Assuming the client is still in rehab, has physically detoxed,
and has admitted to having a small problem with alcohol
it is now time to start a treatment plan.
At this juncture every rehab in the world diverges.
The extreme left does not believe in the disease concept
and they use voodoo tactics to have the alcoholic cured.
The extreme right use traditional religion and faith to cure
the alcoholic. The middle of the road uses a combination of physical, mental and spiritual understandings to allow the alcoholic to recover.
Every alcoholic is different and only if the alcoholic wants to change will there be any chance of cure or recovery.
All forms of treatment agree on the most significant point of rehabilitation being that the client must change, willingly.
At this time the client is often ask to answer a detailed questionnaire or just to write about or make a list of people, places and things associated with their drinking behaviors.
This list of people, places and things becomes the foundation of the treatment program.
Some of the items on the list are obvious bad habits which need to be changed. The client can no longer continue going to the local bar or package store and buy more alcohol.
Hiding the booze all over the house so the spouse cannot find it must stop. The spouse who has returned home is advised to search the house thoroughly and remove all bottles. If the spouse likes to drink and is adverse to dismantling the family bar there may be a long uphill battle for the development of a treatment program that will achieve the intended result of total abstinence for the client. If the client cannot go fishing, go to a ball game, go to his buddies’ garage, or go shopping with the girls without having a few social drinks with some friends, those people, places and things may have to (must) be changed.
The list of bad habits, the people, places and things are the easiest part of the clients drinking behaviors to be identified. The more difficult part of treatment is the emotional part of the clients’ reasons for drinking. The alcoholic drinks because they have a physical addiction to the alcohol and also a mental compulsion to believe that they have a reason to drink poison. The physical addiction can be held in remission by complete abstinence. The emotional reasons for drinking are as varied as there are individual drinkers and the treatment programs must identify the uniqueness of that individual.
My parents did not love me, I could not live up to the standards set by my older brother/sister, my boss is a real stinker, my wife ignores me, I was abused by the priest /sister, I am just having fun with my friends, I belong to the club to advance my career, if you worked as hard as I do, you would enjoy having one too, my team lost, my team won, it’s raining, the sun is shining and the reasons go on into the millions. For as many drinks that were consumed today, there are as many reasons to justify each one of them. The emotional reasons that the addict/alcoholic fabricate to justify their actions may also be deep rooted, sub-conscious misperceptions that may require many months or years of treatment to be exposed and identified for change.
The development of a treatment plan that addresses the emotional disparities suffered by most alcoholics/addicts may be started during the inpatient rehabilitation stay and are then transferred to an extended care treatment program.
During inpatient treatment the patient and the therapist review the list of habits and behaviors identified by the patient. If the alcoholic/addict is not in a treatment program and they are using the self help program of AA, they are doing the Fourth of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous when the make their list, and they are doing the Fifth Step when they share their list with another person.
Another successful tool to identify habits and misconceived reasons to justify alcoholic drinking behaviors is the small group therapy session. Guided by a trained counselor or therapist, the small group helps its members to identify inappropriate behaviors and may even make suggestion as to how these behaviors can be corrected. The sexual makeup of the group, all one sex, or mixed, is usually determined by the philosophy of the treatment facility. This idea of one alcoholic helping another and the idea of suggested methods to correct bad habits is also the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous. This practice of discussing behaviors with others is the basic training for the alcoholic to learn how to reach out for help. A part of the disease of Alcoholism is the emotional mindset that the drinker is a loner, they do not fit in, they want to isolate, they want to push away anyone who loves them and they want to kill themselves. Asking for help is not a reasonable concept or a normal activity for the problem drinker or the addict. The support group that many recovered alcoholics use to keep sober in their life after the rehab is a carry over from the small group that was used as a part of their inpatient treatment. The newcomer to AA is greeted at the first meeting and given a list of telephone numbers that can be used to start a support group. In AA it is strongly suggested that the men stick with the men and the women with the women.
Change now becomes paramount in the recovery of the addict/alcoholic.
Every day the world changes and normal people accept changes as growth, maturation, aging, what is expected of life. The alcoholics/addicts do not know how to change, it is stated that when the first drink or drug is used to stuff the feelings the emptional growth of the individual stops. The recovering individual who is honest will identify the emotional age at which they stopped growing and what they are now doing daily to learn to accept life on the terms of their Higher Power.
For extended treatment the professionals may recommend additional professional one on one treatment, small group therapy treatment, more intense behavioral modification treatment, AA, or a combination of any of the recommendations, and the emphasis of all treatment is "change."
Michael_e
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