Recreational drinking is done across cultures and at many festive occasions, but for some people, drinking is not just done occasionally. There are some people who find that they cannot control how much they drink or how often. These are signs of alcohol abuse, and it occurs in 7.8% of Americans over 12 years of age. When spotted, such signs should encourage the drinker to get help through alcohol rehabilitation before their abusive habits turn into a physical dependence known as alcoholism. A person whose drinking has progressed to alcoholism is more difficult to treat than one who misuses alcohol, but there are programs designed for both available to help the problem drinker to reclaim his life lost to alcohol abuse.
For the majority of people with a drinking problem, they may be in denial. Of those who have problematic drinking habits, 87.4% did not get treatment because they did not feel that they needed it. If there is a refusal on the drinker's part to admit that he or she has a problem, it is up to his friends and family to convince him to go to alcohol rehabilitation. This might seem difficult for family members who feel that a fight always happens whenever their relative's drinking habits are discussed, but there are some tips available to help friends and family to convince their relative go to rehab. Those concerned need to remember to stay as emotionless as possible, but to express their concern, refuse to enable the person to drink, become educated about alcohol abuse and alcoholism, and get support for themselves through family support networks. When the family has a strong support network, the problem drinker's alcohol rehabilitation will likely less likely to affect the family's emotional hardships.
Alcoholics need to locate a medically supervised alcohol rehabilitation program in order to get the most effective treatment. There are several factors which will determine how successful the program is, but a closely designed treatment regime with ongoing care and strong medical and psychological support is the best of available programs. Such a rehab course has been shown to help problem drinkers to become sober. In order to get over the physical need for alcohol, the alcoholic must endure a week-long course ofdetoxification. This will mean that he must stop drinking "cold turkey" until his body can learn to function properly again without alcohol. During this time, withdrawal symptoms are common, but with a doctor's supervision, they can be controlled using certain medications. Psychological counseling is also given in order to provide the drinker with new coping methods for stress and typical drinking situations.
Those who are not yet physically addicted to alcohol might find that decreasing the amount they drink by following some simple guidelines to cut back might help, but others do not get relief from self help programs and they need a more structured alcohol rehabilitation. Those who are not dependent upon alcohol but still have a drinking problem will likely undergo treatment similar to that of an alcoholic after detox. For many this means cognitive behavior intervention to reteach them other options to choose during or instead of drinking situations.
Alcohol rehabilitation is best for anyone with a drinking problem in order to regain sobriety.