A Woman Manifest Signs of Depression and Alcohol Abuse and Schedules an Appointment to See Her Physician About Her Hazardous and Excessive Drinking and Mental Health Difficulties

Teresa was a forty-one-year-old graphic designer who knew that she had some problems with her drinking. For instance, within the past six months she has felt the need to have two or three drinks before going to work, seven weeks ago she failed a random breathalyzer test where she works, six weeks ago she got pulled over by the police for a DUI, and lastly, for nearly two months she has started to forget what she says and does when she goes out drinking.

Similar to multitudes of other drinkers, Teresa’s involvement with alcohol started out at a “snail’s pace” and stayed at this pace for quite a long period of time because at times she engaged in sporadic social drinking. In point of fact, for about ten months, every time she went out with her coworkers to drink, she made sure to drink responsibly. Something about her drinking, however, seemed to completely change when her husband divorced her.

In Order To Get Beyond the Divorce of Her Husband With Less Grief, Teresa Made Up Her Mind That She Will Begin Going Out More Frequently With Some of Her Pals Who Love to Whoop it Up and Drink

Teresa got dreadfully down in the dumps about the divorce from her husband, and as a way to refrain from fixating on her dismal feelings she arrived at a decision that she would begin hanging out more frequently with some of her buddies who love to party.

Quite frankly, Teresa concluded that having fun almost every day by partying and drinking with her friends would help her come to terms with the divorce of her husband more quickly.

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

It didn’t take long, nevertheless, before her drinking increased to a significant degree the more frequently she went to and drank at happy hours, private parties, sporting events, family get-togethers, and dinner dates with her friends. In addition, the fact that her drinking pals were all quite a bit younger than she was and therefore able to drink and party more frequently and harder was one of the reasons that she didn’t concentrate more on her increased drinking. To put it briefly, she was having a great time drinking just like everyone else in her group of buddies without much reflection about the negative results of her hazardous and irresponsible drinking.

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

Teresa Gets a Physical Exam, Discloses the Truth About Her Hazardous and Abusive Drinking to Her Healthcare Practitioner, and ”Comes Clean” About Her Sadness

One morning during her annual physical exam, her physician asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to tell “stories” to her healthcare professional, Teresa owned up to the truth that she commonly drinks more than she should. In reality, she stated that she regularly drinks in a hazardous and excessive manner. Then Teresa told her doctor about her depression. More to the point, she articulated that ruined relationships many times initiated a negative sequence of events typified by increased drinking which further resulted in more dismal feelings that, in turn, resulted in more drinking. And this is specifically what happened when her husband and she got divorced five years ago.

When her healthcare professional heard this, he told Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was reviewing, alcoholism and depression many times take place in the same individual. He then informed Teresa that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been reading about also underline the fact that individuals who drink in an abusive and hazardous manner and who also experience depression need to receive treatment for both medical conditions.

Teresa’s Healthcare Professional Schedules an Appointment for a Psychological Appraisal and For an Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse Evaluation

Teresa’s healthcare practitioner then said the following: “I am not trying to make a sudden analysis, but with your medical situation we may be confronting two separate concerns. As a result, I think we probably should schedule an appointment for you to get an alcoholism and alcohol abuse evaluation from my partner, Dr. Jacobs, who is an alcoholism and alcohol abuse specialist. Whether your drinking situation is more linked to alcohol addiction or alcohol abuse is unclear, but I feel that further assessment is needed. Then I feel we probably should make an appointment for you to get a psychological exam from another one of my partners, Dr. Dubas, who is a psychologist. I want to get a better handle on your depression and see how much your depression and drinking are interlinked.” Teresa expressed her satisfaction with her healthcare practitioner’s “game plan” and thanked him for his assistance. Now all she had to do was to try to cut back on her drinking and get ready for her appointments.