My friend regularly has an habit of alcohol consumption. His age is 25. If he does not drinks for a day his body starts shivering. He can't wait at that moment runs to the shop and takes alcohol. Then his body comes to normal stage. Can't we change him?
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Of course not: he needs to want to change first. He is an addict and the shivering he is experiencing is the withdrawal symptoms because his body is craving the substance. So, ideally he must want to stop this habit. Otherwise it will become a futile exercise. If this habit has become too much as we can see, then you will need to admit him into a center for rehabilitation. He will need to be there for at least 6 months and they will do detoxification and treatment for the addictive nature followed by extensive counseling. There are medicines that help with the drinking just to ease the initial craving and to act as an antabuse i.e. he will have a serious reaction, if he consumes even a small quantity of alcohol or alcohol based substances. It has to be carefully monitored to see that he not only consumes the medication but is also avoiding alcohol. Ultimately, it is his will power and the support that he receives from the medical fraternity and his close and dear ones. He must also learn to substitute and deal with the oral need, a rigid value system, the script issue, and of course take a look at all the genetic factors to plan a strategy not to get into what is called ?cross addictions? i.e. another form of addiction that may appear alright but is in fact as bad as the primary addiction. The center or hospital and the counselor will advise and guide him on several measures and precautions he will need to take to stay with his resolve. Even after the rehabilitation he must attend AA meetings and continue this support for a long time. The family will also need to attend some sessions and go for Al-anon meetings for their co-dependency issues. He cannot be treated in isolation because the family has gotten used to his drinking and have made some unhealthy adaptations to somehow cope. Make a serious plan with whoever else?s support he can get and act on it fast. If he is not cooperative, there are some centers that will come and pick him up, after he is completely drunk, and admit him by force. This will however, require the family?s consent.
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