Alcohol

An alcohol addiction treatment program consists of three general alcoholism treatment option steps. These three steps are intervention, detoxification and rehabitation. Many persons with a drinking problem do not see or acknowledge that they have a problem with alcohol abuse. Intervention used in an alcohol addiction treatment program used to be more confrontational since problem drinkers wouldbe confronted about their excessive drinking and threatened with consequences if they did not begin treatment.
Today, the more effective alcoholism treatment option consists of caring and understanding counseling and intervention. Studies have found that more people begin an alcohol addiction treatment program when family members or employers are honest with them and try to help the drinker seethat alcohol abuse is adversely affecting their health and lives in many ways. Family or friends may need to help start the process of drinking problem recognition by reading relevant books on the subject to become better informed, by contacting their healthcare professional or by locating the nearest Alcoholics Anonymous or similar group.
An alcohol addiction treatment program intervention is astructured process where a group of family members, friends or co-workers get together in a caring way to communicate their concerns about a problem drinker's behavior. Done correctly, intervention has the objective of moving the person (and those who are part of the problem drinker's life) out of crisis mode and into addressing the addiction. Without the problem drinker recognizing andacknowledging that he or she has a drinking problem, there can be no effective and lasting alcoholism treatment option.
Here are the three main alcohol addiction treatment program steps:
1. Intervention - this is the initial alcoholism treatment option whereby the drinking problem is recognized and acknowledged by the drinker and perhaps family members or employer as well. Once the alcohol problem isrecognized, alcohol consumption is stopped for those persons that are alcohol dependent.
If the person is a problem drinker and not alcohol dependent, moderate drinking may be successful. Many alcoholics at first will not acknowledge that their drinking is out of control, and moderation can often be a successful way to deal with the drinking problem. If moderation works, the drinking problem is solved.If it doesn't work, then the person is usually ready to try abstinence. Because alcoholism affects the people closely related to the problem drinker, education and treatment for family members through counseling is often necessary.
2. Detoxification - this phase of an alcohol addiction treatment program usually takes from 4 to 7 days. The more alcohol a person has been drinking each day, thehigher the likelihood the person will develop alcohol withdrawal symptoms when they stop drinking.
Alcohol withdrawal symptoms can range from annoying and uncomfortable to serious and even life-threatening. Withdrawal symptoms generally begin within 12 hours of the last alcohol consumption and will be the maximum in two or three days.
The person may need to stay at the hospital for medicalobservation. In a medically supervised environment, withdrawal from alcohol can be done safely, and medications can be used as needed to relieve withdrawal symptoms. Other medical problems that may exist increase the likelihood of developing severe withdrawal symptoms. For example, blood clotting and liver problems are often found in heavy drinkers, and serious symptoms such as convulsions, fever ordelirium tremens can develop.
3. Rehabilitation - recovery from alcoholism should include support for the problem drinker once the detoxification alcoholism treatment option phase is completed to help maintain alcohol abstinence. This important recovery support will likely include counseling, nursing and medical care within these kinds of programs. Alcoholism disease education and alcohol effects on...