Let us think about “career direction” for a few minutes.  A moment’s thought will verify the fact that there are more than a few individuals in our society who are clueless about what to with their lives occupationally speaking.  Indeed, no matter what they do in the work-world, they simply cannot figure out what career to pursue.

When I hear about individuals like this, I sometimes half jokingly think to myself that what these individuals need to do is to become alcohol dependent, go through successful alcohol treatment, maintain their sobriety, and then spend the rest of their lives talking to others about the hazards and devastation of alcoholism and how this disease should be avoided at all costs.  As humorous as this sounds, there are quite a few individuals in our society who have “found” their career “calling” exactly this way.  Such are the wonders of “career direction.”

If people who involve themselves in abusive drinking were to learn more about the negative consequences of their drinking, I wonder how many of them would change their drinking behavior and either drink in moderation or quit drinking?  This is a relevant question because at some level it zeros in on the heart of problem drinking.

Stated another way, more knowledge is virtually worthless if people don’t apply this knowledge to their lives.  In short, I get the sense that many individuals openly ignore the health hazards and dangers that are linked to abusive and excessive drinking because the short-term “pay off” is greater for them when they drink than when they are sober.

In sum, there seems to be a lot of truth to the statement that involvement in alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction is a short-term response or a “quick fix” that has long-term, detrimental consequences.

Stanley was a recovering alcoholic.  He had gone through alcohol treatment two years ago and has been sober ever since he finished his outpatient alcohol counseling program.  Lately, however, he has been feeling like his life is going nowhere and so he began frequenting a few nightclubs in the big city.  He reasoned that since he was no longer an “active” alcoholic or exhibiting alcoholic behavior, he could now drink responsibly and in moderation.

After three weeks of having a few beers every other day, he understood how easily it would be to get involved in the negative cycle of alcoholism once again.  And by looking at drinking in this manner, the one thing that he kept on thinking about were the dreadful alcohol withdrawal symptoms he suffered just before he went to the alcohol treatment clinic two years ago.  In fact, the thought of facing such intense agony and pain made him totally quit drinking–again.  As soon as he quit drinking this time he clearly understood that he was one of the unfortunate individuals who would never again be able to drink, even if he were to drink in moderation.

Jacquie has been a heavy drinker for most of her adult life and for fifteen of those years she has been an alcoholic.  As her husband Kenny has found out, alcohol dependency is a disease that progressively gets worse over time.  Kenny has seen just about everything when it comes to alcoholic behavior because Jacquie has done it all.

This is what happens when alcohol addiction gets to the point of chronic alcoholism.  While some individuals perceive chronic alcoholism as hopeless, fortunately, there have been some cases of incredible turnarounds for chronic alcoholics who successfully went through alcohol rehabilitation, got sober, and attained long-term alcohol recovery.

Alcoholism research demonstrates the fact that repeated abusive and excessive drinking causes neuroadaptation in the brain’s reward pathways.  The typical consequence of this is that the alcohol dependent person engages in even more drinking.

This is the fastest way for an alcohol addicted person to feel “normal” again and it leads to long-term memories related to drinking alcohol that result in strong alcohol cravings, even after the alcoholic has been sober and practicing abstinence for many weeks or months.  Unfortunately, environmental cues can reactivate the brain’s reward pathways and this in turn can lead to an alcohol relapse.

I met a young lady named Kendra last night. Kendra has been addicted to alcohol and drugs for a few years and she told me that she has been sober for 32 days.  We talked for quite a while and would have talked even longer but she had to go to her Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.  At one point before she left, when I asked her why she quit drinking 32 days ago, she said she quit drinking because she was sick of the pain of addiction.  I said a few things to encourage her to follow her career goals and to remain sober.  It was good learning that she has a solid support system and is getting back on track about finishing her undergraduate degree and then thinking about graduate school.

It almost defies logic but dysfunctional relationship patterns like codependency frequently continue after the drug or alcohol addicted individual becomes sober or “clean.”  It would appear to make sense that sobriety and the recovery from addiction in the household would result in a less chaotic, more functional living situation.  When looked at a little deeper, to the contrary, the codependents may be more sad and depressed than ever because the earlier balance, regardless of how dysfunctional or damaging the addictive or alcoholic behavior was, has been upset.

Many, if not most drug and alcohol addicts would probably prefer to stop abusing drugs and drinking, but following through on this is quite difficult at best and almost impossible at worst without professional treatment.

The alcoholism and substance abuse research literature demonstrates the fact that some people are able to stop abusing drugs and quit drinking entirely on their own without professional rehab.  For most people who involve themselves in alcoholism or drug addiction, however, they need professional addiction rehab if there is any hope for long-term addiction recovery and sobriety.

Support groups, training, treatment, education, and doctor prescribed medications can help an alcoholic stay sober during recovery.  Without a doubt, it can be very depressing to relapse and begin drinking again.  Even though the alcohol dependent person may feel guilty about relapsing, however, it is important to note that most alcoholics who achieve long-lasting recovery will relapse at least once after treatment.

In short, while an alcoholic should do everything he or she can to avoid a relapse, falling “off the wagon” is not a good reason to quit treatment or the recovery process.  In sum, getting sober and staying sober is a lifelong process.

It’s time to put aside the idle chatter about responsible drinking and drinking in moderation for problem drinkers.  The overwhelming majority of alcohol dependent individuals and chronic alcohol abusers simply cannot drink in moderation and, as a consequence, need to totally refrain from drinking, they need to get alcohol rehab, and they need to get sober and stay sober.

In a word, alcohol recovery for alcoholics and for people who engage in chronic alcohol abuse is, to a large degree, all about attaining sobriety and then staying sober. The most successful and effective path to alcohol recovery, it must be emphasized, is getting the appropriate alcohol treatment as soon as possible and following through with the treatment protocol.

Quite a few individuals wonder why some recovering alcoholics return to drinking many weeks or months after attaining sobriety.  There are certainly numerous reasons for this but alcohol abuse and alcoholism research that has focused on the long-term effects of alcohol addiction has revealed the fact that long after the alcohol dependent person has stopped drinking, substantial changes in the way in which the brain functions still exist and affect the drinker.

In short, all a recovering alcoholic has to do to engage in behavior that is in concert with the changes that have taken place in his or her brain is to start drinking again.