Experiencing Pain in the Great Plain State of North Dakota?
North Dakota is one of several states that is a part of the Great Plains region. The region is characterized by wide expanses of flat land. In this part of the country, the sky is perceived as a huge, shimmering thing that feels infinitely closes to the earth. As the writer Jackson Burnett put it, ‘The prairie skies can always make you see more than you want to believe.” The plains have a way of distorting perception or promoting a sort of idealistic reality, which can either serve to inspire or distract people from life.
Some people are more inclined than others to seek out distraction. They might have trauma or just a general disposition that lends itself more to dreaming than living. There’s a romanticism to having your head in the clouds, but sometimes you can lose sight of your feet in the process. When people seek out distractions from reality, or are absorbed in the what’s above and not around them, they may find themselves drawn to substance abuse. Specifically, alcohol has been used as a tool to keep people disengaged from reality.
How to Know if Someone Has an Alcohol Abuse Problem?
There are a lot of people in our country who abuse alcohol. It is an epidemic that’s caused a lot of grief and heartbreak. Thousands of lives are being lost as people abuse alcohol. The line between alcohol use and abuse may seem murky to some. However, there are several signs that can prove whether or not someone is abusing alcohol in a way that’s leading them towards dependence or has already got them there.
One of the first signs of alcohol abuse is a change in mood. People who abuse alcohol tend to have their moods fluctuate wildly. Alcohol manifests itself in everyone differently. Some people use alcohol to express their feelings. If that’s the case, they may go through cycles of moods throughout the day that they have allowed to lay dormant for a while. Others use alcohol to avoid feeling and that could make them seem cold or distant.
Another tell-tale sign of alcohol abuse is when someone begins to neglect responsibilities. They may start missing work or dropping the ball on their major responsibilities. Lying is also a sign of alcohol abuse. The person who is abusing alcohol needs to keep their buzz and they can often lie in order to avoid dealing with people keeping them from drinking.
In severe cases alcohol abuse can turn into dependence. When someone is alcohol dependent, their brain has been rewired in ways that make them enslaved to the drink. Their brain has adjusted to the constant presence of alcohol and it won’t be able to function right without it. At this point, the best thing to do is get the person in treatment. If they aren’t willing to go on their own accord, the family should try the tried and true method of intervention.
Intervention
Holding an intervention for your loved one struggling with alcohol dependence is one of the best things you could for them. An intervention helps the person realize the full extent of their damage on others. After someone has developed a dependence on alcohol it’s never too early to schedule an intervention.
At ABT, we have the resources to connect you with an intervention specialist who will help your family go through the whole process. An intervention specialist is equipped with the latest techniques in crisis management and psychology. They can serve as a neutral, impartial party with an objective view of the situation.
When you have picked an interventionist, there will be an interview process. The interview is necessary for the interventionist to get a gauge on the loved one’s history and abuse patterns. After the interview, the interventionist will help your family come up with a script. It’s crucial that everybody agrees to follow the script as best they can so that the intervention goes smoothly. The intervention will be emotional and the worst thing that could happen is someone in the intervention group throwing off the balance and saying stuff off the cuff.
The script will outline the process of the intervention and usually involves various people who are close to the person struggling with abuse to share prepared statements. The interventionist will help the family with the statements so they are layered in love, but also in truth. It’s suggested that the intervention take place in a neutral, professional setting that doesn’t serve as a trigger to the person needing help.
If the intervention is successful, the person will go to rehab. The family should be prepared for anything, including the possibility that the individual refuses to go to rehab. The family can’t force the person to go to rehab, but hopefully the intervention is successful in getting them to realize that they are causing problems. Some people are okay with hurting themselves, but not a lot of people are okay with hurting others.
In the event that your loved one has agreed to treatment, they will have the option of picking a treatment facility. Though they may have the inclination to stay in-state, where they are comfortable, that should be avoided. It’s important for the person who is seeking treatment to get away from the place that lead to their abuse. A Better Today has great facilities for people seeking treatment. We also have a great staff that is dedicated to helping people live healthy lives.
Paying for Treatment
There are some people who wish to get help for their alcohol dependence issues but they feel like they can’t afford it. At ABT, we make sure that price doesn’t keep people from getting help. We offer a variety of treatment plans and we take most insurances. A lot of insurance companies will pay for most if not all of treatment.
What is Detox Like at A Better Today?
Another deterrent keeping people from seeking treatment is the process of detox. People think that detox is impossibly hard. Let’s be clear: Detox isn’t easy. As a matter of fact: It can be lethal. However, there are ways to mitigate the withdrawal symptoms that are experienced with detox. Some of the symptoms that people experience include: shaking, sweating, nausea and insomnia. In more extreme cases, the person may experience hallucinations and seizures—the latter of which someone could die from.
With that, ABT provides medically managed withdrawal in order to help the person go through detox. We provide 24-hour care at our facility and make sure that our clients are completely comfortable during the process. Before the client goes through detox, they will go through a medical examination process to determine the scope of their abuse. The patient must be completely honest so the ABT team can come up with the best plan of treatment. After detox is over the body will be cleansed, clearing the way for the brain to recover.
Treatment at A Better Today
Going through treatment at ABT is a process filled with loving and acceptance. The company prides itself on healing people through the tactics of cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps eradicate negative thought patters and dispositions.
The client will go through group and individualized therapy. In the group therapy, the client will be able to see other people who are going through similar things and feel motivated to keep moving forward. Group therapy also helps people become reacclimatized to the community again after their isolation. In individual therapy, the client will get paired with a professional therapist with a master’s degree to go over the various thought patterns that lead to abuse. The professional will help them learn the tools to cope in the real world.
The treatment process doesn’t end after rehab. When someone completes rehab they have the option of either going back to their home or entering a sober living facility. The sober living facilities are run by ABT staff who are there to help people transition back into the real world. It is strongly suggested that the person who finishes rehab seek out therapy, whether that’s in a 12-step program or with a therapist. Recovery is a daily grind, but it is definitively worth it for those who work it. When someone completes rehab they are forever a part of the ABT family.
