The truth is… that no alcoholic in the world is ever really 100% ready to enter treatment.
Since a huge part of the psyche is pre-occupied with alcohol as a coping mechanism, it’s availability, it’s effects upon the emotional issues of the addiction, there is no alcoholic who has ever thrown their hands in the air, and surrendered unconditionally to enter treatment.
It just doesn’t happen.
But, whether dealing with alcoholism yourself or for a loved one….do you see enough of the *real* person, to know that they’re ready?
An alcohol addict will always have *moments* of clarity, *moments* of admission, *moments* of taking responsibility, and realising, that help is needed.
Are You Convinced?
But do you witness enough of these moments, over time, to be telling enough, that if they did undergo treatment at an alcohol rehab clinic, their clarity would return, and with the right help, they would begin to address the real underlying issues behind the alcoholism?
The short version: do they have good intentions behind the promises?
We can never be fully convinced, but if there’s enough of these lucid thinking moments, and enough pain in continuing the addiction, the combination can be enough of an incentive to reach out and take action.
What else would convince someone to get help?
Usually, it’s pushing themselves over the pain threshold by some other means – a crisis, a hospital admission, an accident, or similar. Only when enough of a pain threshold is crossed, will the alcoholic finally realise that seeking help and admitting they are powerless over alcohol, is the only thing left less painful than….death itself.
These are powerful realisations, not to be taken lightly. Realisations that can only be reached by the individual themselves, no matter how much co-ercion or force others try to apply.
Family and friends are always well-meaning. But do they really understand addiction? It’s strength?
It’s so easy, to unwittingly enable the alcoholic, without meaning to. “They’ll get it together”….”I’ll help them out this one last time….” “He’ll know that *this time* it’s time to get help”.
Sound familiar?
“Why Can’t (S)he Just Stop?”
Beyond the obvious physical risks associated with ceasing alcohol intake, an alcoholic will be emotionally re-triggered…eventually.
Despite the best of intentions, and every positive promise to stop, somehow the addiction continues. It is the emotional addiction that keeps the individual coming back.
An event may happen in the outside world, that triggers an internal belief, a previous trauma, a fear from the past, and the only means to feel better, is to turn to the alcohol once more.
It’s only once gotten help to understand the *real* underlying issues- what alcohol help us feel – that we begin to unearth the real truth – what it’s doing for us, what supposed “benefits” it helps us get or achieve, etc. Once these are understood, alcohol loses it’s power over us. We know that the issues are not the substance itself, but what we think the substance represents.
Then…..recovery begins 🙂
More soon.