A Teenager Decides to See His Family Physician About His Drinking Problems and His Depression

Written by bmlengel on July 3rd, 2009

Larry is a seventeen-year-old teenager who has eventually decided that he needs to go and see his family healthcare practitioner about his hazardous and abusive drinking. At first, Larry thought he would be able to essentially go on the Internet, look for some essential alcohol info, and establish whether or not he was addicted to alcohol.

Not unexpectedly, he located numerous websites that outlined some of the general alcoholism symptoms. That’s the encouraging news. The less than positive news, unfortunately, was that Larry showed signs of numerous of these alcoholism symptoms.

Alcoholism Symptoms: Some Illustrations

As an illustration, Larry has been drinking quite a bit more than normal and he has begun to have more fiery bickering with the young girl he is dating. What is more, for the first time in his young life he has been encountering sleeping issues. In a similar manner, Larry habitually has felt depressed and on an escalating basis he has been demonstrating less than usual attentiveness while at school. In addition, he has felt stressed out and more uptight on a regular basis and for the past several months he has shown evidence of foggy thinking in the classroom. Seeing as Larry has been demonstrating all of these symptoms, he was rightly worried about his excessive and hazardous drinking.

So Larry at long last decided to call his family healthcare practitioner and make an appointment. In fact, this was problematic for Larry because his doctor was also his parents’ family doctor. The basis for his disquiet was this: at the risk of embarrassing his family, he had to go and divulge his unhealthy drinking behavior to his doctor.

When Larry arrived at the family doctor’s office, he plainly told the family physician about the concern he feels about his irresponsible drinking behavior. When the physician asked what was setting off this trepidation, Larry declared that he had gone on the Internet and read about dependency on alcohol and especially about alcohol dependency symptoms. He then mentioned all of the alcohol addiction symptoms that he evidently thought he exhibits.

A Thorough Physical Evaluation and Outpatient Alcohol Rehabilitation

The family doctor notified Larry that it was wise of him to attend to his drinking problems, he gave Larry a comprehensive physical assessment, and suggested that he talk to his Mom and Dad about entering into an out-patient alcohol rehabilitation program that was supervised by Doctor Brosky, one of his doctor colleagues who is an alcohol abuse and substance abuse specialist.

Furthermore, when Larry articulated that he has been feeling depressed to a greater degree, the family healthcare practitioner informed Larry that alcoholism and depression routinely arise in the same individual. As a result, the healthcare professional also recommended that Larry talk to his parents about obtaining therapy in order to concentrate on his depression. In fact, Larry can go to the local mental health center and make an appointment with Doctor Jacobs, a distinguished clinical psychologist who specializes in treating teenagers.

The Significance of Addressing Your Drinking Problems

The healthcare practitioner made it a point to inform Larry that he might not inevitably be an alcoholic, but that he was evidently drinking in an abusive manner. The healthcare practitioner then informed Larry that the reason he suggested alcohol rehabilitation in the first place was because he wanted him to come to terms with his drinking issues, make sure that he prevented them from deteriorating, and start to live in a more healthy manner, even if it meant that he had to absolutely abstain from drinking.

In a word, by successfully treating his drinking problems, Larry would be able to get his problem drinking under control and quit the negative cycle that could in all probability lead to alcoholism.

Larry justifiably did not look forward to facing his Mom and Dad about his drinking issues and his depression. And he unquestionably did not want to face the thought of enrolling in an alcohol treatment facility. And as a final point, he was not thrilled about going to a therapist about his sense of gloom. In the face of these apprehensions, however, Larry in actual fact felt some emotional relief for the first time in many months because he finally gave up making excuses for himself and decided to do something affirmative about his drinking problems.

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