Teresa was a forty-three-year-old real estate agent who knew that she had some drinking issues. For example, within the past three months she has felt the need to have a drink or two before going to work, three weeks ago she failed a random hair alcohol test where she is employed, three months ago she got stopped by the police for a DUI, and last but not least, for almost three months she has begun to fail to remember what she does and says when she drinks.
Not unlike multitudes of other drinkers, Teresa’s alcohol involvement began slowly and stayed at this level of involvement for quite a long time due to the fact every so often she engaged in occasional social drinking. If truth be told, for around seven months, every time she went out to drink, she made sure to drink in moderation. Something about her drinking, however, seemed to completely change when she got divorced from her husband.
In Order To Recover From the Divorce of Her Husband In a More Uncomplicated Manner, Teresa Came to the Conclusion That She Will Begin Hanging Out More Often With Some of Her Buddies Who Love to Party
Teresa got exceedingly gloomy about the loss of her husband, and as a way to stop fixating on her depressing emotions she arrived at a decision that she would start hanging around more frequently with some of her pals who love to have fun drinking.
Quite sincerely, Teresa truly believed that having fun nearly every day by getting an alcohol “buzz” with her buddies would help her get beyond the divorce of her husband in a more trouble-free manner.
Teresa’s Drinking Escalates Substantially the More Frequently She Goes to Private Parties, Dinner Dates, Family Get-Togethers, Sporting Events, and Happy Hours With Her Buddies
It didn’t take very long, nonetheless, before her drinking increased significantly the more frequently she went to and drank at family get-togethers, private parties, sporting events, happy hours, and dinner dates with her friends. In addition, the fact that her drinking friends were all younger than she was and therefore able to party and drink more thoughtlessly was one of the reasons that she didn’t allocate more of her attention to her increased drinking. In brief, she was having fun drinking just like everybody else in her group of buddies without giving much thought to the results of her hazardous and excessive drinking.
Yet in the back of her mind she knew that she most likely required alcohol rehabilitation but avoided the thought as much as humanly possible.
Teresa Gets a Physical, ”Comes Clean” About Her Abusive Drinking to Her Healthcare Professional, and Owns up to the Facts About Her Sadness
One morning during her yearly physical examination, her physician asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell “stories” to her healthcare practitioner, Teresa acknowledged that she frequently drinks more than she should. In point of fact, she articulated that she routinely drinks in an excessive manner. Then Teresa told her healthcare practitioner about her depression. More specifically, she articulated that shattered relationships commonly set off a discouraging progression of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more depressing feelings that, in turn, resulted in more drinking. And this is exactly what took place when her husband and she got divorced six months ago.
When her physician heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was researching, alcoholism and depression routinely occur in the same person. He then told her that some of the alcohol statistics, facts, and research investigations he has been looking into also underscore the fact that individuals who drink in an abusive and irresponsible manner and who also suffer from depression need to obtain treatment for both medical conditions.
Teresa’s Healthcare Professional Schedules an Appointment for a Psychological Appraisal and For an Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependency Assessment
Teresa’s physician then told her the following: “I am not trying to make an unprepared judgment, but with your medical situation we may be facing two separate issues. As a result, I think we should schedule an appointment for you to get an alcohol abuse and alcoholism assessment from my partner, Dr. Arndt, who is an alcohol and drug abuse specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more related to alcohol dependency or alcohol abuse is not clear, but I believe that further evaluation is justifiable. Then I think we should schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological exam from another one of my partners, Dr. Miller, who is a psychologist. I want to get a better read on your dejection and see how much your depression and drinking are interrelated.” Teresa displayed her endorsement of her healthcare practitioner’s strategy and thanked him for his time and assistance. Now all she had to do was to try to lessen her drinking and get ready for her appointments.
