Do you or a loved one suffer in the cycle of alcohol dependence? So much in your life falls apart with excessive drinking, that little seems left to salvage. But you or the person you love have a real chance for a better life after alcohol abuse ends. You just need the right help from a quality alcoholic rehab.
You may feel ashamed that you need help from alcoholic rehab. But no shame exists here. In fact, seven percent of U.S. adults experience alcohol dependence and require support, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Why You Need Alcoholic Rehab
In case you wonder how you “got here,” alcohol abuse does not begin based on one decision, action, or problem in your life. Instead, this problem comes from multiple directions. These factors worked together to get you to where you require alcoholic rehab.
Your alcohol dependence relates to many parts of your life. These include your genes, environment, upbringing and mental health.
Scientists today know that people with specific genetic markers experience a higher likelihood of alcohol dependence. These genetic markers make you suffer fewer hangover effects and drink more without getting drunk. Being able to “handle” your alcohol doesn’t make you resistant to alcohol addiction. Instead, these genetic markers make it easier for you to find yourself needing alcoholic rehab.
Having a parent with alcohol dependence makes you four times more likely to have the same problem yourself. If your parents abuse alcohol in front of you as a child, you become more vulnerable to abusing alcohol, too. If you drink before age 15, you experience five times greater likelihood to suffer alcohol dependence than people not drinking until age 21 or older.
Many people self-medicate mental illness with alcohol or drugs. According to some researchers, about 29% of people with mental illness abuse substances. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that 37% of people with one or more serious mental disorders like depression abuse alcohol. People with mental illness turn to alcohol in efforts to stabilize their untreated psychological and emotional state.
Other people drink for social reasons. Many experience social anxiety and want “liquid courage.” Some drink to fit in. But drinking to feel social too frequently ends the way it does when you drink for other reasons, in need of alcoholic rehab.
Treatment for Alcohol Dependence
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than one million people sought help for alcohol or drug addiction in 2008. About 41% of these people needed alcohol rehab, in particular. This help starts with detox, where you go through supervised withdrawal for your alcohol dependence. After detox, alcohol abuse treatment provides the coping, life, and relapse prevention skills you need for lasting recovery.
Rehab helps you learn and build coping skills against your triggers and temptations. These triggers and temptations lead you to pick up a drink in everyday life. However, your drinking started because of deeper issues in your life. You also identify and learn about these buried problems in rehab. By uncovering and treating your core issues, you gain more strength against drinking in the future.
If you suffer co-occurring conditions of mental illness and alcohol dependence, you will also need dual diagnosis treatment. An alcoholic rehab will be able to help you with this treatment as well.
In rehab, caring treatment professionals identify your mental illness if you have one. Experts in rehab treat your mental condition, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD or trauma. With their help, you learn about your mental illness and the effect it has on your alcohol use. You get to know the cycle of co-occurring conditions and how to keep both from relapsing.
Pennsylvania Rehab for Alcohol Dependence
In Levittown, PA, you gain the alcohol dependence treatment you need at Steps to Recovery. Steps to Recovery provides the therapies, support, education and guidance you need for stable recovery. Programs of Steps to Recovery include:
- IOP, OP and PHP programs
- Two phases of treatment
- Individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Family therapy
- Psychotherapy and behavioral therapies
- Men’s and women’s rehab
If you or someone you love need help for alcohol dependence, call Steps to Recovery now at 267.719.8528. Learn about an alcoholic rehab that’s right for you.
