A Teenager Talks to His Physician About His Alcohol Problems and His Depression

Larry is a nineteen-year-old teen who has eventually decided that he needs to go and see his family doctor about his hazardous and excessive drinking.  At first, Larry thought he would be able to simply go on the Internet, look for some essential alcohol info, and establish whether or not he was alcohol dependent.

Not unexpectedly, he found several websites that detailed some of the well-known alcoholism symptoms.  That’s the good news.  The less than encouraging news, sorry to say, was that Larry displayed a host of these alcoholism symptoms.

Illustrations of Alcohol Addiction Symptoms

For example, Larry has been drinking quite a bit more than usual and he has begun to have more fiery bickering with the young lady he is dating.  Additionally, for the first time in his life he has been suffering through sleeping issues.  In a similar manner, Larry often has felt depressed and on a growing basis he has been displaying less than usual attention to detail while at school.  Additionally, he has felt stressed out and more on edge on a daily basis and for the past eight or nine months he has shown signs of befuddled thinking at school.  Due to the fact that Larry has been displaying all of these symptoms, he was rightly worried about his excessive and abusive drinking.

So Larry at long last made up his mind to make a phone call to his family physician and ask for an appointment.  In point of fact, this was hard for Larry because his family physician was also his parents’ healthcare practitioner.  The basis for his disquiet was this: at the risk of embarrassing his family, he had to go and reveal his unhealthy and abusive drinking behavior to his family physician.

When Larry arrived at the family doctor’s office, he openly told the family healthcare practitioner about the concern he has about his abusive drinking behavior.  When the physician asked what was triggering this consternation, Larry affirmed that he had gone on the Internet and read about alcohol dependency and especially about alcoholism symptoms.  He then outlined all of the alcoholism symptoms that he without a doubt thought he has.

A Comprehensive Physical Appraisal and Outpatient Alcohol Treatment

The family healthcare practitioner informed Larry that it was smart of him to tackle his drinking difficulties, he gave Larry an exhaustive physical exam, and recommended that he talk to his Mom and Dad about registering in an out-patient alcohol treatment facility that was supervised by Doctor Carlson, one of his doctor colleagues who is an alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse specialist.

In much the same way, when Larry stated that he has been feeling a sense of gloom more regularly, the family physician told Larry that alcoholism and depression on a fairly regular basis crop up in the same individual.  Hence, the family physician also suggested that Larry talk to his Mother and Father about obtaining counseling to attend to his sense of despair.  In fact, Larry can go to the local counseling center and make an appointment with Doctor Anderson, a celebrated clinical psychologist who specializes in treating youth.

The Importance of Addressing Your Drinking Problems

The physician made it a point to tell Larry that he might not necessarily be addicted to alcohol, but that he was clearly drinking in an irresponsible manner.  The healthcare practitioner then told Larry that the reason he suggested alcohol rehabilitation in the first place was because he wanted him to sort out his drinking difficulties, 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 entirely refrain from drinking.

In a nutshell, by effectively treating his problem drinking, Larry would be able to get his drinking problems under control and refrain from the negative cycle that could potentially result in addiction to alcohol.

Larry plainly did not look forward to facing his Mom and Dad about his abusive drinking and his depression.  And he surely did not want to face the thought of enrolling in an alcohol rehab facility.  And finally, he was not overjoyed about going to a counseling psychologist about his sense of despair.  Notwithstanding these trepidations, however, Larry in fact experienced some psychological relief for the first time in quite a few months because he eventually quit making excuses for himself and finally determined that he needed to do something constructive about his excessive and unhealthy drinking.