Alcohol Treatment in Orange County

Alcoholism Counseling for Dana Point and All of Southern California

Alcohol addiction, also known as alcoholism, is one of the most common addictions in the United States. Most people honestly believe that if they wanted to stop drinking, they could – but nothing could be further from the truth. The grip that alcohol addiction can have on you rarely goes away without professional help and intervention.

We understand it can be challenging to overcome alcohol addiction. Not only is alcohol legal, easy to get, and inexpensive, but it’s also portrayed as sexy and glamorous in media. Because you can get it almost anywhere – convenience stores, gas stations, drug stores, grocery stores, restaurants, at the movies, concerts, and sporting events – it’s also one of the most commonly abused substances.

Am I an Alcoholic?

A problem with alcohol usually exists when drinking becomes a focus in daily life, meaning you can no longer control your drinking and you depend on it to get through the day. You don’t necessarily have to be rolling on the floor drunk to have a severe dependency on alcohol. In fact, many people may be able to hold down a career and drink in a way that is still incredibly damaging. Alcoholics are usually physically and psychologically tied to booze and feel compelled to drink at every opportunity.

How to tell if my loved one is addicted to alcohol.

Alcoholism is tricky to “identify” in your loved one since there are many levels of alcohol abuse, and some are less obvious than others. However, you may be able to spot some common behaviors and signs, indicating a person may have an alcohol problem.

Signs of alcoholism you can observe in others include:

• Acting strangely, frequent blackouts and forgetting things easily
• Unexplained injuries and bruises from falling frequently
• Inexplicable mood swings, depression, anxiety
• Being late or absent from school, work and other essential responsibilities
• Being fired from their job
• Divorce, separation, or severe relationship problems
• Unusual weight loss
• Multiple DUI tickets, loss of driver’s license

Symptoms of alcoholism you should personally look out for include:

• Worrying where your next drink is coming from
• Coordinating social, family and work events around drinking
• Seeing that you have a compulsive need to drink and finding it hard to stop once you start
• Waking up and immediately reaching for a drink, or feeling the need to have a drink first thing
• Suffering from symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, such as sweating, shaking, and nausea, which subside once you have a drink of alcohol

Dana Point Rehab campus offers a state-of-the-art Detoxification Program where patients can safely and effectively cleanse their bodies. After detox, the patient enters our residential treatment program to start our therapeutic treatment process which is necessary to get sober and begin their recovery journey.

Types of Alcoholism

There are five kinds of alcoholism. It’s important to recognize if you or a loved one falls into one of these categories. Our well-educated, experienced professionals at Dana Point Rehab Campus can help you overcome this debilitating dependence on alcohol no matter what type applies to you.

Below is a brief description of each of the five types of alcoholism:

1. Young adult sub-type. This type of addiction affects young adult drinkers who don’t have family histories of alcoholism or co-occurring mental illnesses. Many of these individuals deny that it is an issue. Instead, they merely define it as a lifestyle choice that’s appropriate for their age group. Many even say, “What’s the harm in having a good time?”
2. Young antisocial sub-type. This type of alcoholism also includes young adult drinkers. These people do have a family history of alcoholism, and they also have co-occurring mental illnesses or other substance addictions. This type of alcoholic can be difficult to treat due to the issues created by antisocial personality disorder. However, the disorder may be more quickly identified by loved ones because it begins at an earlier age than other types of alcoholism and a family history of abuse exists.
3. Functional subtype. This type usually affects middle-aged and successful people who have a stable job and a supportive family. Most often trend of alcoholism runs in the family, and it also is co-occurring with depression. Many alcoholics with this type of alcoholism often evade treatment for years. To most of their friends and family, they seem to have an “acceptable” relationship with alcohol, manage to maintain employment and take care of their families. Just because they are not falling-down drunks doesn’t mean they are not alcoholics.
4. Intermediate familial sub-type. This unhealthy relationship with alcohol is most often characterized by middle-aged people with a family history of alcoholism and have been through a significant depressive episode.
5. Chronic severe sub-type. With this type of alcoholism, people of any age with family histories of alcoholism, a history of mental illness, and addictions to other substances can be affected.