Blog - Beach House Rehab Center
January 17, 2019

How to Stop Alcoholism to Make a Positive Change

Alcoholism is a complex addiction that can affect every aspect of an individual’s life, including their employment, family, friends, school, and their involvement in their community. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), around sixteen million people in the United States struggle with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Due to the effect alcohol has on the human brain, it can be incredibly challenging to overcome alcohol addiction. Because it can feel extremely difficult to quit drinking alcohol, it can dishearten you from pursuing sobriety and overcoming alcohol addiction. However, there are a number of steps you can take today to stop drinking alcohol, find the right alcohol rehab treatment,  and begin on your journey towards an alcohol-free and sober life.

How to Stop Alcoholism: Steps You Need to Take

To understand how to stop alcoholism, it is important to think of the two main phases of recovering from an alcohol addiction: working towards and achieving sobriety and maintaining that sober life over time. Within each of these two phases, there are a number of steps to take to stop alcoholism and maintain sobriety. Below are the steps you need to take to stop an alcohol dependence.

Identify Your Alcohol Usage

Before attempting to stop drinking, it is important for you to make an honest analysis of how much you or a loved one is drinking. Finding the right path to sobriety requires an honest assessment of how dependent your body is on alcohol so that you can detox safely and achieve a sober life.

Find Your “Why?” and Set Goals

Once you have done an honest assessment of how much alcohol you are consuming, it’s important to determine why you want to achieve sobriety and live free from your alcohol dependence moving forward. It is also helpful to set goals for yourself, such as setting a definitive date. It is important to set clear, realistic, and achievable goals for yourself. During this stage, it can be helpful to write down all of the benefits of not drinking, the costs of drinking, and things you want yourself to remember about why not drinking is important to you as you work towards sobriety. As you are on the path to sobriety, you can reference back to your reasons and remind yourself why getting sober matters to you.  If you or a loved one needs alcohol addiction treatment, the sooner help is received the better.

Seeking Help and Finding the Right Treatment Option

Trying to stop alcoholism and your alcohol dependence on your own can be incredibly challenging, but thankfully you don’t have to work towards sobriety on your own. There are many different resources and options available to help you detox safely and achieve sobriety. To stop alcoholism, it’s important to seek help to ensure you safely detox the alcohol from your body and set yourself up for long-term sobriety. Below are a few of the various rehab treatment options that are available. Meeting with substance abuse professionals at a reputable treatment center will help you to select the right treatment option for your addiction.

  • Intensive Inpatient Treatment: This inpatient treatment option involves living in a designated residential facility and can involve pharmacology and group and individual therapy. Often, the length of the stay is for one month, though that varies on a case by case basis. One of the primary benefits of intensive inpatient treatment is that it offers a safe, supportive environment with 24/7 staff monitoring. Intensive inpatient treatment is often considered as the optimal therapeutic and social option and the industry gold standard.
  • Intensive Outpatient (IOP) Treatment: IOP is a less intensive treatment option that requires clients to attend a designated treatment facility without requiring them to live within the facility during treatment. Similar to the intensive inpatient treatment, this treatment option allows clients to participate in group and individual therapy and utilize pharmacological intervention if needed. For individuals with demanding professional and personal schedules, this can be a beneficial treatment option.
  • Outpatient (OP) Treatment: The least intensive treatment option is outpatient treatment, which only involves attending once or twice weekly individual and/or group therapy in addition to consultations and medical follow-ups. OP treatment can be used on its own or as a progressive stage for individuals who have successfully completed intensive inpatient or IOP treatment programs.

When choosing the right treatment option for you, it is important to remember that recovering from alcohol addiction is a long-term process that will have difficulties and challenges that extend beyond the end of professionally monitored and guided treatment.

Commit to Aftercare

Addiction is a chronic disease with a high risk of relapse, which makes committing to drug rehab aftercare a vital part of lasting recovery. Once you have completed treatment, it is important to find a way to maintain the emotional support needed to maintain sobriety. Beach House’s Wellness Program helps set clients up for success by offering support to your family members throughout your treatment and staying connected with them after your recovery to check-in on your sobriety. In addition, Beach House possess an extremely strong alumni network to help offer support during your recovery.

Sources:

  1. Alcohol.Org, An American Addiction Centers Resource. “Stop Drinking Alcohol & Get Help.” Retrieved from https://www.alcohol.org/alcoholism/how-to-stop/.
  2. HelpGuide.Org. “Overcoming Alcohol Addiction.” Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/overcoming-alcohol-addiction.htm.
  3. National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide (Third Edition).” Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/drug-addiction-treatment-in-united-states.