A Woman Exhibits Signs of Depression and Alcohol Dependency and Makes an Appointment to See Her Physician About Her Irresponsible and Abusive Drinking and Mental Health Problems
Teresa was a thirty-four-year-old dental assistant who knew that she had some drinking issues. For instance, within the past six months she has experienced the need to have a drink or two before going to work, a week ago she tested positive for a breathalyzer test where she works, four months ago she got arrested by the police for a DUI, and finally, for going on six months she has started to forget what she says and does when she goes out drinking with her pals.
Like hosts of other individuals, Teresa’s experiences with alcohol started out at a "snail's pace" and stayed at this pace for quite some time because every so often she engaged in intermittent social drinking. If truth be told, for almost four years, every time she drank, she made sure to drink in moderation. Something about her pattern of drinking, however, seemed to totally change when she divorced her husband.
In Order To Get Over the Breakup of Her Husband In a More Uncomplicated Manner, Teresa Determined That She Will Begin Palling Around More Often With Some of Her Pals Who Love to Have Fun and Drink
Teresa got especially dejected about the divorce from her husband, and as a way to abstain from her preoccupation with her discouraging feelings she arrived at a decision that she would begin associating more frequently with some of her friends who love to have fun drinking.
Quite frankly, Teresa truly believed that having fun just about every day by getting an alcohol “buzz” with her buddies would help her get over the breakup of her husband in a less troublesome manner.
Teresa’s Drinking Increases Substantially the More Habitually She Goes to Family Get-Togethers, Sporting Events, Private Parties, Dinner Dates, and Happy Hours With Her Pals
It didn’t take too long, nevertheless, before her drinking increased considerably the more often she went to and drank at sporting events, happy hours, private parties, dinner dates, and family get-togethers with her buddies. Moreover, the fact that her drinking friends were all quite a few years younger than she was and therefore able to drink more irresponsibly was one of the reasons why she didn’t concentrate more on her increased drinking. In short, she was having a ton of fun drinking just like everyone else in her group of buddies without giving too much thought to the consequences of her abusive and irresponsible drinking.
Yet in the back of her mind she knew that she most probably needed alcohol rehabilitation but steered clear of the thought as much as humanly possible.
Teresa Gets a Physical Examination, Discloses the Facts About Her Excessive and Abusive Drinking to Her Doctor, and Owns Up to the Truth About Her Sadness
One day during her yearly physical examination, her doctor asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell “stories” to her healthcare professional, Teresa ”came clean” and said that she commonly drinks more than she should. In actual fact, she stated that she commonly drinks in an abusive manner. Then Teresa informed her healthcare practitioner about her general state of gloom. More to the point, she articulated that broken relationships usually triggered a depressing sequence of events characterized by increased drinking which further led to more dismal feelings that, in turn, led to even more drinking. And this is exactly what happened when she and her husband got divorced six months ago.
When her doctor heard this, he informed Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was investigating, alcoholism and depression often take place in the same individual. He then told her that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been reading about also emphasize the fact that individuals who drink in an excessive and hazardous manner and who also experience depression need to get treatment for both medical conditions.
Teresa’s Physician Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Assessment and For an Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse Appraisal
Teresa’s doctor then articulated the following: “I am not trying to make a sudden diagnosis, but with your medical condition we may be dealing with two separate problems. As a consequence, I think we probably should make an appointment for you to get an alcoholism and alcohol abuse appraisal from my partner, Dr. Harmon, who is an alcohol abuse and substance abuse specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more related to alcohol abuse or alcohol addiction is unclear, but I feel that further exploration is required. Then I think we ought to schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological assessment from another one of my partners, Dr. Cooke, who is a clinical psychologist. I want to get some more insights about your sadness and see how much your drinking and depression are interlinked.” Teresa displayed her satisfaction with her healthcare professional’s “game plan” and thanked him for his help. Now all she had to do was to try to reduce her drinking and wait for her appointments.
Tags: statistics on alcoholism, alcohol statistics, alcohol dependency, Alcoholism, alcoholism and depression, Alcohol Abuse, Alcohol Addiction