Alcohol is one of the most common drug addictions in the United States. One reason for this is alcohol is legal, so anyone over the age of 21 can go into a bar, restaurant, or store and buy alcohol. Alcoholism is an addictive disorder characterized by someone who consumes alcohol uncontrollably. Alcoholism can lead to poor choices including driving while drunk and causing harm to others including children, and can lead to health problems including cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, epilepsy, heart disease, cancer, and more.
Because of these issues, alcoholism treatment centers are needed to treat those who are alcoholics. The two most important steps to dealing with your addiction is through a detox program and through counseling.
Detox
The first step to helping someone who is an alcoholic is through a detox regimen. This detox is essential because while alcohol is affecting you, it's hard to see the world clearly and logically. Alcohol will cause you to believe that your life is fine and you don't need help — all you need is alcohol. By ridding your system of alcohol, you are able to really see what is happening to your life and realize that getting help for your alcohol addiction is necessary.
Counseling
The second step in the program is to get help through individual, family, and group therapy. Most alcoholics drink to ease an emotional pain that they haven't addressed. By addressing that pain, you will be able to ease that pain by dealing with it instead of numbing it with alcohol. By attending group therapy sessions, you will gain a better perspective on why you drink and how it effects you by seeing how others are dealing with their addiction. And by attending therapy with your family, you will see how your drinking affects them, which may help motivate you to stop drinking.
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