A Woman Exhibits Symptoms of Alcohol Addiction and Depression and Schedules an Appointment to See Her Medical Practitioner About Her Alcohol Related Problems

Teresa was a forty-six-year-old financial analyst who realized that she had a problem with her drinking. For instance, within the past six months she has experienced the need to have one or two drinks before going to work, two weeks ago she failed a random urine alcohol test at her place of employment, three months ago she got pulled over by the police for “driving under the influence”, and last but not least, for nearly two months she has begun to fail to remember what she does and says when she drinks.

Not unlike multitudes of other individuals, Teresa’s alcohol involvement began at a “snail’s pace” and continued at this level for quite a long period of time because every once in a while she engaged in occasional social drinking. As a matter of fact, for about nine months, every time she drank, she made sure to drink in moderation. Something about her drinking situation, however, seemed to totally change when she divorced her husband.

In Order To Endure the Divorce of Her Husband In a More Pain Free Manner, Teresa Made Up Her Mind To Start Palling Around More Regularly With Some of Her Buddies Who Love to Whoop it Up and Drink

Teresa got awfully dejected about the divorce from her husband, and as a way to refrain from obsessing about her dismal emotions she made up her mind that she would start palling around more routinely with some of her pals who love to ”get down” and drink.

Quite candidly, Teresa concluded that having fun nearly every day by drinking and partying with her buddies would help her come to terms with the breakup of her husband in a more pain free manner.

Teresa’s Drinking Escalates Greatly the More Habitually She Goes to Private Parties, Dinner Dates, Family Get-Togethers, Sporting Events, and Happy Hours With Her Friends

It didn’t take long, nevertheless, before her drinking escalated significantly the more routinely she went to and drank at dinner dates, private parties, family get-togethers, sporting events, and happy hours with her pals. Not only this, but the fact that her drinking buddies were all many years younger than she was and therefore able to drink more intensely was one of the reasons that she didn’t direct more of her attention to her increased drinking. In a word, she was drinking and having fun just like everyone else in her group of friends without giving much thought to the negative effects of her excessive drinking.

Yet someplace in her mind she realized that she more likely than not needed alcohol rehabilitation but sidestepped the thought as much as humanly possible.

Teresa Gets a Physical Exam, ”Comes Clean” About Her Abusive and Irresponsible Drinking to Her Healthcare Practitioner, and Admits Her Melancholy

One late afternoon during her twelve month physical examination, her doctor asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell falsehoods to her healthcare professional, Teresa acknowledged that she frequently drinks more than she should. As a matter of fact, she said that she routinely drinks in an excessive and irresponsible manner. Then Teresa told her healthcare professional about her depression. More plainly, she mentioned that shattered relationships frequently started a dismal sequence of events characterized by increased drinking which further led to more disheartening feelings that, in turn, resulted in even more drinking. And this is specifically what happened when her husband and she got divorced three years ago.

When her healthcare practitioner heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was researching, alcoholism and depression many times occur in the same person. He then informed Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, facts, and research investigations he has been looking into also underline the fact that individuals who drink in an irresponsible and hazardous manner and who also suffer from depression need to receive treatment for both medical situations.

Teresa’s Physician Schedules an Appointment for a Psychological Assessment and For an Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse Assessment

Teresa’s doctor then said the following: “I am not trying to make a sudden judgment, but with your medical condition we may be facing two separate issues. As a consequence, I think we ought to schedule an appointment for you to get an alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency assessment from my partner, Dr. Ballas, who is an alcohol and drug abuse specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more correlated with alcohol dependency or alcohol abuse is not clear at this time, but I believe that further assessment is needed. Then I feel we should make an appointment for you to get a psychological evaluation from another one of my partners, Dr. Bodnar, who is a clinical psychologist. I want to get a better grip on your dejection and see how much your drinking and depression are interrelated.” Teresa showed her approval of her physician’s plan of attack and thanked him for his help and concern. Now all she had to do was to try to trim down on her drinking and wait for her appointments.