If you or someone you know needs help with alcoholism then you might want to consider taking action. So what is the best route to go? In my opinion the ideal siutation is for the struggling alcoholic to find a rehab center that has a professional detox area and get checked in. This is the best course of action for a number of reasons:

1) Safety – it is actually very dangerous to stop drinking alcohol and in fact the withdrawal from alcohol can kill a person. This might sound counter-intuitive but it is actually safer to continue drinking alcohol than it is to go through detox unsupervised. So the best course of action is to find a full medical detox in a treatment center where they can safely bring you down off the alcohol and prevent any seizures.

2) Support – there is a ton of support to be had in a residential treatment center and this will come from the other people who are there trying to accomplish the same feat as you are. Having peer support in recovery is huge because we help each other to stay sober through sharing our experience and strength with each other.

3) Aftercare – most drug rehab centers don’t just let you go without some sort of follow up plan in place. This plan might include long term treatment, counseling, or meeting attendance. Either way you’re bound to receive some extra help and knowledge about how to overcome alcoholism when you check out of treatment.

What if someone is not willing to go to treatment? If this is true then there’s not much to be done about it. In some states there is the option to commit someone to treatment but this is usually a mistake because there will be a huge resentment created which typically acts as fuel for more drinking. What works better in this situation is to simply to let someone know that rehab is available to them if and when they decide to quit drinking.

Tags: addiction, alcoholic, alcoholism, drug addiction, recovery