Teresa was a thirty-three-year-old court reporter who realized that she had some drinking issues. As an illustration, within the past five months she has experienced the need to have several drinks before going to work, two months ago she tested positive for a blood alcohol test where she works, five months ago she got stopped by the police for a DWI, and last but not least, for the past six months she has started to forget what she says and does when she drinks with her buddies.
Like hosts of other drinkers, Teresa’s alcohol involvement began slowly and remained at this level for quite a long period of time because sometimes she engaged in occasional social drinking. In reality, for approximately nine months, every time she went out with her coworkers to drink, she made sure to drink in moderation. Something about her drinking behavior, nonetheless, seemed to fundamentally change when she divorced her husband.
So She Can Come to Terms With the Loss of Her Husband More Quickly, Teresa Made Up Her Mind That She Will Begin Hanging Out More Frequently With Some of Her Buddies Who Love to Drink and Have Fun
Teresa got dreadfully depressed about the breakup with her husband, and as a way to abstain from dwelling on her discouraging emotions she decided to begin hanging around more often with some of her buddies who love to have fun drinking.
Quite forthrightly, Teresa concluded that having fun nearly every day by drinking and partying with her buddies would help her rise above the loss of her husband in a more trouble-free manner.
Teresa’s Drinking Increases Greatly the More Habitually She Goes to Dinner Dates, Private Parties, Happy Hours, Sporting Events, and Family Get-Togethers With Her Pals
It didn’t take too long, nonetheless, before her drinking escalated considerably the more often she went to and drank at private parties, dinner dates, family get-togethers, sporting events, and happy hours with her friends. Moreover, the fact that her drinking friends were all quite a few years younger than she was and therefore able to drink more recklessly was one of the reasons why she didn’t direct more of her attention to her increased drinking. In a word, she was having a blast drinking just like everybody else in her group of friends without too much deliberation regarding the results of her drinking.
Yet someplace in her mind she realized that she probably required alcohol counseling but avoided the thought as much as humanly possible.
Teresa Gets a Physical, Acknowledges Her Irresponsible and Hazardous Drinking to Her Physician, and Admits Her General State of Despair
One morning during her six-month physical exam, her healthcare professional asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell falsehoods to her healthcare professional, Teresa ”came clean” and stated that she commonly drinks more than she should. In truth, she said that she routinely drinks in a hazardous manner. Then Teresa informed her healthcare practitioner about her dejection. More specifically, she articulated that ruined relationships usually initiated a dismal chain of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more disheartening feelings that, in turn, led to even more drinking. And this is exactly what took place when she and her husband got divorced five years ago.
When her healthcare professional heard this, he informed Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was exploring, alcoholism and depression commonly happen in the same person. He then told Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, facts, and research investigations he has been looking into also underscore the fact that people who drink in an excessive manner and who also suffer from depression need to obtain treatment for both medical situations.
Teresa’s Healthcare Professional Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Assessment and For an Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse Evaluation
Teresa’s healthcare practitioner then told her the following: “I am not trying to make a snap diagnosis, but with your medical situation we may be facing two separate matters. As a consequence, I think we should make an appointment for you to get an alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency appraisal from my partner, Dr. Berringer, who is an alcohol and drug addiction specialist. Whether your drinking circumstance is more linked to alcohol addiction or alcohol abuse is unclear, but I think that further assessment is justifiable. Then I believe we should schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological examination from another one of my partners, Dr. Rudnick, who is a counseling psychologist. I want to get some more information about your melancholy and see how much your depression and drinking are correlated.” Teresa displayed her agreement with her healthcare professional’s treatment strategy and thanked him for his assistance and concern.
In truth, Teresa now felt a sense of personal self esteem and happiness because she finally got inspired to do something positive about her abusive and excessive drinking and her depression. Now all she had to do was to try to cut back on her drinking and get ready for her appointments.
