What Is Alcoholism Treatment?

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

In order to find out what the treatment of alcoholism is, you must first understand what alcoholism itself is. Or, if otherwise, to understand why a person continues to destroy himself, his life, his personality so persistently with the help of alcohol? Or, in other words, is all this really worth the pleasure that he brings?

And here the first point should be immediately noted. Drinking alcohol brings pleasure only in the early stages of the formation of alcohol dependence. At this stage, alcohol, by its chemical action, stimulates the brain's pleasure center, forcing it to produce additional amounts of "pleasure hormones", which causes a state of euphoria after drinking alcohol. At the next stages of the development of physiological dependence on alcohol, the following changes take place in the brain's pleasure center: without alcohol, it is no longer able to produce enough “hormones of joy” for a normal state; this manifests itself in states of depression, irritation, apathy, boredom, etc. in sobriety. But even when taking alcohol, the pleasure center is no longer able to produce a sufficient amount of substances necessary for euphoria, but only to relieve the depressive state. Therefore, in the advanced stages of alcoholism, drinking alcohol no longer brings almost any pleasure. Now a person uses only in order to get relief from depression in a sober state.

This state of depression in sobriety due to insufficient work of the brain's pleasure center is called post-withdrawal syndrome (PAS). Its symptoms: decreased level of joy (depression, depression, apathy, longing, boredom, feeling of inner emptiness, etc.), increased level of arousal and decreased control of emotions (irritation, anxiety, unreasonable mood swings from euphoria to melancholy, emotional outbursts, etc.) etc.), difficulty with abstract thinking (difficulty with emotionless, impartial assessment of the situation, difficulty planning, difficulty making decisions, etc.) and other symptoms. With exacerbations of PAS, a sober life becomes unbearable, and the body "requires" the intake of alcohol as a medicine to relieve this condition. From a biological point of view, exacerbations of PAS are the main reason for the return to alcohol use.

Considering that at such advanced stages of alcoholism, the physiological reactivity to alcohol intake also changes, which in most cases is accompanied by a loss of control over its dose, one can explain the complete picture of a series of periods of sobriety and abuse. Tired of the problems of uncontrolled abuse, the addict makes an attempt to "quit". After the hangover is over, there is a short period of "sobriety euphoria," after which PAS comes. When it aggravates, the person can not stand it and "decides" to drink to alleviate his condition. At the same time, due to the loss of dose control, he gets drunk again or goes into a new binge, after which he tries again for a while (or once again for good) "to quit". At the same time, with each such cycle, addiction only progresses, and both abuse and PAS become only more severe.

There is no medical treatment for PAS. Rather, it is possible to remove this condition with the help of antidepressants, but this does not restore the pleasure center, and when the drug is canceled, the PAS returns back with full force. Fortunately, when the use of alcohol and other psychoactive substances is stopped, the work of the pleasure center gradually returns to normal on its own, although over a fairly long period. So, the most acute period of PAS lasts three months. The subacute period of PAS lasts about a year, after which the state of sobriety ceases to be acutely intolerable. PAS is almost completely resolved in 3-5 years. However, when alcohol is consumed, the state of the pleasure center almost immediately returns to what it was before. It should also be noted that control over alcohol consumption is not restored at all, and the person begins to drink as if there was no period of sobriety. Therefore, in the case of alcoholism, you should stop using it once and for all.

Thus, from a biological point of view, alcoholism means not only the inability to control alcohol consumption (which cannot be treated in any way), but also an intolerable or intolerable state of the nervous system in sobriety in the form of PAS. And the treatment of alcoholism in this case will be a complete cessation of alcohol consumption and a gradual restoration of the nervous system with a period of sobriety. To date, no other ways have been invented.

Probably, this logic was used by Soviet narcologists, organizing the system of LTP (medical and labor dispensaries). The person was isolated for several years from drinking alcohol, during which time he had to undergo PAS, and, in theory, after the "release" he could not use freely. However, in practice, this system turned out to be completely ineffective, showing a percentage even lower than the level of "spontaneous remissions" (when a person completely stopped drinking on his own, without anyone's help - by the way, no more than 2% of alcohol addicts are capable of this). Soviet narcologists did not take into account the fact that alcohol addiction, in addition to biological, has another component - psychological.

A person uses alcohol for various psychological effects - relieving stress and tension, improving mood, relieving difficult emotional states, stabilizing self-esteem, calming down, gaining meaning in life, etc. But at the same time, a person's own abilities to control his psychological state are gradually destroyed. And it becomes more and more difficult for a person to rest and relieve stress on his own, without alcohol, to calm down, to get joy, to stabilize self-esteem, to overcome complexes, etc. Gradually, these abilities disappear completely, and the person psychologically becomes completely dependent on alcohol. When he decides to stop drinking alcohol, he finds himself in a zone of severe psychological conditions that are difficult for him to cope with, such as stress, negative emotions, low self-esteem, a sense of meaninglessness, etc. This condition gradually accumulates over time, and when psychological stress reaches a certain borderline tolerance, a person is forced to take alcohol to relieve this psychological stress.

The destruction of the ability to manage one's psychological state without alcohol is the psychological component of alcoholism. And, unlike the work of the pleasure center, these psychological abilities do not recover with time of sobriety - this requires special work. Then the treatment of alcoholism from a psychological point of view is a special work to restore the psychological abilities to receive joy and satisfaction from life, manage emotions, relieve stress and rest, etc. without drinking alcohol. Such work to restore one's psyche among addiction specialists is usually called recovery.

In "unreleased" cases of psychological dependence, such work on recovery can be carried out with an individual psychologist; in more difficult cases, intensive psychological programs are required (programs of psychological rehabilitation from alcohol dependence). Moreover, intensive short courses of such psychological assistance in the end give little effectiveness; for a good result, long-term work on recovery is required.

There is another component of alcoholism - the social one. The addict's environment "gets used" to its use. It somehow becomes beneficial to him: you can write off your problems on it, you can control the addict, subjugate him, you can find your life mission in saving him from alcoholism, etc. And when you stop using it, all these benefits disappear. The immediate environment also becomes, as it were, dependent on the use of the person suffering from alcoholism. And when you stop using it, people from the environment will subconsciously provoke it to a new breakdown. The treatment of the social component of alcoholism then is to establish relations with the immediate environment on a new basis, where not accusations, resentments, control, rescue and manipulation will prevail, but respect, equality, love and freedom.

Summarizing, it can be summarized that alcoholism is a complex, complex phenomenon with biological, psychological and social components. And therefore, the treatment of alcoholism will be not just measures to stop drinking (withdrawal from hard drinking with subsequent coding or "torpedoing"), but a long-term comprehensive program to restore the psychological state and harmonize social relations.

In this case, the cessation of use is not the goal of treatment, but a condition for its initiation. The real goal of recovery from alcohol addiction will be a sober life that brings joy and satisfaction, with a harmonious internal psychological state and harmonious relationships with others, when there is no desire to return to use. In other words, the goal is not to quit drinking, but not to be thirsty

The sequence of providing assistance for alcoholism will then be as follows: medical assistance to get rid of hard drinking and relieve hangover, a rehabilitation program to stabilize the psychological state, long-term work with a psychologist to restore the psyche and harmonize relationships with loved ones.

What is partial or not a cure for alcoholism: simple withdrawal from hard drinking without measures to prevent new ones, suggestive-prohibitive methods (encoding, filing, torpedoing, etc.) without help in stabilizing the psychological state, short-term rehabilitation programs without further long-term psychological support. Only a complex of these and other measures can be called a full-fledged treatment for alcoholism.