Teresa was a thirty-three-year-old physical therapist who knew that she had a problem with her drinking. As an illustration, within the past month she has experienced the need to have a drink or two before going to work, four months ago she tested positive for a hair alcohol test at her place of employment, six weeks ago she got pulled over by the police for a DWI, and last but not least, for nearly seven months she has started to fail to remember what she does and says when she drinks with her buddies.
Like many other drinkers, Teresa’s experiences with alcohol began slowly and stayed at this tempo for quite a long period of time because at times she engaged in sporadic social drinking. In truth, for nearly ten months, every time she went out with her coworkers to drink, she made sure to drink moderately. Something about her drinking situation, however, seemed to totally change when she divorced her husband.
So She Can Come to Terms With the Divorce of Her Husband More Painlessly, Teresa Came to a Decision That She Will Begin Hanging Around More Regularly With Some of Her Friends Who Love to ”Get Down” and Drink
Teresa got exceedingly depressed about the loss of her husband, and as a way to stop her preoccupation with her negative emotions she came to a decision that she would start hanging out more regularly with some of her buddies who love to drink and have fun.
Quite candidly, Teresa reasoned that having fun almost every day by getting “mellow” and drinking with her friends would help her get over the loss of her husband with less sorrow.
Teresa’s Drinking Escalates Substantially the More Habitually She Goes to Private Parties, Dinner Dates, Happy Hours, Sporting Events, and Family Get-Togethers With Her Buddies
It didn’t take too long, however, before her drinking escalated substantially the more often she went to and drank at happy hours, sporting events, family get-togethers, private parties, and dinner dates with her buddies. Moreover, the fact that her drinking friends were all quite a bit younger than she was and therefore able to party more thoughtlessly was one of the reasons why she didn’t allocate more of her attention to her increased drinking. To put it briefly, she was partying just like everyone else in her group of buddies without giving much thought to the negative results of her drinking.
Yet someplace in her awareness she realized that she most likely required alcohol rehabilitation but kept away from the thought as much as humanly possible.
Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, Admits Her Hazardous and Excessive Drinking to Her Healthcare Practitioner, and Acknowledges Her Sadness
One day during her yearly physical, her physician asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell “stories” to her healthcare professional, Teresa disclosed the truth that she routinely drinks more than she should. In reality, she said that she regularly drinks in a hazardous manner. Then Teresa informed her physician about her general state of despair. More specifically, she stated that shattered relationships frequently triggered a dismal progression of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more discouraging feelings that, in turn, resulted in even more drinking. And this is precisely what happened when she and her husband got divorced three months ago.
When her physician heard this, he informed Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was exploring, alcoholism and depression routinely arise in the same person. He then told Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been looking into also highlight the fact that people who drink excessively and who also go through depression need to obtain treatment for both medical circumstances.
Teresa’s Healthcare Professional Schedules an Appointment for a Psychological Evaluation and For an Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Evaluation
Teresa’s healthcare practitioner then said the following: “I am not trying to make a sudden judgment, but with your medical situation we may be confronting two separate problems. As a consequence, I think we should schedule an appointment for you to get an alcoholism and alcohol abuse assessment from my partner, Dr. Bakos, who is a drug and alcohol addiction specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more correlated with alcohol abuse or alcohol addiction is unknown at this time, but I feel that further assessment is warranted. Then I think we probably should make an appointment for you to get a psychological examination from another one of my partners, Dr. Cooke, who is a psychologist. I want to get a better handle on your depression and see how much your depression and drinking are interrelated.” Teresa showed her endorsement of her healthcare professional’s strategy and thanked him for his assistance. Now all she had to do was to try to lessen her drinking and get ready for her appointments.
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