With crime rates around double the national average, this is just one of the concerns that residents of Germantown may have. When worries escalate it is easy for them to take over, which may encourage you to look for quick fixes to help you forget your problems. Pouring yourself a glass of wine, opening a bottle of beer or taking a shot of spirits may offer you temporary respite from your troubles, helping you to relax and enjoy an evening without you being distracted by your worries. However, using alcohol to mask your problems doesn’t help you to find a solution and in all too many cases heavy drinking can become an issue, as you need to drink increasing amounts to achieve the same results. If you feel your drinking has started to get out of control, acting now can protect your long-term health and prevent alcohol wrecking havoc in other areas of your life. Steps to Recovery offers alcohol addiction programs near Germantown PA, so you can access specialist rehab services close to home.
Addressing Heavy Drinking to Preserve Your Health
Even if you aren’t getting through a bottle of wine daily, you may be drinking more heavily than you realize. Heavy alcohol use is defined as consuming more than one alcoholic beverage each day if you are female and more than two each day if you are male, so when using alcohol to deal with your troubles it isn’t difficult to drink beyond these limits. Drinking above these recommendations poses a risk to your health in both the short and long-term, and it is not just liver damage that you risk, as hard drinking can harm most of your organs and makes you more susceptible to a wide range of chronic health problems.
By taking control of your drinking you can prevent the following complications of alcohol abuse:
- Alcohol poisoning. With heavy drinking you risk more than a hangover, as when alcohol builds up in your system it acts as a toxin, which can impair your co-ordination, leave you confused, prevent you regulating your temperature, interfere with your breathing and lead to loss of consciousness. In severe cases alcohol poisoning is fatal.
- Serious accidents. When drunk you are more likely to sustain an injury and if you drive while under the influence you endanger your safety further.
- Drug abuse. You might be more inclined to abuse recreational drugs after drinking heavily. While smoking cannabis and using prescription drugs might seem like safer options, they can still damage your health and are just as addictive as cocaine or heroin.
- Poor sexual health. As getting intoxicated can impair your judgment you are less likely to take precautions with sexual partners, placing you at greater risk of STDs.
- Liver disease. Cirrhosis of the liver isn’t the only problem that can affect your liver when you drink heavily, as you can also develop fatty liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis and fibrosis, where scar tissue builds up in your liver. You are also more prone to liver cancer.
- Heart disease. You are at higher risk of raised blood pressure when you drink heavily, which makes a stroke more likely. High alcohol intakes can also damage your heart muscle and lead to an irregular heartbeat.
- Inflammation of your pancreas. This can interfere with digestion and leave you in significant pain.
- Brain damage. You are more likely to suffer from memory loss if you are a heavy drinker and the effects of alcohol can lead to long-term problems with co-ordination and cognition as well.
- Cancer. In the grip of alcoholism you are at greater risk of cancers targeting your mouth, throat, esophagus and breast.
- Reduced immunity. Alcohol misuse reduces the strength of your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to serious infections like pneumonia and TB.
- Poor mental health. Although you might feel brighter in mood and more relaxed after a drink, heavy drinking makes you more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, and it may worsen other pre-existing mental health problems.
With such a diverse range of health problems connected to alcohol abuse, this is one motivator to encourage you to enroll on an addiction recovery program Germantown PA. However, protecting your well-being isn’t the only benefit of addressing a drink problem.
Wider Benefits of Seeking Treatment for Alcohol Abuse
When you have lost control of your drinking habits, getting your next drink becomes your main priority, so other areas of your life can fall by the wayside. If you are at college, this can mean you attend less regularly, your grades slip and you may even drop out of your course. Similarly, alcohol dependency can cause problems in the workplace with reduced productivity and increased absenteeism. These difficulties aren’t confined to education and work though, as they can impact on your home life too. You may find that you neglect your commitments at home and to your family, which can put your relationship with them under a lot of strain, particularly if you won’t acknowledge their concerns about your destructive habit. Friendships can suffer and you may find that you socialize less and give up your usual hobbies and interests. The effects of heavy drinking on your finances shouldn’t be underestimated either and you may even find that you end up with a criminal record if you become violent when drunk or you get behind the wheel after drinking.
Seeking help with your out of control drinking can prevent all of the above situations from arising, so get in touch with our friendly team at Steps to Recovery to discover the alcohol treatment services close to Germantown PA we offer.
Alcohol Recovery Programs Germantown PA
When alcohol has a hold over you and you decide you want to become sober, the first stage of your treatment is taking part in an alcohol detox. We offer supervised alcohol withdrawal programs within the Germantown area, allowing you to receive close monitoring to detox safely. This is essential because when your body is dependent on alcohol you experience severe withdrawal symptoms when you remove its supply, which can be fatal if you try suddenly detoxing by yourself. During our withdrawal program you will also have access to medication to ease your symptoms, making detox a more manageable experience for you, which increases your chances of successfully withdrawing from alcohol.
After completing your alcohol detox, you will then undertake a period of rehabilitation to help you stay abstinent from drink in the long-term. You have a variety of alcohol rehab options open to you, ranging from intensive inpatient therapy to more flexible outpatient treatment, and which style of care you choose will depend on your needs and preferences. If you are looking for comprehensive alcohol rehabilitation that offers you 24/7 support if you need it and a structured environment while you recover, a residential alcohol treatment program is ideal. Our alcohol recovery centers near Germantown PA are still close enough for your loved ones to visit and participate in therapy sessions with you, so you needn’t worry about being separated from your family during rehab. Alternatively, if you want intensive treatment for alcohol abuse, but you want to remain in your own home, partial hospitalization is a compatible option. However, if you can’t commit to attending addiction therapy daily due to your other responsibilities, outpatient alcohol addiction programs can fit around your other needs and still give you a good chance of achieving lasting sobriety.
Therapy Programs for Alcohol Addiction
Each client that enrolls with Steps to Recovery receives a personalized program of care. This is tailor made to your requirements, enhancing your chances of beating your addiction to alcohol for good. Not all alcohol treatment services near Germantown PA offer this style of program though, which helps to explain why our success rates are favorable, with fewer of our clients relapsing after a round of addiction therapy.
At Steps to Recovery you will benefit from both private therapy sessions, as well as those undertaken as a group. This lets you take advantage of both styles of therapy for recovery from alcoholism. During one to one counseling with a specialist addiction therapist you have the chance to identify the triggers for your drinking and explore the problems you face in your life. With the guidance of your counselor you will then develop strategies to cope with these so that you are better able to resist the draw of alcohol. Meanwhile, group therapy sessions allow you to discuss broader issues that are relevant to you all, but working as a group lets you put together more ideas than if you were working independently, leading to a richer learning experience. You will also find that during group counseling you receive immense support from your peers who are ideally placed to understand your position and offer encouragement.
Family therapy is additionally available to our clients on alcohol treatment programs Germantown PA. This is crucial to your ongoing success, as after you complete addiction rehab you will need the support of your loved ones to stay on the wagon. When your relationship has been tested by your drink habit, their backing may seem uncertain, but taking part in therapy sessions together allows you to renew your bonds so that they are ready to assist you in whatever way you need.
Diverse Nature of Activities for Addiction Recovery
We like to look beyond talking therapies and offer a broad range of treatments to our clients attending our alcohol recovery centers. By offering these additional therapies and activities we can make you more likely to achieve your goal of abstinence, as they help to address wider issues that can ensure your success. All have been rigorously tested in clinical trials to make sure they are beneficial to addicts seeking sobriety, so you do not need to worry about the safety or effectiveness of the complementary therapies we offer.
If you suffer from problems that affect your mental wellness, such as depressed mood or anxiety, therapies like acupuncture and yoga show great promise for enhancing your mood and easing your worries, which can improve your quality of life. This not only makes your alcohol rehab Germantown PA a more pleasant experience, but also means you are in a better frame of mind to participate in therapy sessions, so can get more out of our addiction recovery programs. Addressing mental health problems during rehabilitation also means you are less likely to fall off the wagon after treatment is complete.
Another aspect of our alcohol treatment services is skills development. This makes sure that you are ready to resume life at home, can secure employment and contribute to the community in which you live. Whether you need help with home skills like budgeting or cooking healthy meals, you need guidance on applying for work or help to build on your transferrable skills, we can offer you activities to develop whatever skills you feel you need help with to ensure you can make a smooth transition after finishing alcohol addiction therapy. In this way we offer a well rounded program of rehabilitation.
The Value of Recreation in Recovery
If you stay as a residential client your program of care includes a range of leisure activities, which vary from week to week. Setting time aside during therapy for recreation is important to help you relax, bond with your peers and appreciate how much enjoyment you can have without needing to have a drink. You will also benefit from regular gym visits, which are not only designed to help you resume your physical fitness, which can often take a dive due to alcohol abuse, but these exercise sessions can give you a mental boost as well. By adopting a healthy lifestyle during alcohol rehabilitation Germantown PA you are also more inclined to stay on track with your efforts to avoid drinking, as your old habits are no longer compatible with your new lifestyle.
Local Charities and Support Germantown PA
- St Luke’s Church: 5421 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144
- Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment: 8431 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118
- Philadelphia Children’s Foundation: 7600 Strenton Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118
