Teresa was a forty-five-year-old cost estimator who realized that she had some drinking issues. As an illustration, within the past four months she has felt the need to have a drink or two before going to work, two weeks ago she tested positive for a saliva alcohol test at work, two months ago she got pulled over by the state highway patrol for a DWI, and last but not least, for about four months she has started to fail to remember what she does and says when she drinks with her friends.

Not unlike other drinkers, Teresa’s alcohol involvement started out at a “snail’s pace” and continued at this level for quite some time because every so often she engaged in occasional social drinking. As a matter of fact, for roughly three years, every time she went out to drink, she made sure to drink responsibly. Something about her drinking circumstances, nevertheless, seemed to completely change when she got divorced from her husband.

So She Can Endure the Loss of Her Husband In a Less Troublesome Manner, Teresa Made Up Her Mind To Begin Going Out More Routinely With Some of Her Buddies Who Love to ”Get Down” and Drink

Teresa got especially dejected about the breakup with her husband, and as a way to refrain from obsessing about her depressing feelings she determined that she would start hanging around more repeatedly with some of her pals who love to drink and have fun.

Quite honestly, Teresa concluded that having fun almost every day by drinking with her buddies would help her recover from the breakup of her husband more rapidly.

Time, Anger, and Stress Management Issues

Teresa also reasoned that partying and drinking with her buddies would help her stay away from her time, anger, and stress management issues.

Teresa’s Drinking Increases Significantly the More Routinely She Goes to Happy Hours, Dinner Dates, Private Parties, Sporting Events, and Family Get-Togethers With Her Friends

It didn’t take too long, however, before her drinking increased to a significant degree the more routinely she went to and drank at dinner dates, happy hours, family get-togethers, sporting events, and private parties with her friends. Furthermore, the fact that her drinking friends were all much younger than she was and therefore able to party and drink harder and longer was one of the reasons why she didn’t allocate more of her attention to her increased drinking. To put it briefly, she was drinking and having lots of fun just like everybody else in her group of pals without too much deliberation regarding the effects of her hazardous and abusive drinking.

Yet someplace in her mind she knew that she probably needed alcohol treatment but stayed away from the thought as much as humanly possible.

Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, Owns Up to the Facts About Her Abusive and Excessive Drinking to Her Healthcare Practitioner, and Admits Her Constant Negativity

One afternoon during her yearly physical exam, her healthcare practitioner asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell “stories” to her physician, Teresa owned up to the fact that she often drinks more than she should. In fact, she articulated that she routinely drinks in a hazardous manner. Then Teresa told her physician about her melancholy. More plainly, she articulated that wrecked relationships frequently started a depressing cycle of events characterized by increased drinking which further led to more disheartening feelings that, in turn, led to more drinking. And this is specifically what took place when she and her husband got divorced eleven months ago.

When her physician heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was examining, alcoholism and depression frequently arise in the same person. He then told her that some of the alcohol statistics, facts, and research investigations he has been looking into also point out that individuals who drink abusively and who also experience depression need to receive treatment for both medical circumstances.

Teresa’s Healthcare Practitioner Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Appraisal and For an Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse Assessment

Teresa’s physician then stated the following: “I am not trying to make an overly quick analysis, but with your medical condition we may be working with two separate matters. Consequently, I think we should schedule an appointment for you to get an alcohol abuse and alcoholism appraisal from my partner, Dr. Truxton, who is an alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more associated with alcohol dependency or alcohol abuse is unclear at this time, but I feel that further evaluation is reasonable. Then I think we probably should schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological assessment from another one of my partners, Dr. Danko, who is a clinical psychologist. I want to get a better handle on your sadness and see how much your drinking and depression are interlinked.” Teresa showed her endorsement of her physician’s strategy and thanked him for his time and concern.

Teresa Faces the Sexuality Issues and the Conflict When She Was Married

In reality, Teresa now experienced a sense of personal self esteem and happiness because she finally became inspired to do something positive about her drinking problems and her depression. What is more, Teresa also knew that after alcohol rehabilitation she would be more able to address the sexuality difficulties and the conflict when she was married. Now all she had to do was to try to lessen her drinking and get ready for her appointments.