Bohnice addiction treatment centre
A Alcoholism is rising fast among Czech women as they try to cope with
new stresses. Monika Plocová, 40, still remembers the day seven years ago when
she finally realized that she had a drinking problem. She was lying on her
couch, shaking and unable to get up. All she could think about was the bottle
of gin. "My marriage was unhappy," she recalls. "My husband was
very controlling. And so I drank to help my anxiety and depression."
B Plocová's story isn't unusual. Women who suffer from severe alcoholism
in the Czech Republic have grown faster than those of
men during the past 10 years. The number of women being treated for delirium
tremens has more than doubled since the mid-1990s, according to statistics from
Prague's Psychiatric
Centre. The number of men with the condition has risen a third. Currently,
there are close to 200 women in state facilities countrywide being treated for
severe alcoholism.
C Plocová should know. It took her over 10 years to realize she needed help.
Now she is a therapist at Bohnice, where she received treatment seven years
ago, and she is the author of two books about her experience.
D It's only 8:30 a.m., but the 32 women in pavilion No. 8 at Bohnice's
addiction treatment centre have already been up for two hours. Their days are
strictly regimented. Half are dealing with alcoholism. Other women are battling drug addiction. The treatment
for both groups is the same: When they aren't taking part in group therapy,
they're making pottery, painting or
riding horses. Stays at Bohnice range from 11 weeks for a basic treatment
program to three months for more serious cases.
E One recent morning, 11 patients gather in a circle. Some tell their
stories. A petite 30-year-old with dyed red hair talks for more than an hour
about the roots of her alcoholism. She started drinking in high school, and by
the time she went to university and got a job at a bar, drinking became an
essential part of her life. In her lowest moments, she spent the day lounging
on the couch at home, drinking vodka. She says her drinking probably has
something to do with her very strict upbringing
and her parents' high expectations of her. Another woman, slightly older,
blames her drinking on her lack of confidence. "It's always this fear that
drives me to it," she says. "Sometimes I blame the experts who are supposed
to help me but can't."
F Plocová goes around the room asking the women who the most important
people in their lives are. Most answer "my children" or "my
family." One woman, in her 50s, shakes her head in disagreement. "I've
realized here that I'm the most important person in my life," she says.
"If I can't like myself, then I can't properly care for others,
either."
anxiety – úzkost
pottery – hrnčířství
to battle – bojovat
upbringing – výchova
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1 Regime in Bohnice
2 Monika Plocová’s story
3 Plocová today
4 Who is the most important
person in your life?
5 Women alcoholics’
statistics
6 Stories of the clients
2) Read the article again and answer the questions.
1 What is the text about?
2 Who is Monika Plocová?
What does she do? What problems did she have?
3 What is the regime in
Bohnice like?
4 What are typical reasons
for women alcoholism?
5 How can the women stop
drinking?
3) Explain the following words.
1 alcoholism
2 depression
3 delirium tremens
4 psychiatric centre
5 group therapy
Who can become an alcohol consumer?
What are symptoms of alcoholism? How can people stop drinking? Who and where
can help them? What types of therapies do they undergo?
Adjusted to:
http://www.insignis.cz/media.htm
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