Symptoms of Untreated Alcoholism
What if you or your loved one’s emotional instability is due to untreated alcoholism?
Untreated Alcoholism can cause emotional symptoms such as:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Anger
- Restlessness
- Irritability
- Feeling Discontent
These symptoms can keep a person stuck in a self-centered mindset, regardless if they are actively partaking in addiction or physically abstinent (sober).
Examples of what untreated alcoholism can look like…
- Irritability: People around me get on my nerves easily; I’m easily bothered.
- Anxiety: My head races with thoughts, dread the next day, worry about when I can get the next drink/drug.
- Depression: Stop caring about the things I love, lack of motivation or care about things that don’t involve drinking. Feel empty.
- Anger: Store away all my emotions until I blow up over nothing, and then drink more to escape the guilt.
- Restlessness: Not comfortable in my own skin, constantly looking forward to the next drink or trying to force myself not to drink.
- Discontent: It is never enough, whether dry or active in addiction.
Getting sober and trying to recover can be a challenging task, because they are two different things. Many try to get sober, which is physical abstinence from drugs and alcohol, but many do not recover. This is why the term untreated alcoholism is used.
Almost everyone feels anxious or depressed during the sobriety and recovery process, but those living with untreated alcoholism will often treat others poorly. They will often lash out at others, and seem emotionally unstable.
Why Do They Drink
An alcoholics drinking or drug abuse often continues because they have a deep desire to change the way they feel, but they often do not realize it. Even worse, the individual’s solutions to life disappears when their alcohol or drug abuse has ceased or is taken away.
Stopping Drinking Is Not Enough
Simply putting down the bottle will not erase the underlying emotional symptoms, and this is why so many continue to numb themselves with drinking.. It changes the way they feel, and allows them to escape.
There Is Help For Untreated Alcoholism
At Bay Area Recovery Center, we have over 30 years of experience helping men and women recover from their addiction. We do not just help them stop usage, we also show them how to live life on lifes terms. We give them insight and the tools they need to join society as a productive member.
Every patient that walks through our doors starts their journey with an evaluation period. We ask questions related to how much, and how long they have been drinking.
For those who are abstinent, we begin by establishing a new baseline for the individual. Often, because their emotions are unstable, and they are learning how to live life without using.
At BARC, We believe it is important to face ourselves in the mirror, and look at the reasons that have been blocking us from living life without drinking and using.
We achieve this on a case-by-case basis. Our ultimate goal is to prepare every patient for a life of recovery, not just abstinence.
In the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, it states, “Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions.” (Pg.64)