Alcohol Use Disorder and its treatment

AUD Alcohol use disorders conditions that affect 20 to 30 percent of middle-class men and about 15 percent of women seeking medical care.

TREATMENT
The core of treatment for AUDs involves maximizing motivation for
abstinence, helping the person restructure a life without alcohol,
and minimizing relapse to substance-using behaviors.

Three general steps are involved in treating the person with an AUD:
1)Intervention
2)Detoxification and
3)Rehabilitation, including relapse prevention.

Intervention
The goal is to use the principles of motivational interviewing and
brief interventions to help patients recognize the adverse consequences likely to occur if they do not stop drinking.
The emphasis is then placed on discussing how alcohol either created or contributed to these problems and reassuring the patient that abstinence can be achieved.
Many individuals with AUDs take time to realize how alcohol contributed to problems and to be ready and willing to change.

Detoxification
Most people with an AUD have relatively mild, if any, withdrawal symptoms when they stop drinking. If the patient is in relatively good health and has a good social support system, the withdrawal syndrome associated with alcohol usually resembles a mild flu or bad hangover.

Mild or Moderate Withdrawal
Alcohol withdrawal develops because the brain adapted to the presence of
this drug and cannot function adequately in the absence of alcohol.

Treatment can include giving enough of a medicine on the first day
to diminish symptoms, and then weaning the patient off the medication over the next 5 days.
If the symptoms are mild and the person is in good health, this can be done as an outpatient with daily brief visits.

Severe Withdrawal. For the less than 3 percent of AUD patients with
extreme autonomic dysfunction, agitation, and confusion (alcoholic
withdrawal delirium or delirium tremens [DTs])

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation includes three major components:
(1) increasing and maintaining high levels of motivation for change;
(2) helping patients readjust to a lifestyle that maximizes functioning and
decreases the risk for drinking; and
(3) relapse prevention.

The treatment process in either setting involves 2 to 4 weeks of care as an
intensive period of help, followed by at least 3 to 6 months of less frequent
outpatient care.

Counseling. Focuses on day-to-day life issues to help patients maintain a high level of motivation for abstinence and to enhance their functioning.

CBT-based counseling sessions is to help the patient learn ways to cope with life stresses.

Relapse Prevention. The third component of rehabilitation, relapse prevention, begins with identifying situations with high risks for relapse.
The counselor helps patients develop ways to identify and cope with craving and with challenging events or emotional states that make drinking
more likely.

Importance of the Family -an important aspect of recovery involves helping family and friends understand more about AUDs and how rehabilitation is an ongoing process.

Medications for the AUD .

Self-Help Groups. Clinicians should consider the potential importance
of “12-step-based” self-help groups such as AA.
if you need any help feel free to contact :
Dr B.S.Arora
www.psycare.co.in
Mobile -9810385521
Email -bsarora1@gmail.com