Wendy was the mother of two children. Wendy had been feeling quite anxious lately and started to “medicate” herself by having several screwdrivers every night after she tucked her children into bed. After approximately three weeks of this drinking routine, she finally grasped the fact that instead of helping her relax and ”manage” her issues, drinking made her feel less tranquil when she awakened in the morning. This, in turn, made her feel even more stressed throughout the day.
After thinking about her situation for three or four weeks, Wendy decided to discuss her drinking problem with her best friend. In point of fact, about thirty minutes into their discussion, Wendy’s friend, Elise, mentioned that she knew about a very helpful and knowledgeable physician at the local drug and alcohol abuse treatment facility. After talking to her friend, Wendy without much ado got motivated to call the rehabilitation center and schedule an appointment.
Eleven days later she eventually got to meet the physician her best friend had talked about. After their brief introduction, Wendy told the psychiatrist that ever since she and her ex-husband got divorced, she has been having an extremely difficult time spiritually, financially, and emotionally.
At times, she felt that she was totally over the divorce. Recently, to the contrary, she has been feeling very depressed about the fact that her former husband and she couldn’t stay married and “make it”. When asked by the physician how long she and her ex-husband dated before they got married, Wendy explained to the doctor that she and her former husband, Robert, dated for four years and then lived together for two years before they got married.
As Wendy was talking to the physician, she stressed the point that she frankly thought that she and her former husband waited long enough to know each other well enough before they got married. After the kids started to arrive, conversely, their relationship appeared to worsen. What is more, both she and Robert started to drink, and their abusive and irresponsible drinking negatively affected their love for one another, their relationship, and their finances.
When things became less than cordial between them, Robert got a lawyer and filed for a divorce. Although things were apparently not going well and although she was frequently depressed, Wendy told the physician that she did not want to end their relationship. Once she was served her divorce papers, however, she knew that their relationship was over.
The psychiatrist told Wendy that the stress, anxiety, and tension that she has been going through regarding her careless and excessive drinking are some of the normal alcohol abuse effects and that the best solution for this situation is treatment for one’s alcohol abuse. In fact, getting alcohol abuse treatment is critical because chronic drinking can get the person into even more serious alcohol and alcoholism problems.
After five or six therapy sessions with her doctor, Wendy was little by little able to realize that the real cause of her stress and her depression was that she had not worked through her acrimonious feelings she has for her former husband who had divorced her three years ago. With these insights and with the meds her physician prescribed, she eventually abstained from drinking, she started to feel significantly less depressed, and she began making time for social activities with her friends and family. A few months after getting treatment from her doctor, she even started to date once again.
It was apparent that Wendy had come a long way. In fact, just about seven months after she terminated her counseling, Wendy had finally laid the depressing feelings of her former husband to rest and was starting to feel more self worth and more spiritually “sound” and emotionally “together” than she had ever felt in her life.