Quitting alcohol can be really hard. It can even be dangerous if you don’t do it the right way. In this video, Dr. Josh Lichtman talks about what happens when someone with an alcohol problem stops drinking. Dr. Lichtman is a psychiatrist who helps people with addiction at Neuro Wellness Spa.
Dr. Lichtman explains that when you stop drinking suddenly, your body can have a bad reaction. You might shake, feel anxious, or even have seizures. This is called alcohol withdrawal, and it can be very serious.
“If you’re starting to ruin your life and your relationships, and you’re putting alcohol before your actual life, then it’s probably time to look for rehab and get some help,” says Dr. Lichtman.
In this helpful video, you’ll learn:
- Why stopping alcohol suddenly can be dangerous
- How to know when you need professional help
- What happens after alcohol detox?
- How therapy helps you stay sober
- Why getting sober is about more than just quitting drinking
Dr. Lichtman explains that detox is just the first step. The harder part comes after – figuring out why you started drinking too much in the first place and learning how to live without alcohol.
If you or someone you care about has a problem with alcohol, this video can help you understand what to do next. Watch below to hear from Dr. Lichtman about safe ways to start your recovery journey.
Take the first step toward recovery from alcohol with Neuro Wellness Spa’s comprehensive addiction treatment services, where our expert psychiatrists and therapists provide personalized care for alcohol dependency. Our compassionate team offers medical detox, individual therapy and medication management to address underlying mental health issues, and ongoing support for lasting sobriety — call (877) 847-3984 today to begin your journey to sobriety from alcohol.
Dr. Josh Lichtman on Alcohol Detox and Recovery
“If you’re starting to ruin your life and your relationships, then it’s probably time to look for rehab and get some help.”
I’m Josh Lichtman, and I am a psychiatrist, and my subspecialty is addiction medicine. I’m going to try to answer some questions for you today.
What happens when an alcoholic suddenly stops drinking?
When an alcoholic suddenly stops drinking, it’s actually a potentially very dangerous situation, depending on how severe of an alcoholic one is. Alcohol withdrawal can be a big range, but it can be tremulousness, anxiety, shakiness, seizures, and actually alcohol withdrawal can result in death. That’s why it’s really important to take it seriously and to seek appropriate medical care for alcohol withdrawal.
How can I manage alcohol withdrawal symptoms?
This is a very kind of treacherous question, in my opinion, because I don’t think that you should be managing alcohol withdrawal symptoms on your own. I think that you’re best suited to seek out professional care, as managing on your own could really be potentially dangerous and even life threatening.
How do I know if I should go to rehab for alcohol addiction?
Again, this is kind of a personal issue. However, you know, if you’re starting to ruin your life and your relationships and you’re prioritizing alcohol and getting wasted over tending to your actual life and actual relationships, then it’s probably time to look for rehab and get some help.
What are some of the steps to getting sober from alcohol?
So I think, you know, as far as steps to getting sober from alcohol or anything, it, you know, we can be very detailed or we can kind of break it down. Really the first step is just being honest with yourself. Do you need help? And once you really kind of acknowledge that you need help, then it’s going to be kind of seeking out treatment and, you know, seeking out the appropriate treatment.
And you know, from there, hopefully you’ll engage in treatment and get the support that you need in order to get sober. And then it’s about staying sober, which is going to actually require a much bigger commitment and really changing your life. The last step in getting sober, rather staying sober, is really going to be the most meaningful, which is how do you change your entire lifestyle to enable you to live your life in a way that you don’t need to include drugs and alcohol?
How do I know if I need an alcohol detox facility?
How can therapy help determine what I need? Well, therapy can help determine what sort of help that you need by kind of coming up with an appropriate treatment plan and trying to be honest with yourself about what the issue is and how serious it is and what sort of help that you need.
And that goes along the lines with with, you know, how do you know if you need an alcohol detox facility? Again, it’s the the seriousness of it that alcohol withdrawal and detox is really potentially fatal. And if you are a very heavy and regular drinker or sometimes not even a heavy and regular drinker, but if you experience withdrawal symptoms, it’s probably a better and safer idea to look for medical detox.
How can psychiatry and therapy help me maintain sobriety after alcohol detox?
Well, psychiatry and therapy are really important after detox. So detox is actually the easiest part of treatment and recovery. It’s really not an active process necessarily. It’s a physiological process. It’s how we get your body off of drugs. And then after, that’s the hard part, That’s when you have to really address what’s going on.
Why did you start using drugs? Why did you start using more drugs? Why did you substitute drugs and alcohol for important relationships in your life? And so again, psychiatry and therapy can kind of dive in and figure out what the underlying issue is that resulted in your addiction.
How can psychiatry medication management support addiction recovery?
Well, psychiatry and medication management can be useful all along the way within recovery. Medications are used within the detox process and psychiatry essentially is going to look for and help address the underlying psychiatric issues that have contributed to substance abuse and addiction.
So YBH has a variety of options to help you, you know, on your path, you know, whether that be in the acute place that you’re needing to be detoxed or the not so acute place and you just need residential treatment and sober living. Or if you’re further along and you just need an intensive outpatient program, or if you’re stable and you’ve been sober for years and you just need psychotherapy or medication management with a psychiatrist, reach out. We can help. We really try to cover the whole spectrum of mental health and addiction.