Examining More Than Family History in an Alcohol Treatment Center
Who your friends are can affect your health as much as your family history or genetic background. A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that the drinking habits of those people in your extended social group can determine if you will drink heavily or not drink at all.
An alcohol treatment center will take a different approach to relieving an individual of their addiction. With new studies such as this these centers are given new tools to work with to aid the ever growing population of alcoholics and alcohol abusers.
The study found that a person was 50 percent more likely to drink heavily if a friend they are directly connected with also drinks heavily. This effect was not limited to immediate contacts. A person was 36 percent more likely to drink heavily if a friend of a friend was a heavy drinker. At three degrees of separation, that person was still 15 percent more likely to drink heavily if the other person was also a heavy drinker.
The researchers used information from the landmark Framingham Heart Study, which followed 12,067 people for more than 30 years and helped to define the patterns in social networks of other health issues like obesity, smoking and sexually transmitted diseases. This analysis sought to explore patterns of alcohol use in a large social network.
Examining all aspects of alcohol abuse so that the individuals can break the old habits and learn how to make healthier choices is what an alcohol treatment center does. With these new case studies, it may also be a crucial step for these individuals to change their circle of friends to have these new lifestyle changes last and be beneficial to them.
This new information will allow physicians and/or an alcohol treatment center to have a fresh view of interventions and treatment approaches to alcohol abuse. It may be necessary for physicians to examine the person’s whole social network to get an accurate view of what the individual is doing, has been doing and so on.
This article was written by Elisa Douglas. As you examine the choices of alcoholism treatment centers or drug treatment centers remember these case studies, and ask them if they follow new cases studies and new methods- are they using 21st century methods or are they stuck in old ways. To get the best treatment for you or a loved one- a center should be up to date on all the current methods- start with TheTreatmentCenter.com.
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