Alcohol Rehab - Bethpage

  One of the biggest problems for people with alcohol abuse problems or addictions is being willing to seek help from an alcohol rehab program. Many people with alcohol addictions believe that they are somehow above going to alcohol rehab and do not need help. They assume that they can take care of their problems themselves, and instead of going to alcohol rehab, try to detox and stay sober all on their own. However, nearly all alcohol addicts who attempt this fail. Drug Rehab Centers Bethpage can help you to better understand alcohol rehab and how it can help you to overcome your alcohol addiction once and for all.

What Is Rehab?

Rehab is a form of addiction treatment that occurs in a residential treatment setting. Essentially this means that the recovering alcohol addict will stay in the treatment center for a set period of time, usually several days to several weeks while undergoing treatment. The idea behind rehab is to break both the physical and mental addictions that a person has to alcohol and to help them not only get sober, but develop the skills to stay sober following treatment.

What Is Alcohol Abuse?

It is important to understand that alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are not synonymous. Alcohol abuse is a symptom of alcoholism, but it is not alcoholism itself. Essentially what this means is that a person can abuse alcohol without developing an addiction. However, a person does not develop an addiction to alcohol without abusing it. Alcohol abuse is the act of misusing and/or overusing alcohol. It usually takes two forms. Those forms are binge drinking and blackout drinking.

Binge drinking occurs when a person consumes alcohol very quickly over a short period of time. If a woman drinks three or more alcoholic beverages in a one to two hour period, it is generally recognized as binge drinking. For a man, the number is usually four or more alcoholic beverages in that same period of one to two hours.

Blackout drinking may accompany binge drinking or may occur due to the simple overconsumption of alcohol whether it meets the parameters of binge drinking or not. Blackout drinking occurs when a person cannot remember the events that occurred, nor their own actions, after their blood alcohol reached a certain level. This short-term memory loss is considered a blackout.

What Are The Signs Of Alcohol Abuse?

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Alcohol abuse does not usually go entirely unnoticed if a person is paying attention to changes in their physical state, health, mental status, and social actions. Some of the signs a person is abusing alcohol are:

Physical Signs

. Tolerance to alcohol

. Slurred speech

. Blackouts or loss of time

. Loss of coordination

. Difficulty keeping balance

Social Signs

. Loss of interest in activities

. Problems at work and/or school

. Financial problems

. Consuming alcohol in inappropriate places or situations

. Legal trouble 

. Constantly going to bars or other drinking establishments

Mental Signs

. Irritability

. Obsessive thoughts about alcohol use

. Depression 4.Anxiety . Isolation  . Mood swings

Health-Related Signs

. Damage to teeth or gums (due to sugar in alcohol)

. Heart palpitations

. High blood pressure

. Diabetes

. Liver damage

. Jaundice 

. Heart failure

Are There Any Common Secondary Addictions?

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When people abuse alcohol and develop addictions, they may develop secondary addictions that accompany or relate to alcoholism. Gambling addictions are commonly seen with alcohol addictions. This is due in large part to the fact that when alcohol enters the body it triggers the release of dopamine (the pleasure or reward chemical). Those same reward centers are activated when a person is gambling. The thrill of possibly winning and the excitement that gambling behaviors can induce have similar reward mechanisms as drinking alcohol. This sensation is highly addictive.

How Does Alcohol Abuse Become An Addiction?

When a person abuses alcohol regularly, the brain begins to rely on alcohol to trigger that release of dopamine previously mentioned. The brain becomes unable to complete the process without a signal from alcohol to do so after it has been repeatedly exposed to alcohol through alcohol abuse. This is how alcohol abuse becomes an alcohol addiction.

What Does Rehab Offer?

Alcohol rehab helps to break the mental and physical reliance on alcohol. This is accomplished starting with medical detox. Medical detox breaks the physical addiction to alcohol by gradually detoxing the recovering addict so that the brain can adjust incrementally to functioning without signals from alcohol to complete certain operations. Additional treatments address the mental addiction to alcohol including individual and group therapy, art therapy, and restorative yoga among many others. These treatments address the reason a person began abusing alcohol, the emotional, mental, and behavioral triggers of abuse and addiction, and helps to develop coping mechanisms for those issues.

Alcohol rehab is a phone call away if you are ready to begin your recovery. So call Drug Rehab Centers Bethpage at (516) 283-5671 as soon as possible.

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