How to Recover from Alcoholism
Unlike the support-group motto that one must always be “in recovery” from alcoholism, studies show that not only can you recover, you may also be able to drink small amounts of alcohol without a reoccurrence of dependency. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) conducted a study indicating that many people recover from alcoholism.
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Instructions
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Quit, instead of cutting down, if you find yourself drinking more than you planned. A good test of your alcohol dependence is to make a strict plan to drink no more than one drink per day. If you can’t stick to that plan, it’s better to quit drinking totally.
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Bring the problem to light. Out of a sense of protectiveness, family members often cover up the drinking of a loved one. Sit down with close friends and family and ask them to make a decision to let you suffer the consequence of your own drinking. Until that point, an alcoholic has no reason to quit.
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Walk away from drinking relationships. Many dependent drinkers frequent bars or the homes of others when drinking, and these relationships become toxic to the individual. For the time being, stay away from friends and family members who drink heavily or who encourage you to drink. Later, when you’re ready, you can reintroduce these friends on a limited basis.
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Figure out why you’re medicating yourself day in and day out with alcohol. Sit down when you’re sober and make a list of everything in your life that makes you happy and another list of everything that makes you sad. Make a third list of all the stress triggers in your life.
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Study your lists and circle the items that you know make you reach for a drink. Ask yourself if there are steps you could take to eliminate any item from your list. For example, if one of your stress triggers is an unappreciative boss, the next time you feel like drinking over work-related stress, start working on a resume to submit to new prospective employers.
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Circle the happy items on your list and make a conscious effort to make them occur more often. If you wrote down “taking children to the park,” plan to do that in the afternoon instead of reaching for the bottle. Replace the alcohol with items from your happy list.
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Give yourself some time. It took a while to become dependent upon alcohol, and it may take a while to recover from the dependency. Remember that it is possible if you change your lifestyle and remove the triggers that encourage you to drink. Just don't give up. Get right back on the road to recovery if you suffer a relapse.
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Visit your doctor for medication to help you quit drinking. Your doctor may prescribe naltrexone to reduce cravings, acamprostate to reduce symptoms of anxiety after quitting or disulfiram to discourage consumption of alcohol by making you sick if you drink.
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Tips & Warnings
Make new non-drinking friends when you're recovering or spend time in non-drinking situations. Instead of sitting at home alone, walk to the public library and spend some time in the reading room. Visit with elderly residents in a nursing home or volunteer in your community.
Never drive after you consume alcohol. Drinking is your business, but getting behind the wheel of an automobile when impaired makes your drinking everyone’s business.
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