It is remarkable to bring up something that family members who have been harmfully affected by the alcoholism of another family member apparently do not grasp. It appears that by protecting the alcohol dependent individual with lies and deceitfulness to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have in effect created a situation that makes it easier for the alcoholic to persist and go forward with his or her negative, detrimental way of living.

In fact, rather than helping the alcohol addicted individual and themselves, these family members have in fact become enablers who have involuntarily helped worsen the drinking problems of the problem drinker even more.

Relapses Can and Do Happen

Another key alcohol dependency issue involves alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted individual has effectively gone through alcoholism rehab and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this situation flies in the face of rational thinking and seems so improbable that it forces one to speculate why anyone who has experienced the dejection of alcohol dependency can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol treatment and in turn after achieving sobriety. There are, to be sure, more than a few conceivable reasons for this.

It should be mentioned, then again that alcohol addiction research that has centered on the long standing outcomes of alcoholism has demonstrated-proven that long after the alcohol dependent individual has halted his or her drinking, major transformations in the way in which the alcohol dependent person’s brain functions are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcohol addicted person has to do to involve himself or herself in behaviors that correspond with the alterations that have come about in the brain is to begin drinking again.

The Necessity for An Essential Lifestyle Transformation

There are other reasons why several recovering alcohol addicted persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. In accordance to the alcoholism research literature, to make a successful recovery, the alcoholic needs new ways of acting and thinking in order to deal more effectively with difficult alcohol-related circumstances that will take place.

Conditions such as returning to the same alcohol addictive atmosphere or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the time when the alcohol addicted individual was drinking irresponsibly; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these circumstances can bring about memories that can set off psychological stress or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent person to engage in irresponsible drinking once again. Unfortunately, all of these circumstances may not only negate ongoing sobriety for the alcoholic but they can also result in relapse and consequently go against one’s sobriety.

Summary

In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol dependent individual, family members can essentially cause unintended destruction by enabling the destructive drinking behavior of the alcohol addicted person.

The alcohol abuse research literature confirms the fact that most individuals who effectively complete alcohol treatment go through at least one relapse. Alcohol dependent individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get down in the dumps or stressed out when a relapse occurs.

Luckily, taking part in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up treatment and training have resulted in more effective, long lasting alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency treatment outcomes, have helped diminish alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol addicted individuals achieve enduring alcohol recovery.

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