It is fascinating to mention something that family members who have been unfavorably affected by the alcohol dependency of another family member plainly do not realize. It seems that by protecting the alcohol dependent individual with falsehoods and deceitfulness to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have essentially created a condition that makes it easier for the alcohol addicted individual to persevere and proceed with his or her harmful, destructive existence.

To be sure, rather than helping the alcohol dependent individual and themselves, these family members have in fact become enablers who have involuntarily helped deteriorate the alcoholic’s drinking problem even further.

Perhaps the real downside of this is that the alcohol addicted individual will continue drinking in a hazardous and excessive manner and suffer from a range of “alcohol side effects.” Some of these side effects include employment difficulties, legal issues (such as getting arrested for one or more DWIs), ill health, deteriorating relationships, serious financial problems, and diminished mental functioning.

Relapses Can and Do Transpire

According to the research findings and statistics on alcohol dependency, another key alcoholism issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted individual has effectively undergone alcohol dependency therapy and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first glance, this situation seems contradictory to sound thinking and appears to be so improbable that it forces a person to speculate why anyone who has gone through the dejection of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after effective alcohol treatment and in turn after reaching recovery. There are, of course, many likely reasons for this.

It should be noted, then again that alcohol dependency research that has focused on the long standing outcomes of alcohol dependency has shown that long after the alcohol dependent individual has halted his or her drinking, critical alterations in the way in which the alcohol addicted person’s brain operates are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol addicted person has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the changes that have taken place in the brain is to start drinking once again.

The Need for A Crucial Lifestyle Change

There are additional reasons why quite a lot of recovering alcohol dependent individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. According to the alcohol addiction research literature, to make a successful recovery, the alcohol dependent individual needs new ways of responding and thinking in order to deal more competently with difficult alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.

Conditions such as returning to the same alcohol addictive environment or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the days when the alcohol dependent person was drinking abusively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these conditions can elicit memories that can trigger psychological tension or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent person to engage in irresponsible drinking once again. Sadly, all of these circumstances may not only work against ongoing sobriety for the alcoholic but they can also result in relapse and consequently counteract one’s alcohol recovery.

The Good News: There’s a Lot of Hope for Lasting Sobriety

In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted person, family members can in point of fact cause unintended harm by enabling the unsafe drinking behavior of the alcoholic.

The drug abuse research literature highlights the fact that most people who effectively complete alcohol rehabilitation go through at least one relapse. Alcohol addicted individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get dejected or overwhelmed when a relapse manifests itself.

Happily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up rehab and education have resulted in more successful, enduring alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency therapeutic outcomes, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent individuals reach ongoing alcohol recovery.

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