Teresa was a forty-six-year-old physical therapist who realized that she had some problems with her drinking. For instance, within the past seven months she has felt the need to have several drinks before going to work, three weeks ago she tested positive for a hair alcohol test where she works, five weeks ago she got pulled over by the police for a DUI, and last but not least, for the past three months she has begun to fail to remember what she does and says when she drinks with her pals.

Not unlike other individuals, Teresa’s alcohol involvement began little by little and stayed at this level of involvement for quite a long period of time because every so often she engaged in sporadic social drinking. In truth, for almost eight months, every time she went out with her buddies to drink, she made sure to drink in a responsible manner. Something about her drinking circumstances, however, seemed to completely change when her husband divorced her.

So She Can Endure the Breakup of Her Husband With Less Distress, Teresa Came to the Conclusion That She Will Start Associating More Routinely With Some of Her Friends Who Love to Drink

Teresa got especially down in the dumps about the loss of her husband, and as a way to quit her preoccupation with her dismal feelings she made up her mind to start palling around more regularly with some of her friends who love to have fun drinking.

Quite sincerely, Teresa truly believed that having fun nearly every day by getting “mellow” and drinking with her friends would help her recover from the breakup of her husband with less misery.

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

It didn’t take too long, nevertheless, before her drinking increased significantly the more frequently she went to and drank at happy hours, sporting events, family get-togethers, private parties, and dinner dates with her friends. What is more, the fact that her drinking pals were all considerably younger than she was and therefore able to party and drink harder and longer was one of the reasons why she didn’t focus more on her increased drinking. Simply put, she was having a great time drinking just like everyone else in her group of pals without giving too much thought to the negative consequences of her drinking behavior.

Yet somewhere in the recesses of her mind she knew that she most probably required alcohol counseling but avoided the thought as much as she could.

Teresa Gets a Physical Exam, ”Comes Clean” About Her Irresponsible and Hazardous Drinking to Her Healthcare Professional, and ”Comes Clean” About Her Melancholy

One late afternoon during her six-month physical, her physician asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to lie to her healthcare professional, Teresa owned up to the fact that she frequently drinks more than she should. If truth be told, she said that she routinely drinks in a hazardous and irresponsible manner. Then Teresa informed her healthcare practitioner about her sadness. More plainly, she articulated that wrecked relationships usually caused a discouraging progression of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more negative feelings that, in turn, led to even more drinking. And this is explicitly what took place when she and her husband got divorced eleven months ago.

When her physician heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was investigating, alcoholism and depression routinely arise in the same person. He then told Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, facts, and research investigations he has been studying also underscore the fact that individuals who drink in an excessive manner and who also suffer from depression need to receive treatment for both medical situations.

Teresa’s Healthcare Practitioner Makes an Appointment for a Psychological Appraisal and For an Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse Evaluation

Teresa’s physician then stated the following: “I am not trying to make an unprofessional judgment, but with your medical situation we may be confronting two separate issues. As a result, I think we should make an appointment for you to get an alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction evaluation from my partner, Dr. Stern, who is an alcohol dependency specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more related to alcohol dependency or alcohol abuse is unclear, but I think that further assessment is warranted. Then I feel we ought to make an appointment for you to get a psychological assessment from another one of my partners, Dr. Clark, who is a clinical psychologist. I want to get a better understanding about your sadness and see how much your depression and drinking are correlated.” Teresa displayed her approval of her healthcare practitioner’s line of attack and thanked him for his help. Now all she had to do was to try to reduce her drinking and wait for her appointments.