Residential Alcohol Treatment Centers

The “drunk” has long been a source of comic relief in television shows and movies. From Otis Campbell’s swaying stagger into his regular jail cell week after week on the “Andy Griffith Show” to the drunk chick in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” characters who are clearly alcoholics have coaxed laughs out of viewing audiences from the big and small screen for decades, and before that, they injected humor into plays.

If you or someone you love has ever suffered from alcohol dependency, it’s likely you don’t laugh at those portrayals. You’re not amused when characters get sloshed and wear lampshades on their heads at fictional office Christmas parties, nor do you crack a smile when a slurring character is shown on a reality show like “Jersey Shore” or “The Real World.” For those who have lived through or alongside the ravages of alcoholism, the disease is a serious obstacle in life, not a source of cheap fun.

For many alcoholics whose dependency is as pronounced as, say, Otis Campbell’s, residential alcohol treatment centers are nearly the only option. While those with less advanced alcoholism, outpatient programs or even self-motivated attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings can steer a life back on track, but for those whose lives revolve around daily drinking to the point of blacking out, all day every day, stopping is far more difficult. In fact, in cases of acute alcohol dependency, withdrawal symptoms can be not only dangerous, but even fatal.

Withdrawal begins with the craving for more alcohol. Next up, if the craving isn’t fed, those with serious chemical dependencies will develop delerium tremens, known coloquially as “the DT’s.” These symptoms can involve visual, auditory and olfactory hallucinations, convulsions, seizures, extreme confusion, hyperactivity, cardiovascular problems and disorientation. In extreme cases, these symptoms can progress into major seizures, heart attacks or strokes.

Not so funny, is it?

In residential alcohol treatment centers, trained medical professionals can keep a watchful eye on addicts experiencing alcohol withdrawal, administering doses of vitamins like thiamin or even medications like Valium, depending on the user’s level of dependency. Honesty with medical professionals from the outset of the treatment process is absolutely key, as your usual alcohol intake will help doctors and nurses decide how best to tackle your withdrawal process.

Withdrawal may be the most harrowing part of alcohol treatment, but patients stay in residential centers far after the DT’s have worn off. Once the physical addiction is broken, a flood of psychological withdrawal symptoms must be dealt with. Facilities offer multi-pronged approaches to dealing with those symptoms. No two alcoholics’ afflictions are exactly the same, and nor are any two treatment approaches. Residential alcohol treatment centers have a variety of tools in their toolboxes to help each addict get to the root of his or her problem, then learn to live a life free of alcohol dependency.

In addition to one-on-one and group counseling sessions, many facilities offer classes to teach alcoholics about what alcohol does to their bodies, addressing both how a physical dependency develops and what side effects can ravage the body after years of excessive and sustained drinking. Patients can also receive training on a wide variety of life skills, picking up tips on how to cope with life’s stresses and pitfalls without picking up a bottle. In addition, some facilities offer employment training to help recovered alcoholics ease their transition back into society.

If you or a loved one has sought treatment in the past and suffered a relapse, don’t abandon hope. You’re not alone — far from it, in fact. Many alcoholics, alongside people with dependencies on other chemicals, experience at least one, if not many, relapses before they enter sustained recovery. Just because a residential alcohol treatment program didn’t do the trick before doesn’t mean it can’t work this time.

Perhaps it’s not you with a problem. Alcoholism is often considered a family disease because of its profound effect on all members of a household. Being on the outside of an addiction situation looking in is a precarious spot to be in. Attempts to “help” an alcoholic can often backfire, enabling the person to progress further into the disease. Cleaning up after the mistakes an alcoholic makes as a result of his or her disease doesn’t help an addict — it only allows him or her to continue denying the problem at hand. Showing the addict real consequences for the unhealthy behavior are sometimes the only way to get that person to face his or her demons.

If you or someone you love is ready to start looking at residential alcohol treatment centers in hopes of finding one that works, plenty of options exist. From the extravagantly posh to the relatively mundane, wide ranges of treatment options are out there, waiting and ready to help when you’re willing and ready to ask.