Teresa was a thirty-six-year-old accounts receivable manager who realized that she had a problem with her drinking. For instance, within the past month she has experienced the need to have one or two drinks before going to work, three weeks ago she tested positive for a blood alcohol test at her place of employment, four weeks ago she got arrested by the state highway patrol for a DWI, and last but not least, for nearly five months she has begun to forget what she does and says when she drinks with her pals.

Similar to other drinkers, Teresa’s involvement with alcohol started out slowly and continued at this speed for quite a long time because sometimes she engaged in occasional social drinking. As a matter of fact, for about ten months, every time she drank, she made sure to drink in a responsible manner. Something about her drinking activities, nevertheless, seemed to completely change when she divorced her husband.

In Order To Overcome the Divorce of Her Husband More Quickly, Teresa Determined That She Will Begin Hanging Around More Routinely With Some of Her Friends Who Love to Party

Teresa got very disheartened about the breakup with her husband, and as a way to refrain from fixating on her depressing emotions she came to a decision that she would start associating more repeatedly with some of her buddies who love to drink.

Quite frankly, Teresa thought that having fun just about every day by getting an alcohol “buzz” with her buddies would help her rise above the loss of her husband with less sorrow.

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

It didn’t take long, however, before her drinking increased substantially the more habitually she went to and drank at sporting events, dinner dates, family get-togethers, private parties, and happy hours with her pals. Moreover, the fact that her drinking pals were all quite a bit younger than she was and therefore able to drink harder and more frequently was one of the reasons why she didn’t concentrate more on her increased drinking. In a word, she was drinking and having fun just like everybody else in her group of friends without giving too much consideration about the negative results of her abusive and excessive drinking.

Yet somewhere in her brain she realized that she more likely than not required alcohol counseling but stayed away from the thought as much as possible.

Teresa Gets a Physical, Owns Up to the Facts About Her Abusive and Hazardous Drinking to Her Physician, and Acknowledges Her General State of Gloom

One day during her six-month physical, her healthcare professional asked her if she drank alcohol. Not wanting to lie to her healthcare practitioner, Teresa acknowledged that she often drinks more than she should. If truth be told, she said that she frequently drinks in a hazardous and irresponsible manner. Then Teresa told her doctor about her depression. More explicitly, she mentioned that broken relationships more often than not set off a discouraging progression of events characterized by increased drinking which further led to more discouraging feelings that, in turn, resulted in even more drinking. And this is specifically what took place when her husband and she got divorced nine months ago.

When her doctor heard this, he informed Teresa that according to various alcoholism facts and statistics on alcoholism he was examining, alcoholism and depression commonly occur in the same individual. He then informed her that some of the alcohol statistics, research investigations, and facts he has been looking into also stress the fact that people who drink in a hazardous manner and who also go through depression need to obtain treatment for both medical conditions.

Teresa’s Doctor Schedules an Appointment for a Psychological Evaluation and For an Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse Assessment

Teresa’s healthcare practitioner then told her the following: “I am not trying to make an unprepared diagnosis, but with your medical situation we may be facing two separate issues. As a result, I think we probably need to schedule an appointment for you to get an alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse assessment from my partner, Dr. Alpertin, who is an alcohol abuse and alcoholism specialist. Whether your drinking circumstance is more correlated with alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency is unclear, but I feel that further evaluation is defensible. Then I feel we ought to schedule an appointment for you to get a psychological exam from another one of my partners, Dr. Parker, who is a clinical psychologist. I want to get some more information about your sadness and see how much your depression and drinking are correlated.” Teresa expressed her endorsement of her doctor’s “game plan” and thanked him for his time and concern. Now all she had to do was to try to cut back on her drinking and get ready for her appointments.