Substance & Alcohol Abuse Counseling in Calabasas CA
Since COVID 19, alcohol and drug abuse have been on the rise. Loneliness, confusion, and unemployment caused more people to either start using or increase their use of drugs or alcohol.
Though alcohol is considered socially acceptable, heavy alcohol use can prove detrimental to a person’s physical and mental wellbeing and the overall physiological health of their brain. As with porn and other substance abuse, alcohol may have long-term effects on the brain that may not be as easily reversible.
Similarly, many people are abusing prescription drugs. Appropriately used prescription drugs can be highly beneficial to health and wellbeing. However, the same medications can be highly destructive to mental and physical health when abused.
How Alcohol and Drug Abuse Affects your Body
- Liver Disease
- Nutritional deficiency
- Learning and memory problems
- Damage to the cerebellum
- Physiological dependence
- Reduction in brain cells
The good news is that most alcoholics with cognitive impairment show at least some improvement in brain structure and functioning within a year of abstinence, though some people take much longer—NIH 2004
How Alcohol and Drug Use Affect Your Thinking
When you think of alcohol and drug abuse you might think, difficult walking, slow speech, blurred vision as some of the most common immediate effects of alcohol and drug abuse. While these negative effects are as easily noticeable with heavy use, even moderate and low alcohol and drug use can have detrimental effects.
Cognitive impairment (ability to think clearly) is not as easily detectable in moderate alcohol and drug use as it occurs slowly over time. Many alcohol moderate alcohol users simply think their cognitive decline is due to age or being overly stressed.
The good news is that abstinence from heavy drinking can lead to improvement in cognitive impairment and in many cases return the patient to normal in three months to one year, depending on the length of alcohol abuse and the age of the individual.
If you are a regular alcohol drinker and not sure if you should stop try stopping for 90 days. After approximately one week ( the hardest time) of not consuming alcohol, you will notice that your thinking has become more clear. Like a cloud has been lifted.
Help with Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Calabasas, CA
As with all other behavioral and emotional problems, Alcoholics and drug addicts are not alike. Two people consuming the same amount for the same period will likely face different outcomes and degrees of impairment. Some will require complete abstinence, and others may learn to return to a previously moderately responsible level of drinking.
I offer an alternative to the typical AA model of alcohol and drug abuse treatment in Calabasas that many clients find helpful for long-term recovery. This therapeutic approach helped me years ago, but it has been successful for many others I have worked with. If you are ready to get your alcohol and drug use under control, write me by clicking here