The Alcohol Treatment Center
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The health care professionals at your local alcohol treatment center can assess your unique
drinking situation and develop a treatment plan that is the most appropriate and effective for your particular
drinking problem.
The Substance Abuse Treatment Facility
Locator
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), under the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, has created a website that features the "Substance Abuse Treatment Facility
Locator."
The basic idea with this locator is to provide you with a way to find a substance abuse treatment facility in or near your locality.
To start the procedure, you have to click on the location where you live and you will be transferred to a page
that will ask you to enter your city, state, and your searching radius information.
After you have accomplished this, and based on the specific geographic location information that you entered,
the "facilities search tool" will generate a list of substance abuse facilities within the city, state, and the
searching radius that you selected.
Specific types of information such as the following will be listed for each facility:
- Services Provided (for example, substance abuse treatment).
- Special Programs/Groups (for instance, individuals with co-occurring mental and substance
abuse disorders, postpartum/pregnant women, DWI/DUI offenders, etc.).
- Primary Focus of Treatment (for example, mental health or substance abuse services).
- Type of Care (in-patient or outpatient.
- Special Language Services (for example, ASL or other assistance for the hearing
impaired).
- Forms of Payment Accepted (for instance, Medicaid, Medicare, or self payment).
- Payment Assistance (Please check with the facility for details).
| There is general agreement in the psychiatric community that depressed or bipolar
individuals are at increased risk for alcoholism and alcoholic individuals are at increased risk
for depression. |
The Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator can be found here: http://dasis3.samhsa.gov/
The Alcohol Treatment Center: Conclusion
If you have a
"drinking problem," it is imperative for you to find out if you are basically abusing alcohol by binge
drinking, for instance, or if you are alcohol dependent.
The health care staff at your local alcohol treatment center will be able
to assess the magnitude of your drinking problem and also help you formulate a "drinking plan" that is less
damaging and more healthy.
Be aware, however, that this "plan" may require total abstinence, it may outline ways in which you
can significantly reduce the frequency and the quantity of your drinking, or it may help you identify the emotional
and circumstantial "hot buttons" that trigger your problem drinking, thereby resulting in greater control over your
drinking behavior.
Whatever "plan" is produced by the professionals at the alcohol treatment center, bear in mind that
without "buying into" and following through with your plan, little, if anything of significance will result
concerning your particular drinking situation.
| 7.5% of Americans employed in full-time jobs report heavy drinking, defined as
drinking five or more drinks per occasion on five or more days in the past 30 days; 6.6% of
part-timers and 10.8% of unemployed workers also report heavy drinking; across all three
categories, heavy drinkers are most likely to be found in the 18 to 25 year old age group. |
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