The only way to think about alcoholism accurately is as a medical emergency. You are dealing with a person who is dying. Evidence says that 68% of people who come to a trauma center have an alcohol or drug problem.

Thirty percent of patients in acute care hospitals are addicted. Alcoholics spend four times the amount of time in a hospital as nondrinkers, mostly from drinking-related injuries. Up to 20% of visits to primary care physicians are related to substance abuse problems. Yet, doctors almost never recognize the alcohol problem:

Sadly, although physicians are the professionals most often cited by patients
and families as the “most appropriate” source of advice and guidance about
issues related to the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, they also are re-
ported to be the “least helpful” in actually addressing these issues. Most di-
agnoses of alcohol abuse and addiction are missed by physicians, and even if
a diagnosis is made, many physicians do not know how to develop an orga-
nized treatment plan. (Conigliaro, Reyes, Parran, & Schultz, 2003, p. 325)

About 10% of the time, addiction is recognized as the cause of the problem that brought the patient into the health care system.  A cut on your head probably won’t kill you. A broken bone probably won’t kill you. An ulcer probably won’t kill you. But alcoholism will kill you if you allow it to continue. The death certificate might list a motor vehicle accident, a heart attack,  or a stroke.  It might be called cirrhosis or cancer,  but the cause is addiction. The accident happened because the patient was intoxicated. The murder happened because the person was drunk. The person died of liver failure from alcohol abuse. The only hope the patient has is you, regardless of your occupation. You may be a nurse, a member of the clergy, an EMT or paramedic, a police officer, ambulance driver, teacher, counselor, child, or spouse, but you see that the patient needs your help.

What you must do
You have recognized the disease. Are you going to be silent? Are you going to let the patient die? A big part of you wants to do that. It’s the easy way out. But there is another part of you, a stronger part. It’s that part of you that is not afraid of anything. A part of you is connected to the truth; a part of you will never stand by and watch another patient lose the battle against alcoholism.

Don’t miss the miracle
Don’t miss a miracle when it happens before your eyes.  God Almighty has sent this patient to you because he or she is lost in the darkness, and you are the only one who can show the way out. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says:

Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity
from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other
activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other
alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confi
dence when others fail. Remember they are very ill. (Alcoholics Anonymous, 2001, p. 89)

The patient is not in your presence by accident. He or she is there because of divine intervention,  and it is your job to do the work.  This troubles some professionals because they don’t believe in God; but in recovery, we teach the patient to work a spiritual program. Surveys show that 95% of Americans believe in God,  and one of 10 people say they pray,  most of them (67% to 75%) daily (Gallup & Lindsay, 1999; The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2003). A majority of patients receiving health care say they would like their caregivers to ask about and discuss the spiritual aspects of their illnesses (Daaleman & Nease, 1994; King & Bushwick, 1994). One of the best things about 12-step programs is that they are free.

A person can have a new peer group who will love and support him or her in recovery. Project MATCH found that most treatments work and the longer patients stay in treatment, the better they do. The best treatment necessitates that patients get honest, go to meetings, and seek a higher power of their own understanding. These are the essentials of good treatment. This is not the only good treatment, but it is the traditional treatment used by most treatment centers in the country (Anthenelli & Schuckit, 1998).

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Robert R. Perkinson,  PHD
Helping Your Clients Find the Road to Recovery

Alcoholism - Treatment.  I.  Title.
RC565.P375 - 2004
616.86’10651- dc22