Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependence Treatment
Nowadays alcohol dependence treatment is one of the most urgent problems of modern society.
I’d like to start this article with the definitions given by the World Health Organization. Alcoholism is the addiction to drinking excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages which is characterized by uncontrolled consumption of alcohol, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, relationships and social position. This dependence is medically defined as a treatable disease.
Various approaches of alcohol dependence treatment are divided into two major groups:
• approaches directed at alcohol-dependent individuals and severe problem drinkers;
• approaches targeting those who are not yet dependent, but are at high risk.
It should be taken into consideration that one should be treated according to the most fitting approach or a combination of approaches which are likely to help the alcohol-dependant person to achieve the desired effect.
I’d like to provide you with the survey of basic approaches to treatment of alcohol dependence.
Inpatient Treatment for Alcohol Abuse
Inpatient alcohol dependence treatment is usually held in a hospital or any kind of residential programs, which as a rule, last for a month. There patients are provided with and different types of alcohol education and therapy (group, individual, family or couples therapy). The doctors usually recommend inpatient treatment for people who lack socialization or fail various outpatient programs.
In the 1980's inpatient treatment of alcohol abuse got the name “theMinnesotaor Hazelden treatment model” and was carried out according to twelve-step recovery program. The main peculiarity of it was that most often drug abuse counseling was provided by the person who also suffered from alcoholism, but was on his way to recovering.
Outpatient Alcoholism Treatment
The main idea of these programs is providing 8-hour sessions of alcohol education and group or individual counseling a few times a week. The significant rule is regular attending and abstinence from alcohol beverages.
Let’s have a look at the most commonly used types of outpatient alcoholic treatment:
• behavioral therapy – the patient and the doctor held individual counseling which helps to identify factors that cause relapse, called cues. Then together they create strategies which defuse high-risk situations. In such a way the patient later will be able to confront difficult situations without drinking;
• motivational enhancement therapy (MET) influences the patient in order to modify his behavior. According to different studies, this approach has a positive feedback and the patient's desire to progress and change his life. I’d like to admit that this is not oriented towards heavy drunkards, because it’s final aim is to change drinking patterns rather than to make a person abstain;
• alcoholics anonymous (AA) is a self-help voluntary organization founded by alcoholics. In its framework lies a spiritual-based, 12-step program which helps attendees to save themselves from alcohol dependence and seek to modify their behavior;
pharmacotherapy lies in prescribing and monitoring a patient’s treatment with medication (as a rule, disulfiram (Antabuse), naltrexone and acamprosate). It’s worth saying that pharmacotherapy alone can’t treat the person forever, though it can be used as a part of a treatment plan. There are two kinds of medications which ease the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal such as depression, panic disorder or social phobia and craving: aversive and anticraving;
• psychotherapy relies on associating alcohol with highly negative contexts.
According the data mentioned above, the most successful approaches are behavioral and motivational enhancement followed by pharmacotherapy and alcoholic anonymous organizations.
Alternative Treatments
According to the research conducted on an old Asian remedy, the "drunken dispeller" is a simple Chinese herbal tea that has one peculiar component NPI-028 (Kudzu). It is a common plant which can be found in most south-eastern US states.
The doctors of alternative medicine say that acupuncture (releasing certain chemicals within the body) in combination with other mentioned kinds can be a considerable weapon in drug dependence treatment.
It is very important to understand that alcohol dependence treatment is not only the business of one person, but also his family and others should help him to overcome this problem and support him in any difficult situation in order not to provoke relapse.
