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.
