When One Drink Is Not Enough Becomes a Problem

Some people might wonder about the tremendous growth and expansion of treatment and rehab centers for the abuse of alcohol in the United States over the past few decades. Alcoholism was once a hushed, somewhat taboo topic in and among people afraid of the stigma attached to its nature. In a 2006 study titled the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in which 67,500 people were interviewed regarding their consumption of alcohol, more than 50% labeled themselves drinkers. In more recent studies by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, 4% of U.S. citizens are suffering from the symptoms of the disease of alcoholism, with up to 10% prone to the disease without close monitoring and control. These statistics translate as up to one out of every ten citizens who may not be able to successfully make voluntary decisions to determine when one drink is simply not enough.

Treatment for alcoholism in health centers and rehab facilities is now a normal, everyday circumstance for some people suffering from this debilitating disease. To be clear, alcoholism and its destructive characteristics are anything but normal and everyday. But residential centers and rehabilitation facilities for alcoholics are quite common in communities that offer forward-thinking and supportive social services. Several private facilities, like Bradford Health Services in the southeastern U.S., offer a more customized treatment of alcoholism and addiction, with varying levels of care for an individual’s needs. These types of professional service facilities are usually staffed with highly trained and professionally certified doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, and counselors who provide high-quality assessment and treatment for alcoholism.

What does it mean for someone unable to determine when one drink is not enough, or to what degree the consumption and abuse of alcohol has affected or even destroyed their healthy state of being? These are questions that trained professionals are able to assess and effectively engage with because they understand that the overwhelming power of alcoholism is such that it clouds, distorts, or even destroys the capacity for an individual to assess their own catastrophic behavior. Treatment for alcoholism is no longer a taboo subject, Opportunities for an individual, or the family and friends of an individual, to find help and take control of the disease and their lives are more available than ever before. It’s usually the first steps in this journey that are the most difficult.