Teresa was a thirty-year-old administrative assistant who realized that she had some problems with her drinking. As an illustration, within the past seven months she has experienced the need to have one or two drinks before going to work, four months ago she failed to pass a random breathalyzer test at work, two months ago she got arrested by the state highway patrol for “driving under the influence”, and last but not least, for almost seven months she has begun to fail to remember what she does and says when she goes out drinking with her friends.

Like other drinkers, Teresa’s involvement with alcohol started out slowly and stayed at this speed for quite some time because from time to time she engaged in casual social drinking. In actual fact, for roughly three years, every time she went out to drink, she made sure to drink in a responsible manner. Something about her drinking situation, however, seemed to drastically change when she divorced her husband.

So She Can Recover From the Loss of Her Husband In a less Painful manner, Teresa Decided to Start Associating More Repeatedly With Some of Her Friends Who Love to Whoop it Up and Drink

Teresa got especially gloomy about the loss of her husband, and as a way to refrain from fixating on her disheartening feelings she made up her mind that she would start palling around more often with some of her friends who love to have fun drinking.

Quite forthrightly, Teresa reasoned that having fun almost every day by getting an alcohol “buzz” with her pals would help her get beyond the divorce of her husband with less sorrow.

Anger, Stress, and Time Management Issues

Teresa also reasoned that drinking with her pals would help her stay away from her stress, anger, and time management difficulties.

Teresa’s Drinking Increases Significantly the More Habitually She Goes to Family Get-Togethers, Sporting Events, Private Parties, Dinner Dates, and Happy Hours With Her Pals

It didn’t take too long, however, before her drinking escalated considerably the more frequently she went to and drank at sporting events, dinner dates, happy hours, private parties, and family get-togethers with her pals. Not only this, but the fact that her drinking friends were all many years younger than she was and therefore able to party and drink more frequently and harder was one of the reasons that she didn’t allocate more of her attention to her increased drinking. To be brief, she was drinking and having lots of fun just like everyone else in her group of pals without paying much attention to the effects of her excessive drinking.

Yet in the back of her mind she realized that she more likely than not needed alcohol treatment but kept away from the thought as much as humanly possible.

Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, ”Comes Clean” About Her Hazardous and Excessive Drinking to Her Doctor, and Acknowledges Her Dejection

One morning during her six-month physical examination, her healthcare professional asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to lie to her doctor, Teresa disclosed the truth that she regularly drinks more than she should. In truth, she articulated that she routinely drinks in an excessive and hazardous manner. Then Teresa informed her healthcare professional about her sadness. More precisely, she stated that shattered relationships many times set off a disheartening cycle of events characterized by increased drinking which further resulted in more negative feelings that, in turn, resulted in more drinking. And this is specifically what happened 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 take place in the same person. He then told Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, facts, and research investigations he has been reading about also point out that individuals who drink in an abusive and irresponsible manner and who also go through depression need to get treatment for both medical situations.

Teresa’s Healthcare Practitioner Schedules an Appointment for a Psychological Assessment and For an Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependency Evaluation

Teresa’s healthcare professional then articulated the following: “I am not trying to make an overly quick diagnosis, but with your medical circumstances we may be dealing with two separate issues. Consequently, I think we probably should schedule an appointment for you to get an alcohol abuse and alcoholism appraisal from my partner, Dr. Ulrich, who is an alcoholism and alcohol abuse specialist. Whether your drinking problem is more correlated with alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency is unknown at this time, but I think that further evaluation is needed. Then I believe we ought to schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological evaluation from another one of my partners, Dr. Miller, who is a psychologist. I want to get a better understanding about your dejection and see how much your drinking and depression are interlinked.” Teresa expressed her agreement with her healthcare professional’s line of attack and thanked him for his time and assistance.

Teresa Manages Her Stress, Time, and Anger Management Issues

In reality, Teresa now felt a sense of personal happiness and self esteem because she finally became inspired to do something positive about her excessive drinking and her depression. What is more, Teresa also realized that after alcohol rehabilitation she would be better able to confront her anger, time, and stress management difficulties. Now all she had to do was to try to cut back on her drinking and get ready for her appointments.

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