Treatment Plan

The nature of treatment depends on the severity of your alcoholism and your available resources. Treatments may be provided in a hospital, a residential treatment setting, or on an outpatient basis. If you feel you have a drinking problem, consider these options:

Motivation enhancement therapy (MET) begins with the assumption that you have the capacity and responsibility to change. Your therapist talks with you about the effects of your drinking, discusses benefits of not drinking, reviews treatment options and designs a plan specifically for you. The treatment helps you create self-motivational statements for a desire and commitment to change.

Cognitive and behavioral therapies help you identify the thoughts and behaviors that worsen your problems with alcohol. This approach can improve your mood, change your attitudes and reduce your reliance on alcohol. Coping skills and stress management techniques may also be used. Part of this therapy may help you recognize the warning signs of a relapse. The therapist helps you avoid situations where you are likely to drink, such as parties or sporting events. You also learn how to handle a relapse.

The 12-step facilitation therapy is based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. It teaches you how to accept your disease, the fact that you have lost the ability to control your drinking and that alcoholism does not have a cure. The treatment uses sponsors, or people who can help you become sober and get you through relapses, and a fellowship of support to accompany you on your journey to recovery.

Family therapy is very important for your recovery. Marital or family counseling can be very effective in helping you and your loved ones deal with your illness. This improves your chances for sobriety. One type of family therapy is behavioral-marital therapy, which combines a focus on drinking with efforts to strengthen the marriage through communication skills.

Brief interventions involve counseling sessions from primary care physicians or nursing staff within five or fewer office visits. Most of these interventions are meant to help people at risk for developing alcohol-related problems by urging them to reduce how much they drink.

Medications have also been developed to assist individuals with excessive drinking patterns to modify their drinking and reduce cravings.

Withdrawal from Alcohol

Symptoms of alcohol withdrawal can be mild to severe. These symptoms generally occur with heavy drinkers. They can occur as quickly as 24 to 48 hours after one stops drinking. A doctor can keep track of your withdrawal symptoms to help prevent more serious health problems. Prescription medicines can control the shakiness, anxiety and confusion. Taking medication at an early stage may keep your symptoms from worsening.

Mild symptoms of withdrawal include:

• Irritability
• Quick-changing emotions
• Depression
• Tiredness
• Unclear thinking
• Bad dreams

Less frequent symptoms include:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Sweating
• Loss of appetite
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Palpitations
• Tremors of hands or eyelids

Most people in withdrawal don't need to be hospitalized. Although rare, the following severe symptoms can occur. If they do, seek immediate emergency care:

• Fever
• Convulsions
• Agitation
• Delirium tremens (confusion and hallucinations)

More on Alcoholism

In the Encyclopedia:

This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.