienced by most alcoholics made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. Stated briefly, I did not want to face the wreckage and ruination that alcohol addicted people almost always encounter.
Think about this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old person wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What young person wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that consuming alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teenager wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related problems before he or she becomes an adult?
What young person wants to encounter alcohol withdrawals when he or she tries to quit drinking? Why would an individual engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause difficulties in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after a person has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would an adolescent want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that centers on abusive drinking?
These issues were so significant that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was entirely unbelievable to me was the number of students who basically didn’t care about the injurious results of hazardous drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be troubled with the truth and how these results can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to appreciate a saying that my grandfather used to say to me all through my younger years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.
It’s Beneficial, Important, and Liberating to Keep Yourself From the Unhealthy and Damaging End Results of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
And even at my young age, I also began to understand how important, energizing, and beneficial it is in life to stay away from the destructive and unhealthy outcomes of alcohol and drug abuse. And realizing this not only gave me the inspiration and motivation to further develop my self esteem and self worth, but it also helped shape the friendships and relationships I made in school.
