Teresa was a thirty-eight-year-old photographer who realized that she had a problem with her drinking. For instance, within the past seven months she has felt the need to have several drinks before going to work, three weeks ago she tested positive for a urine alcohol test where she is employed, seven weeks ago she got arrested for “driving under the influence”, and last but not least, for going on five months she has begun to forget what she says and does when she goes out drinking with her pals.
Like many other people, Teresa’s involvement with alcohol started out little by little and continued at this speed for quite some time due to the fact every once in a while she engaged in intermittent social drinking. In fact, for roughly nine months, every time she went out with her buddies to drink, she made sure to drink in moderation. Something about her drinking behavior, nonetheless, seemed to totally change when she got divorced from her husband.
In Order To Come to Terms With the Divorce of Her Husband With Less Distress, Teresa Came to a Decision That She Will Start Palling Around More Repeatedly With Some of Her Friends Who Love to ”Get Down” and Drink
Teresa got very down in the dumps about the loss of her husband, and as a way to refrain from obsessing about her dismal emotions she made up her mind that she would start going out more often with some of her buddies who love to ”get down” and drink.
Quite honestly, Teresa thought that having fun just about every day by getting a “buzz” by drinking with her friends would help her recover from the loss of her husband in a less troublesome manner.
Teresa’s Drinking Increases Greatly the More Often She Goes to Private Parties, Sporting Events, Happy Hours, Family Get-Togethers, and Dinner Dates With Her Pals
It didn’t take long, nonetheless, before her drinking increased to a significant degree the more routinely she went to and drank at family get-togethers, private parties, dinner dates, happy hours, and sporting events with her pals. Moreover, the fact that her drinking pals were all much younger than she was and therefore able to drink more thoughtlessly was one of the reasons why she didn’t center more of her attention on her increased drinking. In brief, she was having a ton of fun drinking just like everyone else in her group of pals without too much deliberation regarding the negative consequences of her hazardous and abusive drinking.
Yet somewhere in the recesses of her mind she realized that she most probably needed alcohol rehab but avoided the thought as much as she could.
Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, Owns Up to the Facts About Her Abusive and Excessive Drinking to Her Physician, and ”Comes Clean” About Her Dejection
One afternoon during her annual physical exam, her physician asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell falsehoods to her physician, Teresa ”came clean” and stated that she routinely drinks more than she should. In actual fact, she articulated that she frequently drinks in an irresponsible and excessive manner. Then Teresa told her healthcare professional about her constant negativity. More plainly, she articulated that wrecked relationships usually elicited a depressing sequence of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more negative feelings that, in turn, led to more drinking. And this is specifically what took place when her husband and she got divorced four years ago.
When her healthcare professional heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was reviewing, alcoholism and depression frequently arise in the same person. He then informed Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been looking into also underline the fact that people who drink in a hazardous and irresponsible manner and who also suffer from depression need to obtain treatment for both medical situations.
Teresa’s Healthcare Professional Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Evaluation and For an Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse Assessment
Teresa’s physician then said the following: “I am not trying to make a sudden judgment, but with your medical situation we may be facing two separate matters. As a result, I think we probably need to make an appointment for you to get an alcoholism and alcohol abuse evaluation from my partner, Dr. Galloway, who is an alcoholism and alcohol abuse specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more associated with alcohol abuse or alcoholism is not clear at this time, but I believe that further exploration is warranted. Then I believe we ought to schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological evaluation from another one of my partners, Dr. Patterson, who is a psychologist. I want to get a better understanding about your depression and see how much your drinking and depression are correlated.” Teresa displayed her approval of her doctor’s treatment approach and thanked him for his help. Now all she had to do was to try to cut back on her drinking and wait for her appointments.
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