Alcohol Addiction and Risk Taking Part 1
For you, going to a party is a way to blow of steam, let go, and forget your troubles. But does your partying put your health and life goals at risk? It may be hard to admit, but using drugs and alcohol to cope can actually bring on more and bigger problems. Alcohol rehab may be needed to get your life back on track.
The Lawyer Who Drinks And Drives
You are a successful lawyer, working your way up to being a junior partner in your firm. You only drink about once a week, but it is always to get drunk. And when you get together with some old friends once a month, you almost always do dangerous activities while drinking such as driving carelessly on country roads and running motor boats at night.
You see all this as a very normal way to let loose from your stressful job, but your wife is constantly worried that you will be injured, get arrested, or die from these activities. She is a stay-at-home mom with your two small children.
The Single Underage Mom Who Parties
You are a twenty year old single mom with an two year old child. You just went through a messy divorce – the relationship was bad from the start and the divorce was painful. You know this was the right thing to do, but your partying has increased now. You have been through so much and you feel like you need to make up for lost fun time.
Because of the friends you have been spending time with, you’ve been noticed by the police a few times and now the neighbor has threatened to call Child Welfare Services because they know a child lives with you during all this. You are worried but still want to be able to go to parties when you want some fun.
The Young Professional Who Drinks The Pain Away
You have just turned thirty, with a college degree, and a good job. Your parents have had continuous marital problems and they keep dragging you into them. You have had a lot of emotional pain to deal with through your life because of this. You feel like you’ve spend a lot of your younger years being like an adult (and a referee), like you are really in your 40′s now instead of young with your own life stiil ahead of you.
You frequently drink with your friends at bars and at their homes. You’ve driven many times while drunk, parked your car and slept off the alcohol, even had a cop tail you for a while – but nothing bad has happened yet. The economy is bad now and you can’t afford big fines or a big car repair bill. You also have sexual relations with when you are drunk (usually from people you meet at the bar), often times with no protection.
Alcohol Rehab Can Help Reduce Risky Behaviors
It’s not hard to see how these situations could become trouble in a hurry. We’ll take a closer look at how a person with alcoholism could continue to take such risks. Sometimes mental illness gets into the mix, creating a problem with co-occurring disorders. Alcohol rehab helps to balance a person’s perspective on their life, helping them curb their urge to ignore red flags. Alcohol rehab may be the only way to help a person who seems bent on living a dangerous life with alcohol. Sadly, it sometimes takes an unfortunate accident or dramatic problem to get an alcoholic person to alcohol rehab.
Check in next week for part 2 of this series on alcohol addiction and taking risks.
Tags: Alcohol Addiction and Taking Risks Part 1, Alcohol Rehab
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January 6th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
It’s really true, and each of these profiles are pretty typical kinds of people. Of course there are the more strung-out folks that become the stereotype “drunk” or “druggie”. But these particular profiles are based in just as much reality. Each person above may think they are in control, but they have huge blind spots that allow them to keep on going.
One of those times they experience a tragedy or near-tragedy, and if they are ready and kind of lucky, they can find good drug and alcohol treatment to keep their eyes wide open. If not, they may have to go through more devistation before they realize what they’ve allowed themselves to do.
Part of the lie that addiction tells you – You can have your cake and eat it too. You can do these crazy things and nothing will happen to you. You are special and invincible. And what about the young children in the scenarios? Heartbreaking when you think of the potential life changes they might have to endure.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, ladies. It’s a tough subject. Keep your own eyes open for someone in this kind of trouble, and you could help literally save their life some day.