Teresa was a thirty-seven-year-old cost estimator who knew that she had some problems with her drinking. For instance, within the past six months she has experienced the need to have two or three drinks before going to work, seven weeks ago she tested positive for a blood alcohol test at work, three weeks ago she got stopped by the state highway patrol for a DUI, and lastly, for the past three months she has begun to forget what she does and says when she drinks with her pals.
Like huge numbers of other individuals, Teresa’s experiences with alcohol started out at a “snail’s pace” and remained at this pace for quite some time due to the fact every now and again she engaged in occasional social drinking. As a matter of fact, for approximately two years, every time she went out with her friends to drink, she made sure to drink responsibly. Something about her drinking activities, nonetheless, seemed to radically change when she got divorced.
So She Can Endure the Loss of Her Husband In a Less Troublesome Manner, Teresa Came to a Decision That She Will Start Going Out More Often With Some of Her Friends Who Love to Have Fun Drinking
Teresa got dreadfully despondent about the divorce from her husband, and as a way to stop fixating on her negative feelings she came to the conclusion that she would start going out more frequently with some of her friends who love to drink and have fun.
Quite candidly, Teresa thought that having fun nearly every day by getting “mellow” and drinking with her buddies would help her recover from the loss of her husband with less grief.
Teresa’s Drinking Escalates Significantly the More Habitually She Goes to Happy Hours, Family Get-Togethers, Private Parties, Sporting Events, and Dinner Dates With Her Friends
It didn’t take long, nevertheless, before her drinking escalated to a significant extent the more often she went to and drank at happy hours, sporting events, family get-togethers, private parties, and dinner dates with her pals. What is more, the fact that her drinking buddies were all many years younger than she was and therefore able to party and drink more carelessly was one of the reasons why she didn’t allocate more of her attention to her increased drinking. Simply put, she was partying just like everyone else in her group of friends without much reflection about the consequences of her abusive and excessive drinking.
Yet somewhere in her mind she realized that she most probably needed alcohol rehab but stayed away from the thought as much as she could.
Teresa Gets a Physical Exam, Discloses the Truth About Her Excessive and Hazardous Drinking to Her Doctor, and Discloses the Truth About Her Dejection
One afternoon during her annual physical exam, her healthcare professional asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to lie to her doctor, Teresa acknowledged that she frequently drinks more than she should. In actual fact, she articulated that she commonly drinks in an excessive manner. Then Teresa told her healthcare professional about her general state of gloom. More specifically, she mentioned that wrecked relationships more often than not set off a dismal cycle of events characterized by increased drinking which further resulted in more disheartening feelings that, in turn, resulted in more drinking. And this is explicitly what took place when her husband and she got divorced four years ago.
When her physician heard this, he informed Teresa that according to various facts and statistics on alcoholism he has been exploring, alcoholism and depression routinely take place in the same individual. He then told her that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been studying also emphasize the fact that people who drink in an abusive manner and who also suffer from depression need to obtain treatment for both medical situations.
Teresa’s Doctor Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Assessment and For an Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Assessment
Teresa’s physician then said the following: “I am not trying to make an overly quick diagnosis, but with your medical situation we may be confronting two separate problems. As a consequence, I think we probably need to make an appointment for you to get an alcoholism and alcohol abuse assessment from my partner, Dr. Bornhorst, who is an alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction specialist. Whether your drinking circumstance is more linked to alcohol abuse or alcoholism is unclear at this time, but I feel that further assessment is warranted. Then I feel we probably should schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological exam from another one of my partners, Dr. Berger, who is a psychologist. I want to get a better understanding about your depression and see how much your drinking and depression are related.” Teresa expressed her satisfaction with her physician’s strategy and thanked him for his help and concern. Now all she had to do was to try to cut back on her drinking and get ready for her appointments.