A Woman Manifest Signs Of Alcohol Dependency And Depression And Schedules An Appointment To See Her Healthcare Practitioner
Cindy was a forty-three-year-old dental assistant who realized that she had a problem with her drinking. For example, within the past three months she has felt the need to have several drinks before going to work, a week ago she failed to pass a random blood alcohol test where she is employed, two months ago she got arrested by the police for a DWI, and finally, for the past four months she has begun to forget what she does and says when she drinks.
Similar to other drinkers, Cindy's experiences with alcohol started out gradually and continued at this level for quite a long period of time because at times she engaged in occasional social drinking. In truth, for almost nine months, every time she drank, she made sure to drink in a responsible manner. Something about her pattern of drinking, nonetheless, seemed to completely change when she and her husband got divorced.
Cindy got very despondent about the loss of her husband, and as a way to stop dwelling on her discouraging feelings she came to the conclusion that she would start associating more regularly with some of her friends who love to have fun drinking. It didn't take long, however, before her drinking increased considerably the more often she went to and drank at family get-togethers, sporting events, private parties, dinner dates, and happy hours with her buddies.
In a word, she was having fun drinking just like everybody else in her group of buddies without too much deliberation regarding the alcohol short term effects and especially about the alcohol long term effects she has been manifesting. Yet somewhere in her brain she realized the facts about the negative alcohol effects on the body and on the mind and that she most likely required alcohol counseling but sidestepped the thought as much as possible.
One morning during her yearly physical examination, her doctor asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell "stories" to her doctor, Cindy disclosed the truth that she commonly drinks more than she should. In reality, she said that she regularly drinks in an abusive and excessive manner. Then Cindy told her physician about her melancholy. More plainly, she mentioned that broken relationships frequently initiated a negative chain of events typified by increased drinking which further led to more discouraging feelings that, in turn, led to even more drinking. And this is precisely what happened when she and her husband got divorced three months ago.
Cindy's physician then told her the following: "I am not trying to make an overly quick analysis, but with your medical condition we may be dealing with two separate concerns. As a consequence, I think we probably should make an appointment for you to get an alcoholism and alcohol abuse evaluation from my partner, Dr.
Alpertin, who is an alcoholism and alcohol abuse specialist."
"Whether your drinking circumstance is more correlated with alcohol addiction or alcohol abuse is unknown, but I think that further exploration is warranted. Then I feel we need to make an appointment for you to get a psychological evaluation from another one of my partners, Dr. Rudnick, who is a counseling psychologist."
"I want to get a better grip on your pessimism and see how much your depression and drinking are correlated." Cindy displayed her endorsement of her healthcare professional's treatment plan and thanked him for his assistance and concern.