seen in the early stages of addictions. Defense mechanisms include minimizing thenegative impact of the behavior, rationalizing the drug use, and blaming others for theirchoices and actions. The lives of those close to the alcohol dependent person can also beaffected. Being in a long term relationship with a substance abuser often results in lowself-esteem, depression, chronic anger, and stress related illnesses. They may attempt tocontrol the addicts behavior or compensate for the addict by taking on some of theirresponsibilities enabling the addict to continue use. These dysfunctional ways of relatingto the alcoholic is referred to as codependency. Many negative consequences associatedwith difficulty in expressions of emotion are job loss, marital separation, loss of childcustody, and alienation of prior support network, such as friends and family. Chemicaldependency treatment programs attempt to assist the dysfunctional family by altering thefamily members way of dealing with conflict, interpersonal needs, communicationpatterns, and domestic responsibilities. Social attitudes and solutions for alcoholdependent persons include rehabilitation programs, decriminalization to imprisonment,and mandatory sentencing of drug users and sellers (Riley, 1998).Lifestyle adjustments for the recovering alcohol dependent person could includerestructuring their environment. This process would entail removing alcohol from thehome, office, and other areas where the person may keep alcohol. Social environmentsneed to be changed to exclude bars and friends who are not empathetic to the needs of therecovering alcoholic. Transportation routes can be altered to exclude areas of temptationfor the alcoholic. The alcohol dependent person needs to realize that he has a problemand take the initiative to live a life without substance dependency. The alcoholic willneed to gain better control over negative emotions and learn better stress coping skills...
