alcohol abuse
It all started so innocently. Drinking wine at lunch, maybe a cocktail. But then one glass became two, and you began wondering if anyone had noticed. Did they smell alcohol on your breath when you walked into the conference room that afternoon?
Would it really matter if you kept a flask in your briefcase, or a bottle in the desk drawer? You’d never actually get drunk at the office, just a shot. When the boss got on you about the budget, or when the deadline for the project you were working on got blown off track by a problem with a vendor. You did it to steady your nerves. You convinced yourself that it was actually helping you handle the pressure.
Then there was the binge weekend, when your spouse had to call in sick for you on Monday morning. Or that traffic stop that scared the hell out of you, when the cop asked if you’d been drinking. Something like that happening would have probably made a regular person decide to give it up.
But you’re not a regular person anymore, when it comes to drinking. You’ve probably tried to stop before on your own. Maybe you’ve even gotten through a week or a month without it. Inevitably, you wound up drinking again. Even when you realized it could damage your career, you couldn’t stop.
Why? Alcoholism is a disease. You wouldn’t expect a cancer patient to just pull it together and will the cancer away, would you? Of course not. And, like cancer, alcoholism is a progressive, potentially fatal disease that has no cure.
But with the proper treatment, alcoholics can remain “in remission” indefinitely.
Since alcohol affects different people in different ways and to varying degrees, it is difficult for doctors who treat alcoholism to determine who is, or isn’t, an alcoholic. However, the most reliable method of determining whether someone is an alcoholic is through self-diagnosis. This simple test can help you determine whether you might have a drinking problem:
- Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?
- Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
- Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
- Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning
(as an “eye opener”) to steady your nerves
or get rid of a hangover?
Doctors say that one “yes” answer suggests a possible alcohol problem. If you answered “yes” to more than one question, it is highly likely that a problem exists.
Even if you answered “no” to all four questions, if you experience problems with your job, your health, your relationships, or with the law, medical professionals suggest you should seek help.
Executive Drug Rehab can provide you with a referral for the help you need.
If you’re not the one with the problem, but you care about someone
who seems to be a problem drinker, there is help available. Even when someone
is unwilling to seek treatment voluntarily, that treatment can still be effective.
You’ll find more information in the section on “Intervention.”
