Wendy was the mother of five children. Wendy had been feeling quite anxious lately and started to “medicate” herself by having two or three shots of burbon every night after she tucked her children into bed. After just about six months of this drinking routine, she finally realized that instead of helping her ”chill out” and ”muddle through” her issues, drinking made her feel more restless when she got up in the morning. This, in turn, made her feel increasingly more stressed throughout the day.

After thinking about her predicament for several days, Wendy decided to discuss her drinking situation with her best friend. In fact, just about fifteen minutes into their conversation, Wendy’s friend, Katie, told her about a very experienced and competent doctor at the local drug and alcohol rehab center. After talking to her friend, Wendy without much ado got motivated to call the rehabilitation center and make an appointment.

Twelve days later she eventually got to meet the doctor her best friend had been talking about. After their short-and-to-the-point introduction, Wendy explained to the doctor that ever since her former husband and she got divorced, she has been having a difficult time psychologically, spiritually, and financially.

At times, she felt that the divorce was behind her. Recently, though, she has been feeling extremely depressed about the fact that she and her former husband couldn’t “make it”. When asked by the doctor how long she and her former husband went together before they got married, Wendy explained to the psychiatrist that her ex-husband and she dated for three-and-a-half years and then lived together for three-and-a-half years before they got married.

As Wendy was talking to the physician, she underlined the point that she honestly believed that Robert and she waited long enough to know one another well enough before they got married. After the children started to arrive, however, everything seemed to go downhill. What is more, both she and Robert started to drink, and their unhealthy and excessive drinking negatively affected their relationship, their finances, and their love for one another.

When things became less than congenial between them, Robert hired a lawyer and filed for a divorce. Even though things were noticeably not going well and although she was often depressed, Wendy told the doctor that she did not want to end their relationship. Once she received her divorce papers, however, she knew that their relationship was over.

The psychiatrist explained to Wendy that the tension, anxiety, and stress that she has been experiencing concerning her excessive and hazardous drinking are some of the typical alcohol abuse effects and that the best solution for this state of affairs is rehabilitation for one’s alcohol abuse. In fact, getting alcohol abuse treatment is very important because repeated drinking can get the drinker into even more debilitating alcohol and alcoholism difficulties.

After eight or nine treatment sessions with her physician, Wendy was little by little able to understand that the real root of her anxiety and her depression was that she had not resolved her hostile feelings she has for her former husband who had divorced her a year-and-a-half ago. With these insights and with the medications her psychiatrist prescribed, she eventually quit drinking, she began to feel substantially less depressed, and she began making more time for social activities with her friends and family. A few months after receiving treatment from her doctor, she even started to date once again.

It was apparent that Wendy had come a long way. In truth, just about eight months after she completed her counseling, Wendy had finally laid the depressing thoughts of her ex-husband to rest and was beginning to feel better about herself and more spiritually “sound” and psychologically “together” than she had ever felt in her life.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,