A Woman Displays Signs of Alcohol Addiction and Depression and Makes an Appointment to See Her Doctor About Her Hazardous Drinking

Teresa was a thirty-seven-year-old receptionist who knew that she had a problem with her drinking. For example, within the past month she has experienced the need to have a drink or two before going to work, seven weeks ago she tested positive for a urine alcohol test at work, four months ago she got stopped by the state highway patrol for a DUI, and finally, for around seven months she has started to fail to remember what she says and does when she goes out drinking.

Not unlike huge numbers of other people, Teresa’s experiences with alcohol began at a “snail’s pace” and remained at this pace for quite a long period of time because from time to time she engaged in sporadic social drinking. In fact, for nearly eight months, every time she went out to drink, she made sure to drink in a responsible manner. Something about her pattern of drinking, nonetheless, seemed to thoroughly change when her husband divorced her.

In Order To Rise Above the Loss of Her Husband With Less Distress, Teresa Came to a Decision That She Will Start Hanging Around More Regularly With Some of Her Pals Who Love to Drink

Teresa got awfully “down” about the breakup with her husband, and as a way to abstain from her preoccupation with her disheartening feelings she decided to start palling around more repeatedly with some of her pals who love to drink and have fun.

Quite frankly, Teresa reasoned that having fun just about every day by partying and drinking with her buddies would help her get over the breakup of her husband in a more trouble-free manner.

Teresa’s Drinking Increases Greatly the More Habitually She Goes to Family Get-Togethers, Private Parties, Dinner Dates, Happy Hours, and Sporting Events With Her Pals

It didn’t take too long, however, before her drinking increased to a significant extent the more often she went to and drank at private parties, dinner dates, happy hours, sporting events, and family get-togethers with her buddies. In addition, the fact that her drinking friends were all considerably younger than she was and therefore able to drink more carelessly was one of the reasons why she didn’t focus more on her increased drinking. Simply put, she was having a blast drinking just like everyone else in her group of buddies without paying much attention to the results of her excessive and abusive drinking.

Yet someplace in her mind she knew that she most likely needed alcohol rehab but stayed away from the thought as much as she could.

Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, Admits Her Abusive and Hazardous Drinking to Her Healthcare Practitioner, and Admits Her Constant Negativity

One day during her six-month physical exam, her doctor asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to lie to her healthcare practitioner, Teresa ”came clean” and said that she frequently drinks more than she should. In actual fact, she articulated that she routinely drinks in an abusive and excessive manner. Then Teresa told her physician about her general state of despair. More precisely, she stated that broken relationships commonly sparked a depressing sequence of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more disheartening feelings that, in turn, led to even more drinking. And this is exactly what happened when her husband and she got divorced four years ago.

When her healthcare professional heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was examining, alcoholism and depression commonly come about in the same person. He then informed Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been reading about also emphasize the fact that individuals who drink in a hazardous manner and who also experience depression need to obtain treatment for both medical conditions.

Teresa’s Healthcare Practitioner Schedules an Appointment for a Psychological Evaluation and For an Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Addiction Assessment

Teresa’s doctor then stated the following: “I am not trying to make an overly quick analysis, but with your medical circumstances we may be working with two separate problems. As a result, I think we probably need to make an appointment for you to get an alcohol dependency and alcohol abuse appraisal from my partner, Dr. Johnson, who is a substance abuse and chemical dependency specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more associated with alcohol abuse or alcoholism is unknown, but I think that further assessment is warranted. Then I think we probably should make an appointment for you to get a psychological evaluation from another one of my partners, Dr. Dubas, who is a clinical psychologist. I want to get some additional information about your dejection and see how much your drinking and depression are related.” Teresa showed her agreement with her doctor’s treatment approach and thanked him for his assistance and concern. Now all she had to do was to try to cut back on her drinking and get ready for her appointments.