This may not seem like much, but 7 percent is actually in millions, and this is just the number of people who were dependent on the use of alcohol. There are others who either binge-drink, overdrink, or abuse alcohol in other ways. The alarming increase in alcoholics forced the rehabs to up their game and offered new coping mechanisms for the patients.

Since the number of alcoholics is on the rise, and more than often, these disorders can appear to be persistent to an extent where the ordinary medicinal practices fail to treat them. This is where rehab centers for alcohol step into the arena and offer modern coping mechanisms for the patients and their families.

What Are Alcohol Rehab Centers?

These centers are dedicated to offering inpatient and outpatient treatment plans for alcoholics. When the traditional methods fail, rehab centers offer a brand-new perspective of treating these disorders, which range from medication to group support therapies. Alcohol rehab centers near me are round-the-clock centers that offer two different types of treatments to their patients.  

Inpatient Therapy

Almost every rehabilitation center for alcohol offers inpatient therapy for severe cases. During this form of treatment, the patients are required to stay inside the premises of the center, and the medical professionals are always available to offer them any medical help, emotional support, and other forms of help.

Any form of inpatient rehab plan helps an adult with an addiction to get away from everyday life issues and truly concentrate on the rehabilitation details and plans. For severe or chronic alcoholics, the inpatient treatment plan may be an effective strategy. Most individuals who get themselves enrolled in such recovery services are middle-aged or older.

Moreover, inpatient therapy programs are more suitable for those patients who are unable to prioritize recovery in the first place and seem to be unresponsive to other forms of therapy and support from their family.

Outpatient Therapy

The second type of therapy offered by any rehab center for alcoholics is the outpatient therapy sessions. In this type of treatment plan, the patients are allowed to stay with their families, carry on their education or professional career, and are required to attend mandatory therapy sessions either in AA meetings or in other group therapy sessions.

Moreover, the outpatient therapy programs are more suitable for those who are either new to this addiction or who have supported families and less stimulus in the outside world. Moreover, these therapy sessions are focused on helping patients cope with the stress of everyday life and eliminate the addictive patterns from their lifestyle.

How Can Medical Detox Expedite the Recovery?

All the modern alcohol abuse treatment centers offer some form of medical detox to help cleanse the internal biological systems of their patients and help accelerate the entire process of recovery from alcoholism.

Yes, medical detoxes help with the cleansing, and these detox methodologies may also help keep the withdrawal symptoms under check for the duration of treatment. One of the worst things that the patients go through during the first few weeks is the withdrawal symptoms.

All the medical detox sessions are performed during the inpatient therapy sessions at the alcohol rehab treatment centers, and medical professionals are always available to help the patients with any troubles. These detox sessions may include medication, cold showers, cleansing of the stomach, the rebuilding of the stomach lining, and ingestion of medically approved liquids to offer healthy nutrients to the patients.

How Can Rehab Centers Treat Co-occurring Disorders?

Yes. Alcoholism is long suspected of causing other disorders in the body, and according to Alcohol Research & Health, alcoholism and depression are very closely linked. All the modern alcoholism treatment centers offer medical and emotional support to overcome any co-occurring disorders in a professional capacity.

Any rehab for alcoholism understands the importance of figuring out the underlying cause of the addictive disorder and offer enough help to eliminate not only the root cause for the addiction but also the co-occurring disorders.

Who Is Present at The Rehab Centers to Help the Patients?

All the alcohol addiction rehab centers employ a wide range of medical practitioners who are all skilled in the art of assessing the situation and providing a treatment plan for a successful recovery. This staff may include:

• Medical doctors
• Psychiatrists
• Social workers
• Counselors
• Peers in recovery
• Art therapists
• Dietitians
• Physical fitness trainers
• Chefs
• Nurses

This way, you will be sure that the patient is getting all the help that they require. From mental health recovery to the physical one, the treatment centers for alcoholism offer all the forms of medical help that any alcoholic may require.

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This isn’t me trying to be the motivational role model that tells you “the easy way to stop drinking” or “follow these steps to quit drinking”. No. The honest-to-God truth is, it’s tough as nails to beat alcoholism, and sometimes you have to try a lot of different things before you find something that works for you. I think one of the problems is that a lot of people are very eager to talk about how one can beat alcoholism, but they don’t talk about what happens when you stop drinking alcohol. For me, knowledge about withdrawal symptoms and similar matters is just as important as finding out how to stop drinking alcohol and beat the addiction. 

To begin with, I’d like to point out the fact that even when I actively started to try to quit alcohol, I relapsed more than once. The moments after those relapses were some of the worst of my life. I was an emotional wreck – incredibly angry at myself, and I may have transferred that aggression to the people around me. I think that would be a familiar tune for a lot of people working on how to overcome alcoholism, so I’m just saying this for you to know that you’re not “irredeemable”. Anyway, here’s what worked for me.

I asked myself, “How do I stop drinking?” People say the first step to any form of recovery is an admittance that there’s a problem. I knew that I was drinking a lot, but I didn’t recognize it as a problem until it started to affect my health and my social life. I’ll say the earlier you recognize and admit that you can’t stop drinking – that it has become an addiction – the quicker you can be on your way to recovery. 

Another factor that played a huge role for me in alcohol cessation was that I sought help from people. Honestly, I don’t think I would have gotten through this on my own, especially after those relapses. I’d tried some medication to stop drinking, but self-medicating did absolutely nothing for me except nearly lead me down another rabbit hole of addiction. When I recognized that I couldn’t do it on my own, it took a great deal for me to admit it to someone else. It’s not the sort of thing that’s easy to talk to anyone about, but I did. That decision was a significant part of my recovery, and I honestly believe it is the most natural and best way to stop drinking. 

After opening myself up to friends, I came out of my shell a bit more. Their supportive and non-judgmental reaction made me more willing to relate with other people about the situation that I was in. I mean, their support was great, but I felt like the people that would understand the situation I was in most perfectly were people that were also trying to quit drinking alcohol. We had a discussion about this and decided to check out support groups for alcoholics – they’re called Alcoholics Anonymous meetings actually. Unsurprisingly, there were a couple of them in my area and it was easy to find out when and where they met each week. 

From my first meeting there, there’s been immense progress. I can’t explain how much of a difference it makes to be able to say literally anything about what you’re going through and genuinely feel like you’re talking to people that just…get it. I developed the courage to seek professional help for alcohol cessation at a rehab center, and their detoxification programs and therapy routines have been a massive help. I know it’s still early-ish days, but I can say with conviction that I have quit alcohol for life. I’m just not in that headspace anymore. The emotional rollercoaster of anxiety, depression, and stress that triggered all of it seems so distant now.

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It is, in fact, hard to argue that anyone would have a genetic predisposition to take that first drink or to try that first drug, and this would support the argument of choice. However, the waters become clouded when discussing the issue of then being able to put the bottle down. It seems that the genetic correlation argument carries a lot more weight when it comes time for you to quit drinking. Actually, there are quite a few biological issues when you are trying to quit.

The over-consumption of alcohol definitely takes its toll on your body. You may have heard of the shakes and other symptoms of withdrawal, but there are also conditions such as vitamin deficiency alcoholism, which affects the way that your body absorbs various vitamins and nutrients. It turns out that drinking too much can cause your body to be unable to process specific vitamins. 

There is actually a whole slew of problems that you can endure due to alcohol pathophysiology. Some might say that this can be traced back to a person’s genetics and that you process alcohol differently based on your family tree. There are definitely biological effects that minimize your ability to make a choice to walk away from drinking once you become an alcoholic. Not to mention that choosing to quit drinking altogether as an alcoholic could actually be fatal.

It is possible that the detoxification process without medical supervision can be extremely dangerous and could even kill you. This is another reason why alcoholism seems less like a choice and more like a disease. However, the counter-argument remains that alcoholics are responsible for putting themselves into this state of poor health. This seems to be a fair argument, but it does not really preclude the idea that the disorder is, in fact, hereditable.

The overall psychopharmacological effects of a drug are often overlooked when encouraging an addict to quit their substance abuse. It is easy as an outsider for you to say that an alcoholic should just stop making bad choices. This approach toward alcoholism lacks an understanding of the chemical components of this dependency.

So is alcoholism an inherited disease? Many studies seem to provide strong evidence to support this conclusion. Does this alleviate all responsibility of the addict? Probably not, however, having a greater understanding of these issues can help both sides. Those who are more likely to become an addict based on genetics can gain awareness from these studies, whereas others can gain empathy for their struggle.

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Her words hit home, of course, my mom was all I had left, and I could see clear as day that she had been suffering as much as I had in her own quiet way. She was crying, and I had done this.

“I’m sorry mom.” I was sincere as could be, tears leaking from my own eyes. It was hard to handle. I was still drunk, and I hated myself then, more than I ever had in the last two years.  I still do, but I know that I can do better and I believe in myself because my mom does.

This was only two weeks ago, and it’s opened my eyes to so many thing. My mom and I are working on weaning me off the alcohol a bit while we figure out how to pay for detox. We don’t want me going through withdrawal on my own, we know that it can be fatal if you’re not supervised and not always easy to follow through with.

So I’m headed for rehab in a few weeks, and I’m actually terrified. I know it’s for the best. Mom is right, there is so much more for me out there. I don’t know what of course, I don’t know what is worth living the way baseball was.

I guess I’ll detox and then get to stay at the facility for a few weeks and see where that goes. It’s hard. I’ve been staying at home with mom, and we’ve been spending a lot of time together. More than we have since dad died.

I hadn’t realized that I’d been avoiding mom, but I couldn’t handle her sadness on top of mine. She’s so forgiving so immediately, and I can’t imagine the strength that takes. I was still so angry at my dad for dying, and that wasn’t even his fault. My descent into alcoholism was all me.

Of course, I want to get better for her, but it’s more than I need to get better for myself. I want to get on the straight and narrow, and that’s the most important part.

I’m scared, but I’ll get there. I’ll get sober and see where life takes me.

Wish me luck,

Keith

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When I showed up to work utterly wasted that was the final straw for them. It was a small town, so they tried to overlook it, they understood I was going through a lot, and at least I was getting the job done. But I showed up at work so drunk I couldn’t stand straight and got into a fight with a manager.

Yes, I punched my manager in the jaw, and yes he pressed charges.

The cops shoved me in the drunk tank to sleep it off and withdrawal set in soon enough. I was crying and shaking and begging for a drink. I was charged with assault. That’s when everyone finally had to acknowledge my problem, including me.

My mom bailed me out of course because she loved me and had nobody else. But we had a talk. She let me sleep it off and drink it off. I thought I was being secretive drinking in my room, but I know without a doubt that she knew what I was doing. What was she supposed to do, snatch it out of my hands? Crippled or not I was still six feet and stronger than her and definitely drunk.

The next morning she sat down on my bed, woke me up softly, and told me I needed to shape up or get out.

We were both crying, obviously. She didn’t want to make this decision but she couldn’t stand watching me kill myself like this, not when she’d already had to lose so much.

She spoke honestly with me.

“You’re dad never would have wanted this for you. He would never have wanted you to suffer like this just because you lost him.”

“And baseball.”

“Yes, and baseball. You are so much more than that though, and you always have been. You are an amazing and wonderful boy who deserves the world. But you can’t get that if you keep suffering like this if you keep boxing yourself in.”

That’s enough emotion, for now, guys, we’ll get to it next time.

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I dropped out of college. Or flunked out. Whatever. Either way, I couldn’t even make it through my first year of college so who knows why I ever thought I’d get through college and baseball at once. My dad’s support probably would have changed everything.

I started going to bars every night. My careful control dissipated so quickly it was hard to imagine it had ever been there. I got drunk every night and stumbled home, crashing into bed. I started missing shifts at work too. I wasn’t helping my mom anymore, instead, I was making it harder for her.

She tried to talk about it with me once or twice, but I blew her off. She’d never been a timid woman, but she was broken too and didn’t know what to do with her broken son. We struggled together there for a while.

It escalated from there. I couldn’t function without alcohol. If I slept too long, like twelve hours, I’d wake up needing to puke because my body needed alcohol. It thought it couldn’t function without alcohol and it wasn’t like I told it otherwise.

I was spending much of my paychecks at the bar. I wouldn’t hang out with friends unless they offered me alcohol.

I went from being the friend who was fun to party with to the one no one wanted to hang out with because I’d drink their whole stash without care. The friends started drifting off and I hardly noticed because I was so drunk.

Yeah, as you can see, my life was one big peachy pie.

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Binge drinking is a huge part of youth culture. That’s when people drink large amounts of alcohol at once. So like, four units of alcohol within an hour is a lot. That’s because one drink can take an hour for our bodies to process.

It is normal for people to go out and drink four drinks in an hour for a few hours in a row. It’s supposed to help people let loose and have fun, but it too quickly becomes a regular thing. It worked for me for a while. It numbed both the pain of my injury and the pain of my father’s death.

After whiskey and I got together, it was even more accessible to hide my drinking. Nobody had to see the bottles hiding in my pockets, and no one could even tell I was drunk half the time. I hid it like a superstar.

My mom didn’t know, at least I thought that at the time. I was not a sloppy drunk. I came home walking straight, and I recycled the bottles outside the grocery store and didn’t leave evidence at home. I drank enough water when I got drunk that my headaches were minimal and I powered through the hangovers.

I got a job at that same grocery store, mainly to help mom out with some bills and to get her off my back. She was always hovering over my shoulder. She was lonely, and I know that now. But I didn’t know what to do with all her attention it was so suffocating. So I pushed her away, like any other guy my age in this situation would have.

It really started going downhill when I started drinking at work. I mixed vodka in my water bottle so I could take swigs and no one would question it. I didn’t want to be asked, so I hid my problem, and it worked well because no one noticed.

I was supposed to be a baseball superstore, and instead, I was bagging groceries in the same hometown I’d been dying to leave. Dad was my everything after baseball, and I’d lost both in one fell sweep.

I soon couldn’t function without a buzz. Guess what? That’s a sign of being an alcoholic. I fit all the symptoms to a T. I hid my drinking, I lied about it, I drank even as it started to ruin my life.

Oh yeah, you thought my life was ruined already right? Well, it turns out that it could only get worse.

We’ll dig into that my next post, I’m getting a bit tired right now and writing takes a lot of energy. It’s fun though. Who knows, maybe I’ll be a writer or something one day. I’ve definitely suffered enough, and everyone says misery loves company.

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So like I said I was depressed. I didn’t know what to do with my life, and everything was out of my control. My friends tried to help me up, my old teammates. It just reminded me more of what I’d lost due to the accident.

They were the types who liked to party. I’d never been in that scene, I’d been too busy studying and training. All of a sudden I just resented that, resented my dad. I worked so hard for him, did what he wanted, and now I’d lost baseball and him all in one go.

I walked with a huge limp and should have used a cane but was too proud. In my moment of anger at my dad, I drank for the first time. Just a beer, but I chugged it. That mixed with the pain meds I was on gave me a buzz within minutes. I didn’t mind the feeling or the taste, so I chugged another.

This was the beginning of my alcohol addiction.

Yeah, I moved from my baseball addiction to alcohol addiction. That’s a heavy word to throw at you so let me break it down a bit.

That night I drank beer until my head swam and passed out on my friends’ couch. The hangover the next morning was enough to swear me off of alcohol, but I didn’t understand my own anger at my dad.

He’d always been straight edge, him and my mom. They didn’t drink even on holidays. I knew all the physical issues that alcohol could cause, but I didn’t care. How could I care when my body was already destroyed and my mind on its way?

I was taking classes at the community college to appease my mother and partying on weekends with my old friends. None of them were worried about it. To college kids honestly, alcohol is a normal rite of passage. I didn’t overdo it at first not in a way that anyone noticed.

Keg stands weren’t my thing, and neither were shots or beer pong. No, I chugged my beer and moved on to the next too fast for people to realize, at least until I realized liquor existed.

My first shot of whiskey had me sputtering like a busted exhaust. Everyone laughed as my throat burned like I’d swallowed fire. The pain was attractive to me at the moment and so was the almost immediate lightheadedness.

Alcohol is so accepted everywhere, it is kind of our culture these days. Everyone drinks and getting drunk regularly is seen as fine as long as you can get to work and get everything done. This is toxic, and part of what lead to my problems. Though of course there’s no one else to blame but myself.

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Alright, here it is. The end of my baseball career before it ever even started.

We got in a car accident, my dad and me. We were driving home one night, and a semi-truck came out of nowhere and t-boned us. You probably can guess where this story is going. My dad died on impact. I didn’t know it at the time of course, but he died right away and felt no pain.

That didn’t happen to me.

The car rolled about four or five times across the highway and skidded off into a ditch. I don’t remember much that I saw, it was more the sensation. The squeal of tires, the smell of hot rubber and tar. The salt of the road and the crisp winter air.

The impact shook me to my core like I was a ragdoll and everything inside was all jumbled up. Lights and colors swirled and as we rolled it was sky ground until we settled.

My dad was slumped in the driver’s seat, and then I knew he was gone. I don’t know how I knew, he could have been unconscious, but I knew he was dead.

I lost my dad that night, my biggest supporter and my best friend. That would have been bad enough, but I also lost everything else, so there was nothing else to support or distract me.

My left leg was crushed, bones fractured and broken. I don’t even know how they managed to save the leg, but it was hit or missed. I have pins in both my ankle and my knee, and the scar tissue is magnificent. I was never going to run again.

I couldn’t even go out in a blaze of glory with some type of baseball-related injury. No, something unrelated happened. Destiny crashed through the car window and ripped my life right out of my hands. It was terrible.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that I was depressed almost immediately. My father was gone, and so was baseball, my two best friends. Depression and I grew close. My mom tried, but she didn’t know what to do there was no precedent for this. Both our lives had been destroyed.

Depression is hard enough to handle on its own, but soon I had another devil on my back.

I guess I’ll save that for the next blog guys.

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