Tag: mental health

Barry decided to go and see his family physician about his abusive drinking. At first, Barry thought he would be able to merely go on the Internet, look for some fundamental alcohol abuse and alcoholism information and establish whether or not he was alcohol dependent. Not unexpectedly, he located scores of websites that itemized some of the usual symptoms of alcoholism. That’s the positive news. The less than encouraging news, sorry to say, was that Barry showed signs of many of these alcoholism symptoms.

Symptoms of Alcohol Addiction: Some Illustrations

For example, Barry was drinking a lot more than normal and he was starting to have more angry spats with his girlfriend. In the same way, for the first time in his young life he was encountering sleeping difficulties. If this wasn’t enough, Barry regularly felt depressed and on an escalating basis he had been exhibiting limited concentration while at work.

In much the same way, he felt stressed out and more uptight on a daily basis and for the past few months he displayed befuddled thinking at work. In view of the fact that Barry manifested all of these symptoms, he was excusably nervous about his irresponsible drinking.

So Barry finally made up his mind to contact his physician and make an appointment. Actually, this was somewhat demanding for Barry because his doctor was also his parents’ family doctor. The springboard for his discomfort was this: at the risk of embarrassing his family, he had to go and announce his reckless and abusive drinking behavior to his family physician.

When Barry arrived at the family physician’s family healthcare practitioner’s office, he candidly told the healthcare professional about the apprehension he felt about his irresponsible drinking behavior. When the healthcare practitioner asked what was inducing this concern, Barry acknowledged that he had gone on the Internet and read about alcohol addiction and especially about alcohol dependency symptoms. He then mentioned all of the alcohol addiction symptoms that he obviously thought he possessed.

A Thorough Physical Assessment and Outpatient Alcohol Treatment

The doctor notified Barry that it was smart of him to concentrate on his drinking difficulties, he gave Barry a thoroughgoing physical evaluation, and suggested that he sign into an out-patient alcohol rehab center that was run by one of his doctor accomplices.

Furthermore, when Barry articulated that he had been feeling a sense of melancholy more repeatedly, the family healthcare practitioner informed Barry that alcoholism and depression commonly occur in the same individual. As a result, the healthcare practitioner also recommended that Barry obtain therapy to focus on his melancholy.

The Merits of Coping With Your Drinking Difficulties and Getting Inspired About Making Successful, Positive, and Healthy Changes in Your Life

The healthcare professional made it a point to tell Barry that he might not necessarily be addicted to alcohol, but that he was evidently drinking in a hazardous manner. Stated differently Barry was manifesting alcohol abuse signs.

The family doctor then notified Barry that the reason he suggested alcohol rehabilitation in the first place was because he wanted him to sort out his drinking issues, make sure that he stopped them from deteriorating, and start to live in a more healthy manner, even if it meant that he had to entirely quit drinking.

In short, by productively treating his drinking problems, Barry would be able to get his drinking problems under control and quit the negative cycle that could almost certainly lead to alcoholism.

Clearly, Barry did not want to face the thought of enrolling in an alcohol treatment center. Nor was he overjoyed about going to a counselor about his melancholy. In spite of these fears, nevertheless, Barry as a matter of fact experienced some emotional relief for the first time in quite a few months because he eventually gave up making excuses for himself and finally made up his mind to do something constructive about his drinking difficulties.

With such a positive attitude, it was highly probable that Barry would be successful in his alcohol rehabilitation as well as in his therapy for his depression.

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Barry used to brag to his pals how he could keep a demanding and fulltime job and get drunk just about every night. Sadly, after engaging in this destructive lifestyle for approximately two-and-a-half years, he started to display a variety of alcohol related issues.

Barry Starts to Have Various Alcohol Related Problems

For instance, he had a real difficult time getting up for work because he felt so exhausted when he got up. Furthermore, just about every morning Barry suffered through an appalling hangover. Without a doubt, the combination of his lack of get-up-and-go and his hangovers did not make it easy for him to get up and feel inspired to go to work. To make matters worse, around a week ago he got his second drunk driving citation in the past thirteen weeks.

To complicate things further, at his job his last two performance appraisals were not up to his usual high standards. And lastly, his relationship with his girlfriend had deteriorated due to his depression, financial difficulties, lack of patience, and his angry outbursts.

Though Barry was only twenty-five years old, he honestly started looking like he was in his mid forties. Sadly, this is what irresponsible and excessive drinking can do to a person. And in all honesty he knew that he was suffering from the adverse consequences of alcohol dependency or alcohol abuse and that he was too young to throw away his life to abusive drinking. So initially he tried to drink in moderation. Regrettably, he soon grasped the fact that he lost his self control after consuming his first drink. Stated somewhat more forcefully, after his first drink he invariably proceeded to get smashed. Due to the fact that this was an incident that was repeated every time he went to a bar to drink, this greatly disturbed him. In fact, he began to wonder if he was manifesting some of the signs of alcoholism and alcohol abuse.

Barry Makes up His Mind To Schedule an Appointment to See His Doctor

After mentioning his excessive alcohol consumption and his careless and abusive drinking with his girlfriend, he eventually made up his mind to make an appointment to see his doctor. When Barry saw his healthcare professional, he frankly mentioned that he has been drinking in a hazardous manner, that he may be exhibiting alcoholic signs, that he wants to refrain from drinking. He then confirmed that drinking in moderation doesn’t work well for him and, consequently, he wants to learn how he can live without drinking alcohol.

Barry also told his family doctor about his depression and how this mental health issue was adversely influencing his relationship with his girlfriend. His doctor referred Barry to Doctor Masin, a drug and alcohol addiction therapist, who motivated Barry to enroll in a drug and alcohol rehab center as an in-patient for alcohol detoxification and alcohol rehabilitation. Fortunately, Barry would also be able to get medical attention for his depression at this treatment center.

Quitting Drinking Was the Best Decision Barry Had Ever Made

After four months of rigorous rehabilitation, Barry left the residential treatment facility and continued his recovery via going to local Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and via outpatient counseling. Inspired to change his life in a more positive direction, Barry went to a health store and bought some vitamins and a cookbook. He then joined a gym and began working out three or four times per week. Within nine months Barry was a new person. He was eating nutritious meals, he wasn’t depressed anymore, he now looked younger than he was, he was in shape, and most significant of all, he remained sober for numerous months. He also became more patient, he didn’t resort to angry outbursts, and he became a more loving person in his relationship with his lady friend. In short, getting and staying sober was the best decision Barry had ever made.

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Would You Recognise A Panic Disorder?

Panic attacks and anxiety attacks are basically the same thing, and they are on the rise. Nobody knows why there are on the increase but our current stressful lives seem to be a big factor. Still, they are increasing and causing more and more people some serious grief.

Would you recognise a panic attack if you had one? That’s a difficult question to answer as the symptoms are quite wide ranging and can vary from mild to the downright frightening. Symptoms could be a simple hot flush to a more terrifying racing heart and shallowness of breath.

I think if you were having the more serious symptoms you would know you needed some type of help. But you may be suffering one of the many lesser symptoms and not really realising that you are having some form of anxiety attack. This could be a warning sign that things are about to get worse, much worse.

My wife had her first serious panic attack while out driving the car. Needless to say it wasn’t just the actual anxiety attack that frightened her but the fact she could have crashed and killed herself and others. This scenario just doesn’t bear thinking about.

If you haven’t been feeling yourself lately, maybe you’ve had one or two of these symptoms… Feeling anxious or on edge, can’t sleep, can’t concentrate, can’t sit still or feeling irritated. Any of these small signs could be a forewarning that something else is about to hit you.

Let me put you at ease a little before you actually break out and have an attack. Many things can cause symptoms like the above symptoms. And all of them are nothing to fret about. Too much caffeine can stop you sleeping. Uncomfortable clothing can cause you to fidget.

However if you think you may want to delve further and check out if you are a potential anxiety attack victim. Taking an anxiety symptoms test can give you a much clearer idea of your risk. The test involves answering yes or no to a few questions and adding your score up at the end.

You can then make a better informed decision to seek out further help or not. You can find a panic attack symptoms test here.

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Augie and Merissa have been dating for six years. They met while taking the same global and international studies class at a relatively small, countryside, Church affiliated liberal arts college located in the far Western part of the U.S. While they were basically good pals at first, they finally started dating when they were in their first year of college.

Because both of them came from very conservative backgrounds, neither one of them drank very much beyond the social drinking stage when they first began dating. As the time passed by, then again, they began to go to more happy hours, keg parties, football bashes, and sorority and fraternity parties. As a consequence, they little by little began to drink increasingly more as time passed by.

Their Social Life Regularly Consisted of Going to Parties With Their Friends, Going to Happy Hour With Their Friends, Going to Restaurants Three or Four Nights Per Week, Going to Professional Sporting Events, and Going With Their Friends to the Local Nightclub on the Weekends

After they graduated from college, they both landed jobs in a large city located roughly ninety-five miles from their undergraduate college. Then they finally determined that they would move into the same apartment together.

Since they were far removed from the college drinking scene, nevertheless, their social life commonly consisted of going to professional sporting events, going to restaurants three or four nights per week, going to parties with their friends, going to happy hour with their friends, and going to the local bar and grill with their friends on the weekends. Stated more explicitly, Merissa and Augie started to drink quite extensively.

Now that they were living in the same apartment together and starting to get more serious about their relationship, then again, they started thinking about becoming more responsible, buying a house, getting married, and having children.

With any noteworthy modification in an individual’s life there is generally something that activates the particular transformation in question. For Augie and Merissa the thought of having children and buying a new house was this “vehicle for change.” Simply put, for the first time in their lives, Augie and Merissa began to think about their irresponsible drinking and the long term alcohol effects on their health.

How Would Their Abusive and Heavy Drinking Affect Their Relationship With One Another, Their Ability to Have Children, Their Finances, Their Mental Health, and Their Relationship With Their Parents?

Would their excessive drinking adversely affect their ability to have children? How would they be able to continue spending most of their money on drinking if they were to begin saving for a new house? How mature would they be if they had children and continued to drink in a hazardous and excessive manner? How would they be able to face their parents and tell them about their long term dreams, aspirations, and hopes while they still drank in an irresponsible and abusive manner while having fun as they did when they were in college? What would their heavy and excessive drinking do to their relationship? How would their excessive drinking affect their mental health?

From a different perspective, although neither one of them ever suffered from alcohol poisoning, received a DUI, or experienced alcohol withdrawals, they realized that their abusive and irresponsible drinking was becoming a troublesome issue that they could not ignore anymore.

After Giving Their Situation Considerable Thought, Augie and Merissa Grasped the Fact That Their Dreams, Aspirations, and Goals Would not be Accomplished if They Continued Their Heavy and Hazardous Drinking

All of these inquiries without a doubt resulted in the same conclusion: Augie and Merissa needed to grasp the fact that they couldn’t continue their abusive and heavy drinking if their plans, hopes, and dreams were to be made real.

Once they arrived at this conclusion, they told their drinking friends about their marital plans, about their goal of buying or building a new house, and about their plans to start a family. They also told their drinking friends that they still wanted to pal around with them but that they would be drinking in strict moderation from this time forward so that they could start realizing their future dreams, hopes, and plans.

Much to their disbelief, all of their friends expressed relief because they too had been taking into account the direction of their lives and concluded that their life-styles were much too often focused on drinking. They also felt that they would have to change fundamentally if they were to become more responsible and manifest more thoughtfulness for their health, their careers, and for their goals in the next fifteen or twenty years.

After their heart-to-heart conversation with their pals about their hopes, dreams, and plans, Augie and Merissa essentially started to have more meaningful relationships with all of their buddies. The main reason for this was the fact that all of them had a similar mindset regarding their abusive and hazardous drinking and their relatively short and long-term goals, plans, and aspirations.

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Heather is a sixty-four-year-old woman who is the top administrator in the human resources department at a large silver molding company. To help reduce the costs correlated with excessive sick days, increasing absenteeism, poor employee work performance, employee alcoholism and alcohol abuse, and work related injuries, Heather and the other members of upper management instituted a number of programs that made the work atmosphere substantially more productive, healthy, and safe.

For example, fourteen years ago Heather and the other company leaders instituted an Employee’s Assistance Program so that all the workers had access to first-rate counseling for their personal problems that could negatively influence their personal well-being, health, and their work performance.

Top Management Constructs a State-of-the-Art Exercise and Workout Room Complete With Exercise Equipment, Scales, a Professional Trainer During Business Hours, Mirrors, Weights, and Exercise Charts

As another illustration, about eight years ago Heather and the other company executives erected a forward-looking exercise and workout room complete with weights, many different types of exercise equipment, a professional trainer during business hours, exercise charts, mirrors, and scales.

Moreover, just about five years ago Heather and the other members of upper management invested in a purification system that filters all the drinking water that is accessible in the building. In a similar way, three years ago, Heather and the other VIPs started a “walking club” that is basically intended for workers who want to work on their cardiovascular system.

The Company Executives Launch a Weight-Watchers Class and Employ a Weight-Loss Trainer to Manage the Program

As another example, about two years ago, Heather and the other members of top management put into operation a “Weight-Watchers” class that presently meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4:30 PM until 5:50 PM. Furthermore, top management employed a weight-loss professional to oversee the program.

In the same way, two years ago Heather and the other members of top management instituted a “Stop Smoking Club” for workers who want to refrain from smoking.

In the last nine months, in conjunction with the Employee’s Assistance Program, Heather and the other company leaders initiated an “Anger Management” class for workers who want to learn how to better manage their anger issues.

The VIPs Initiate a Drug and Alcohol Testing Program

In the last three-and-a-half months, Heather and the other company executives put into operation a drug and alcohol testing program that is related to their drug and alcohol abuse prevention program. In actual fact, Heather is the key person in the company responsible for getting the message out to all the employees about the drug and alcohol testing program as well as the drug and alcohol abuse prevention program.

One of the main elements of the drug and alcohol abuse prevention program is a class entitled “Alcoholism and Depression” that meets every Wednesday after work. The main idea with this class is informing workers that abusive drinking and depression many times occur in the same person. It is hoped that comprehending this information will be able to help a person address both medical problems and get the alcohol rehabilitation and mental health therapy he or she needs.

Top Management Initiates an Alcohol Statistics and Facts Class

Another fairly recent enhancement to the drug and alcohol abuse prevention program is a class entitled “Alcohol Statistics and Facts.” The rationale behind this alcohol statistics and facts class is the reality that many individuals fail to appreciate the full impact of the results of alcohol abuse and alcoholism without first learning about some of the alcohol abuse and alcoholism facts and statistics that are available. Consequently, one of the objectives of this class is to provide various alcoholism and alcohol abuse facts and statistics to help workers gain a better realization of the host of problems that are linked to excessive and abusive drinking and how they can prevent these difficulties from coming about.

Most recently, Heather and the other company leaders, via comments from employees, developed a class that focuses directly on severe drinking entitled “What is Alcoholism”? This what is alcoholism class meets every Thursday morning an hour before work and focuses largely on the differences between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency and the different kinds of rehab that are available for people who drink in an abusive manner.

Although every single one of these preventative maintenance and health programs was relatively expensive, top management reasons that they are several thousands of dollars ahead by providing all of their employees with healthy, more productive, and safe working conditions.

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