Alcohol Rehab

Alcoholics and addicts feel a compulsion to ingest chemicals known to be dangerous despite experiencing progressively more negative and painful results. A compulsion is an overwhelming urge to take an action that makes no sense. For example, Angela and Harry need those daytime hits—they don’t necessary want them. A fundamental element of this compulsion is the fact that users use despite the adverse consequences. They keep using even though they know that it will lead to problems in physical health, psychological functioning, relationships, the workplace, and finance. Few people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs want to admit that they are mentally ill, but the American Psychiatric Association considers addiction a mental illness that causes significant impairments in a person’s ability to function.

Another key feature of substance use disorders is denial, which the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence defines as a defense mechanism disavowing the significance of events, and a range of psychological maneuvers designed to reduce awareness of the fact that alcohol use is the cause of an individual’s problems. In other words, an alcoholic or addict knowingly hurts him or herself but then is unable to see or admit the problem.