It is remarkable to bring up something that family members who have been harmfully affected by the alcoholism of another family member obviously do not comprehend. It appears that by protecting the alcohol addicted individual with falsehoods and deceit to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have essentially created a condition that makes it easier for the alcohol addicted person to carry on and move forward with his or her unsafe, detrimental way of living.

Undeniably, rather than helping the alcoholic and themselves, these family members have in fact become enablers who have inadvertently helped negatively affect the alcohol dependent individual’s drinking problem even more.

Relapses Can and Do Transpire

Another key alcohol addiction issue involves alcohol relapses.  Relapses take place when an alcohol dependent person has successfully undergone alcohol addiction treatment and then returns to drinking a number of weeks or months later.  At first thought, this situation flies in the face of sound thinking and appears to be so implausible that it forces a person to wonder why anyone who has gone through the dejection of alcohol dependency can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol treatment and in turn after reaching sobriety.  There are, of course, numerous reasonable reasons for this.

It should be explained, then again that alcohol dependency research that has centered on the lasting outcomes of alcohol addiction has revealed that long after the alcohol dependent individual has discontinued his or her drinking, critical transformations in the way in which the alcohol dependent person’s brain works are still present. As a consequence, all a recovering alcoholic has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the alterations that have taken place in the brain is to start drinking again.

The Need for A Major Lifestyle Modification

There are other reasons why more than a few recovering alcohol dependent persons return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after attaining sobriety. In accordance to the alcoholism research literature, to make a successful recovery, the alcohol dependent individual needs new ways of acting and thinking in order to deal more effectively with difficult alcohol-related situations that will take place.

Conditions such as returning to the same alcohol addictive atmosphere or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the time when the alcohol addicted individual was drinking excessively; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these circumstances can bring forth memories that can trigger psychological anxiety or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent person to engage in abusive drinking once again. Sadly, all of these circumstances may not only get in the way of enduring alcohol recovery for the alcohol dependent individual but they can also lead to relapse and therefore negate one’s sobriety.

Summary

In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol dependent individual, family members can essentially cause inadvertent harm by enabling the unhealthy drinking behavior of the alcohol addicted person.

The alcohol abuse research literature validates the fact that most individuals who successfully complete alcohol treatment go through at least one relapse. Alcohol addicted individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get depressed or stressed out when a relapse occurs.

Luckily, involvement in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up treatment and training have resulted in more productive, ongoing alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency therapeutic results, have helped reduce alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent individuals accomplish ongoing sobriety.