Wendy was the mother of two children. Wendy had been feeling quite nervous lately and started to “medicate” herself by having three or four glasses of wine every evening after she tucked her children into bed. After roughly eleven months of this drinking routine, she eventually realized that rather than helping her ”lighten up” and cope with her difficulties, drinking made her feel less restful when she awakened in the morning. This, in turn, made her feel increasingly more stressed all through the day.

After thinking about her “condition” for several days, Wendy decided to “open up” about her drinking problem with her best friend. In point of fact, roughly five minutes into their chat, Wendy’s friend, Cindy, told her about a very competent and highly qualified physician at the local alcohol and drug rehab facility. After talking to her friend, Wendy without much ado got encouraged to call the rehabilitation facility and schedule an appointment.

Seven days later she finally got to meet the physician her friend had been talking about. After their short introduction, Wendy explained to the physician that ever since her ex-husband and she got divorced, she has been having an extremely difficult time psychologically, spiritually, and financially.

At times, she felt that she was 100% over the divorce. Recently, conversely, she has been feeling extremely depressed about the fact that she and her former husband couldn’t “make it”. When asked by the physician how long her former husband and she dated before they got married, Wendy told the physician that Robert, her ex-husband, and she went out for two years and then lived together for two-and-a-half years before they got married.

As Wendy was talking to the physician, she underscored the point that she frankly thought that she and her ex-husband waited long enough to know one another well enough before they got married. After the kids started to arrive, on the other hand, their relationship seemed to deteriorate. What is more, both Robert and she began to drink, and their irresponsible and excessive drinking adversely affected their love for one another, their finances, and their relationship.

When things became less than cordial between them, Robert hired a lawyer and filed for a divorce. Even though things were visibly not going well and even though she was often depressed, Wendy told the psychiatrist that she didn’t want to put a stop to their marriage. Once she was served the divorce papers, however, she knew that their marriage was over.

The psychiatrist told Wendy that the stress, tension, and anxiety that she has been experiencing concerning her hazardous and careless drinking are some of the normal alcohol abuse effects and that the best solution for this state of affairs is rehab for one’s alcohol abuse. In fact, getting alcohol abuse treatment is essential because chronic drinking can get the individual into even more serious alcohol and alcoholism difficulties.

After ten or eleven counseling sessions with her doctor, Wendy was gradually able to understand that the real basis of her tension and her depression was that she had not resolved her unpleasant feelings she has for her former husband who had divorced her a year ago. With these insights and with the meds her physician prescribed, she eventually stopped drinking, she started to feel significantly less depressed, and she began making more time for social events with her friends and family. A few months after receiving treatment from her doctor, she even started to date once again.

It was clear that Wendy had come a long way. In fact, just about nine months after she stopped her rehab, Wendy had finally laid the ghost of her ex-husband to rest, she was beginning to feel better about herself, and she was learning how to feel more successful in her life.