The modern world is turning a blind eye to the problem of alcoholism in our society. In all economically developed countries, men, women, adolescents drink. Few people think about the magnitude of the problem and the consequences of alcohol abuse. Where is the line that distinguishes alcoholism from moderate use? When does a person become an alcoholic? And is this disease treatable?
Stages of alcoholism
There are three of them. Help with alcoholism varies by stage. The further the patient goes in his addiction, the more difficult it will be to rehabilitate him.
- Initial stage. Control over the amount of drunk lost is the main symptom of the identified problem. A person does not drink drunkenly, not every day. Frequency of use - about two to three times a month (always with "busting" - so much is drunk that in the morning there is a hangover). At this stage, only about 5% of patients are able to recognize themselves as addicted. Meanwhile, treatment right now can bring the best results.
- The second stage - alcohol tolerance increases. A person can drink 500 ml of vodka, while not losing coordination of movements, which, as a rule, is very proud. Memory laps after drinking (palimpsests), inappropriate behavior begin. In the second stage, the patient may be intoxicated, cause pain to his loved ones, fight, lose money and documents - but in the morning he just will not remember about it. Help with alcoholism in the second stage is effective: the patient already understands that he has problems and wants to be treated on his own.
- The third stage is the most difficult. Not everyone survives before her, only the most hardy people. Ethanol is fully integrated into the body's metabolism. The brain begins to use it instead of glucose. The patient is completely degraded socially and physically. He becomes a real slave to alcohol. Often people sell real estate, cars and the rest of their financial savings are allowed to continue to drink calmly. Otherwise, they simply cannot live anymore; changes have occurred on the physical level. Helping with alcoholism in the third stage is almost impossible: even if the patient wants to give up ethanol, then chronic diseases (cirrhosis, pancreatic necrosis, encephalopathy) will not allow him to live long.
Female and child alcoholism
It is worth mentioning separately about female alcoholism. It is believed that it is incurable. This is not so: statistics prove that women achieve remission in about the same amount as men. Of course, statistics can be wrong: after all, not all patients with alcohol addiction turn to state IPA.
The main danger of female and child alcoholism is the speed of its progression. If men drink themselves for decades, then in women this process can take only 8-10 years from the initial to the third stage. The same goes for teenagers. WHO warns that taking any dose of ethanol-containing drinks up to eighteen years of age is strictly prohibited.
Methods of dealing with the disease
Assistance in the treatment of alcoholism is easy. It would seem that could be easier? Conduct conversations with a person, show photos of drunk people, tell how painful death is from cirrhosis of the liver and associated diseases. if everything was so easy, there would be no people with alcohol addiction in our country.
In fact, alcoholism is a mental illness that is incurable and slowly leading to death. The statistics are horrific: out of 100% of alcoholics registered in the drug dispensary of long-term remission (up to five years), a negligible percentage reaches about 3-4%. And how many unaccounted patients in the country who are in the first or second stage and do not consider themselves sick people?
You can talk, hide money, pay for treatment in expensive rehabilitation centers - everything will be in vain. You can cure alcoholism and achieve remission for free, and for this you need only one thing: the patient’s sincere desire to become sober.
Here are the most effective methods for helping people with alcoholism:
- taking drugs with disulfiram and cyanamide;
- visiting groups of anonymous alcoholics;
- consultations with a psychotherapist and psychologist;
- Dovzhenko coding;
- hemming an ampoule with an antidote.
These methods will not help cure alcoholism. But they can become the very crutch with which the patient will achieve remission - long-term sobriety.
Preparations with disulfiram and cyanamide
Effective to help with alcoholism in the first and second stages. The principle of action of such drugs is that the active substance is incompatible with ethanol (the same component in alcoholic beverages that causes intoxication and poisoning).
Teturam is the cheapest drug with disulfiram. Packaging costs about two hundred rubles. It is necessary to take two tablets a day, for a long time. In some cases, therapy lasts for months. If you drink alcohol while taking "Teturam" - the patient will experience severe poisoning, indomitable vomiting, jumps in blood pressure. If initially there were problems with the cardiovascular system, a heart attack or stroke can occur.
"Colme" - drops with cyanamide. The principle of action is exactly the same as with drugs with disulfiram. Only the form of release is not tablets, but ampoules with liquid.
Patient coding according to the Dovzhenko method
This method was invented by the Soviet psychiatrist, in whose honor the coding method was named. It consists in the psychological impact on the patient. In part, this encoding is similar to hypnosis. Feedback on this method is mostly positive.
To have the right to carry out the encoding according to the Dovzhenko method, it is not enough to have only a medical education. A special certificate is required that the doctor has undergone specialized training and has enough knowledge to influence the subconscious of a patient dependent on alcohol. This is not just psychological help for alcoholism, it is a deliberate suggestion to the patient that even one glass of vodka is equivalent to death.
Alcoholics Anonymous Community
This is a free aid for alcoholism, one of the most effective. The Society of Alcoholics Anonymous began to function in the USA in the middle of the last century. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people around the world have been able to achieve long-term remission with the help of AA (alcoholics anonymous) - reviews confirm this fact.
This is a kind of collective psychotherapy. A group of people is gathering who have suffered from alcoholism (it doesn’t matter - there was a place to be drunken drinking or any other). AA meetings are held at the appointed time in rented premises (sometimes in churches, as you can study there for free). All participants sit in a circle and recall the hardships and hardships that they had to endure because of their illness.
AA also uses the 12-step program method — a phased analysis of addiction and its causes. For permanent results, attend AA meetings daily.
Rehabilitation centers and labor settlements
This method is often used by relatives of patients. They naively believe that a month or two in a rehabilitation center and occupational therapy will force the patient to reconsider their views on lifestyle.
Alas, most often after such institutions, patients become embittered and begin to drink with a vengeance. In rare cases, treatment brings fruit: the patient realizes that he is sick and begins to take timid steps towards remission.
Is it possible to cure an alcoholic without his consent?
No, It is Immpossible. This fact will be confirmed by any narcologist.
Often wives, mothers, sisters and friends of addicts try to secretly add “Colma” to their food - the alcoholic very quickly understands what’s what. This causes bitterness, resentment and a new binge. The best help for alcoholism that relatives can provide for their own family is to completely disengage from the patient as far as possible, take financial savings and try to prevent the sale of real estate and other material assets.
Until the patient himself realizes the severity of his condition, all attempts to convey to him all the danger of the situation will remain in vain.
First Aid for Alcoholism
If the fact of abuse is already behind, it is necessary to reduce the manifestations of intoxication with the following drugs:
- drugs "Karsil", "Essentiale", "Heptral", "Urossan" will help reduce liver intoxication;
- "Rehydron" or cucumber pickle will help restore the water-salt balance;
- "Phenibut", "Atarax" will help calm anxiety and irritability;
- relieve swelling of the face and body - "Kanefron", "Renel";
- Sonapaks will help to fall asleep for several hours (alcoholics very often have serious sleep problems).
If the patient is sick, do not restrain vomiting. The body is cleansed in this way. If there is blood, bile, or pieces of skin in the vomit, it is necessary to call an ambulance (probably, burns and tears of the mucous membrane of the esophagus and stomach). Home help for alcoholism is not always effective.
The consequences of alcohol abuse
Many patients are unfamiliar with information about how harmful the effects of ethanol-containing products on internal organs are. The help of a psychologist with alcoholism is to gently direct the patient towards remission, familiarizing with the consequences of abuse of drinks.
Inevitable development of such deadly diseases as cirrhosis, pancreatic necrosis, intestinal and stomach ulcers, esophagus burns (when drinking moonshine and vodka). Liver cirrhosis can develop after three to four years of drunken consumption. This condition leads to a slow and painful death that occurs after ascites and partial encephalopathy.
The consequences of alcohol abuse for the nervous system are terrible: sleep completely disappears, a person becomes anxious, suspicious, irritable, he develops delusions of persecution, paranoia. With drunken use, delirium tremens often develops .