Concerned about someone's drinking?

Alcoholism or ‘alcohol dependence syndrome’ is a debilitating and progressive condition, consisting of physical dependency and psychological compulsion. It is an illness characterised by the following elements:

• Craving - a strong need or compulsion to drink
• Loss of control - the frequent inability to stop drinking once started
• Tolerance - the need for increasing amounts of alcohol to feel any effect
• Psychological compulsion to drink - an inability to control the desire to drink even though a decision may have been made to stop drinking.

Approximately one in ten people in the UK suffer from this illness. The effect, not only on the individual but on families, the workplace and society as a whole can be devastating.

If you are dependent you may have a strong desire for alcohol. On some occasions the desire may be overwhelming. You may have great difficulty in controlling your drinking. You may have no intention of getting drunk but wake up the next morning wondering how it happened again.

Your body can become so used to large amounts of alcohol that you start to develop ‘withdrawal’ symptoms 3 – 8 hours after your last drink as the effect of the alcohol wears off. Some people will drink to stave off these symptoms.

The families of alcoholics are very often in as much need of help as the alcoholic themselves. The effects of alcohol abuse on spouses, partners and children can be intolerable. At Linwood Manor we offer a family programme to enable all members of a family to begin their own recovery.

One-to-one and group sessions will be part of the programme together with educational lectures and workshops. These sessions help in gaining an understanding of the illness of alcoholism, and how to deal with the problems that have occurred as a result of the illness. Going into rehabilitation for alcoholism at Mimosa’s Linwood Manor can be very successful. It combines detox and counselling.

Visit www.linwoodmanor.co.uk for more information and advice on alcoholism.