ALCOHOLISM - Psychotherapy
the patient towards the path of detoxification. In addition to individual psychotherapy, which favors the exploration of personality and the more unconscious motivations that lead to drinking, family psychotherapy can also be very useful.
In fact, it deals with the existing relationships between the alcoholic and family members, who can represent an important source of help and healing. Another form of effective psychotherapy for the treatment of alcoholism is group therapy, in which there is the possibility of sharing the problem with other people suffering from the same disease.
Thanks to this therapy, participants are able to draw strong support and a real impulse to resolve their personal conflicts.
ALCOHOLISM - Drug therapy
The drugs used in the treatment of alcoholism are designed to control the behavioral consequences of uncontrolled drinking (alcoholic intoxication), the withdrawal crisis, the psychological disorders that accompany addiction, and the uncontrollable desire to drink (craving).
The most commonly used drugs for the treatment of alcoholism are:
Benzodiazepines: most used both for the treatment of alcoholic withdrawal syndrome and to prevent and treat withdrawal seizures. The most effective active ingredients are diazepam oxazepam and clorazepam (trade names: Rivotril, Anxiolit, Valium);
- Disulfiram: is a drug that can dissuade the patient from drinking, after he has not consumed alcohol for at least twelve hours.
- The action of the drug intervenes when the subject takes alcoholic beverages again, causing: vomiting, feeling of nausea, nausea, redness and a feeling of heat in the face and upper chest and limbs, tachycardia. (trade name: Antabuse);
- Alcover or GHB: has been shown to quickly suppress withdrawal symptoms and also reduce craving. It is a drug that is taken orally in the treatment of chronic alcoholism and comes in the form of a solution;
Naltrexone: Used to help patients stay sober.
Help the alcoholicAddiction Services> Addictions> Alcoholism> Alcoholism in the Family> Way Out> Helping the Alcoholic Who can help the alcoholic in the family?
- Having family members openly talk about the problem and seek help outside the family can prove very difficult for the alcoholic, to the point of driving him to drink even more.
- The attempt of his relatives to solve the problem, in fact, may seem to him a threat that breaks the mechanism and upsets the balance that has hitherto existed within the family.
The crisis caused by these changes slowly affects the employee and confronts him with his addiction and his responsibilities, which should prompt him to accept his illness and seek help to solve his problem. If a person really wants to change his life, the possibilities are many.
The goal of all therapies is the same: to learn to endure difficulties and solve problems without having to resort to alcohol. The first step in this direction consists in detoxifying physically, the second, on the other hand, in overcoming the psychic addiction.
Physical detox
Physically detoxifying means completely refraining from the consumption of alcoholic beverages under medical supervision. Suddenly stopping drinking causes withdrawal attacks (sometimes very severe), which can represent a risk to health and can only be alleviated by resorting to suitable medicines.
- For this reason, physical detoxification often takes place in a hospital or in a specialized clinic which, however, does not exclude the possibility of detoxifying even on an outpatient basis.
- However, detoxification is only an intermediate step on the way to abstinence. At this stage, being still addicted to alcohol, alcoholics cannot afford to drink even a glass and must get used to life without resorting to alcohol.
Antabus is a medicine that acts on the metabolism, altering it in such a way as to make alcohol intolerable. The consumption of alcohol during treatment with the Antabus causes ailments such as redness of the face, difficulty in breathing, palpitations, dizziness, nausea and cramps.
The Antabus is not a real therapy as it does not heal. Rather, it is a “chemical support” that prevents the consumption of alcohol.
The medicine should be taken regularly every day and should ideally be administered by a third party. Atabus is used, with the consent of the person concerned, in order to help him abstain from alcohol in the detoxification phase in which the alcoholic learns to reconsider his life and his relationship with alcohol.