A Woman Displays Signs Of Alcohol Addiction And Depression, Gets Inspired And Motivated About Scheduling An Appointment To See Her Medical Practitioner About Her Drinking Problems, And To Help Her Better Manage The Grief And Loss Of Her Divorce

Teresa was a thirty-nine-year-old office manager who realized that she had a problem with her drinking. For example, within the past five months she has experienced the need to have three or four drinks before going to work, a week ago she failed a random hair alcohol test at work, four weeks ago she got arrested by the police for a DWI, and last but not least, for the last five months she has started to fail to remember what she does and says when she drinks with her pals.

Like many other drinkers, Teresa’s alcohol involvement began gradually and continued at this pace for quite some time because at times she engaged in casual social drinking. In point of fact, for nearly six months, every time she went out to drink, she made sure to drink in a responsible manner. Something about her drinking behavior, nevertheless, seemed to thoroughly change when her husband divorced her.

In Order To Overcome the Divorce of Her Husband More Painlessly, Teresa Made Up Her Mind To Begin Hanging Around More Routinely With Some of Her Friends Who Love to Have Fun and Drink

Teresa got exceedingly sad about the divorce from her husband, and as a way to refrain from her preoccupation with her depressing emotions she came to the conclusion that she would begin associating more frequently with some of her buddies who love to have fun drinking.

Quite honestly, Teresa concluded that having fun almost every day by drinking with her buddies would help her recover from the breakup of her husband in a less painful manner.

Time, Stress, and Anger Management Difficulties

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

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

It didn’t take very long, however, before her drinking escalated to a significant extent the more often she went to and drank at private parties, dinner dates, family get-togethers, sporting events, and happy hours with her friends. In addition, the fact that her drinking friends were all quite a bit younger than she was and therefore able to party and drink more carelessly was one of the reasons why she didn’t direct more of her attention to her increased drinking. In a word, she was drinking and having fun just like everybody else in her group of pals without spending a lot of time thinking about the unhealthy effects of her excessive drinking.

Yet somewhere in her brain she knew that she most likely needed alcohol counseling but kept away from the thought as much as she could.

Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, ”Comes Clean” About Her Abusive and Hazardous Drinking to Her Physician, and Admits Her Depression

One afternoon during her annual physical, her doctor asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell falsehoods to her doctor, Teresa ”came clean” and said that she commonly drinks more than she should. In truth, she said that she frequently drinks in an irresponsible manner. Then Teresa told her physician about her dejection. More plainly, she stated that shattered relationships often triggered a depressing chain of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more discouraging feelings that, in turn, led to even more drinking. And this is specifically what took place when she and her husband got divorced two years ago.

When her healthcare practitioner heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was exploring, alcoholism and depression frequently come about in the same person. He then told Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, facts, and research investigations he has been studying also emphasize the fact that individuals who drink in an abusive and hazardous manner and who also go through depression need to obtain treatment for both medical situations.

Teresa’s Physician Schedules an Appointment for a Psychological Evaluation and For an Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse Assessment

Teresa’s healthcare professional then articulated the following: “I am not trying to make a sudden judgment, but with your medical circumstances we may be confronting two separate issues. As a result, I think we ought to make an appointment for you to get an alcohol abuse and alcoholism evaluation from my partner, Dr. Arndt, who is an alcohol dependency specialist. Whether your drinking circumstance is more associated with alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency is not clear at this time, but I believe that further exploration is defensible. Then I believe we need to make an appointment for you to get a psychological assessment from another one of my partners, Dr. Parker, who is a clinical psychologist. I want to get some additional information about your depression and see how much your drinking and depression are associated.” Teresa displayed her approval of her healthcare professional’s line of attack and thanked him for his help and concern.

Teresa Faces the Sexuality Issues and the Conflict When She Was Married

In truth, Teresa now experienced a sense of personal self esteem and happiness because she finally became inspired to do something constructive about her abusive drinking and her depression. Not only this, but Teresa also realized that after alcohol treatment she would be better able to deal with the sexuality issues and the conflict when she was married and the loss and grief of her divorce.  Now all she had to do was to try to decrease her drinking and wait for her appointments.