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When I was a sophomore in high school, I took a substance abuse class. At that time period, I did not understand that alcohol abuse in point of fact was a sub division of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for people all over the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol treatment and the diverse alcohol rehab clinics that are typically available to problem drinkers.

Some of the harmful consequences associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class absolutely startled me. The ruined lives and countless difficulties experienced by most alcoholics made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. Stated briefly, I did not want to face the wreckage and ruination that alcohol dependent individuals almost always encounter.

Ponder upon this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old teenager wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What adolescent wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that consuming alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What adolescent wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related issues before he or she becomes an adult?

What youth wants to go through alcohol withdrawals when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause problems in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after an individual has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would an adolescent want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that focuses on hazardous drinking?

These issues were so noteworthy that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was utterly inconceivable to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the damaging effects of hazardous drinking that I discussed. It was almost as if they couldn’t care less about the facts and how these results can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to figure out something that my grandfather used to emphasize all through my youth: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

Tags: alcohol abuse, alcohol rehab, alcohol rehab clinics, alcohol treatment, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, alcoholic rehabilitation centers, alcoholism, drug abuse, family health, mental health, raising families, Self Improvement, substance abuse, teenage alcohol abuse, teenage alcoholism

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 11:14 pm and is filed under Raising Families. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.