Teresa was a thirty-one-year-old accounts receivable manager who knew that she had some problems with her drinking. As an illustration, within the past six months she has felt the need to have three or four drinks before going to work, four weeks ago she tested positive for a urine alcohol test where she is employed, seven weeks ago she got pulled over by the state highway patrol for “driving under the influence”, and lastly, for roughly six months she has begun to forget what she says and does when she drinks.
Not unlike other people, Teresa’s involvement with alcohol started out little by little and remained at this level of involvement for quite a long time due to the fact from time to time she engaged in occasional social drinking. As a matter of fact, for about a year, every time she went out with her coworkers to drink, she made sure to drink moderately. Something about her drinking situation, however, seemed to fundamentally change when she divorced her husband.
In Order To Endure the Loss of Her Husband In a More Pain Free Manner, Teresa Determined That She Will Start Going Out More Repeatedly With Some of Her Pals Who Love to Drink
Teresa got dreadfully sad about the divorce from her husband, and as a way to abstain from obsessing about her depressing feelings she arrived at a decision that she would begin hanging out more routinely with some of her buddies who love to party.
Quite sincerely, Teresa truly believed that having fun almost every day by getting “mellow” and drinking with her buddies would help her overcome the divorce of her husband in a more trouble-free manner.
Teresa’s Drinking Escalates Significantly the More Often She Goes to Family Get-Togethers, Happy Hours, Sporting Events, Dinner Dates, and Private Parties With Her Pals
It didn’t take very long, however, before her drinking increased considerably the more routinely she went to and drank at sporting events, dinner dates, happy hours, private parties, and family get-togethers with her pals. What is more, the fact that her drinking friends were all considerably younger than she was and therefore able to drink more carelessly was one of the reasons that she didn’t focus more on her increased drinking. To be brief, she was drinking and having a ton of fun just like everybody else in her group of friends without much forethought about the consequences of her drinking behavior.
Yet somewhere in her awareness she realized that she more likely than not required alcohol treatment but stayed away from the thought as much as she could.
Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, Admits Her Irresponsible and Abusive Drinking to Her Healthcare Practitioner, and Owns Up to the Truth About Her Dejection
One morning during her six-month physical exam, her doctor asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell “stories” to her doctor, Teresa ”came clean” and stated that she commonly drinks more than she should. As a matter of fact, she said that she commonly drinks in a hazardous and excessive manner. Then Teresa informed her doctor about her dejection. More specifically, she stated that wrecked relationships many times initiated a dismal cycle of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more depressing feelings that, in turn, resulted in even more drinking. And this is exactly what took place when her husband and she got divorced seven months 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 often occur in the same person. He then informed her that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been looking into also highlight the fact that individuals who drink in an irresponsible and abusive manner and who also experience depression need to get treatment for both medical situations.
Teresa’s Healthcare Practitioner Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Appraisal and For an Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse Evaluation
Teresa’s doctor then stated the following: “I am not trying to make an unprepared judgment, but with your medical situation we may be dealing with two separate issues. 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. Verlich, who is an alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse specialist. Whether your drinking problem is more related to alcohol addiction or alcohol abuse is not clear, but I think that further exploration is reasonable. Then I think we should schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological exam from another one of my partners, Dr. Knight, who is a counseling psychologist. I want to get a better grip on your pessimism and see how much your drinking and depression are interrelated.” Teresa expressed her approval of her healthcare professional’s line of attack and thanked him for his assistance.
In all honesty, Teresa now felt a sense of personal self esteem and happiness because she finally got inspired to do something positive about her excessive drinking and her depression. Now all she had to do was to try to decrease her drinking and wait for her appointments.