Alcoholism is a terrible problem that many Americans suffer from. It tears familys and individuals apart. It is considered to be a desiese that is cured soley on focus from the person who suffers to get better. Alcoholism is characterized by different traits such as cravings, loss of control, physical dependance, and tolerance.
Craving: a strong need or compulsion to drink
Loss of control: The frequent inability to stop drinking once a eprson has begun.
Physical dependance: the occurence of withdrawl symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety when the consumpution of alcohol is stopped after a period of heavy drinking.
There is a variety of different reasons to why people start to drink alcohol. Many people start drinking while they are younger because of peer pressure at parties. In some cases, a person may turn to alcohol to help deal with stress. When they start to drink because of stress is when they are most likely going to suffer from alcoholism. They come home after a long day at work and fight their battles with the bottle instead of facing the stress that has accumulated because of stressors.
We Will Write a Custom Essay Specifically
For You For Only $13.90/page!
order now
There is also the problem of “alcohol abuse” which is always mistaken for alcoholism but is a different issue. It does not include a strong craving for alcohol, loss of contol, or a physical dependence. Alcohol abuse is less likely than alcoholism and is seen more in adolecenes. It is defined to be a patter of drinking that is accompanied by failure to do major work or attend school, drinking in dangerous sitiations (driving a car) , llegal problems obtaining to alcohol, and having reoccuring relationship problems but continuing drinking along a 12 month period of time. Although they are different problems many effects of people who abuse alcohol are also seen in alcoholics.
It has little to do with the kind of alcohol one consumes such as beer, wine, or liquor. It is how long one has been or drinking or how much someone consumes at one time in an uncontrollable way.
When thinking about alcoholics you think of the drunken smelly perosn on the street holding a fourty. This is a common conception but is no longer true. Although these types of alcoholics still exist the father or mother living in the big house at the top of the hill also has a high risk of suffering. There is no rule that says more financially successful people cannot suffer from this problem Alcoholics cannto be picked out by the color of their skin or size of their bank account. This chronic illness can happen to anyone.
Alcoholism is looked as an allergy of the body and once any alcoholic intakes alcohol into their system it happens in a sense that is physical phenomenon of craving. Its virtually impossible for the individual to stop even they want and or need to.
Many health problems are followed from this problem. There is short term problems and long term.
SHORT-TERM HEALTH ISSUES.
Upset stomach
Diarrhea
Lack of coordination and judgement
Headahes
Insomnia
LONG-TERM HEALTH ISSUES.
Heart disease: high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, heart damage, heart failure.
Cancer: mostly in conjunction with the cancerous effects of other substances such as cigarette smoke.
Liver problems : Liver damage, hepatitis, cirrhosis, cancer.
Poblems of the stomach, lungs, kidneys, skin, muscle, and bones
Infections of the immue system
Mental disorders: problems with attention, learning, and memory, depression, mood swings, and anxiety disorders
Insomnia
Malnutrition
Impotence and infertility in men.
It also causes social problems such as making a person more irritable and likely to get angry because it affects judgement and control of behavior. Most arguments undergone by an alcoholic are usually over alcohol.
Suffers tend to lose friends and jobs. Child abuse, domestic abuse, divorce and seperation are all also involved in this problem.
Individuals who suffer usually are arriving late everywhere, make more mistakes, have assignments incomplete, and are unable to get along with bosses and coworkers or even hold a job at all.
Many Americans are affected by alcoholism. It is the number one drug problem in America. There are more than 12 million alcoholics in the United states. Kids who begin drinking before the age of 15 are 4x more likely to become alcoholics by the time there 30. Surprisingly people with a high education are more likely to drink and become alcoholics. $197 million dollars are spent daily on alcohol alone in America. The following statistics are related to alcoholism:
73% of all felonies
73% of child beating cases
41% of rape cases
81% of wife battering cases
72% of stabbings
83% of homicides.
ome researches say that because a chld learns to become an alcoholic from a parent and their enviorment while others say that the child inherit??™s the gene that create an alcoholic addiction. There are may theories behind genetic links. Researches have used a genomic technology to identify human genes in people most at risk for developing alcoholism, which could revolutionize treatment and options. Comprehensive scan of the human genome is the first time the new technology has been used to comprehensively identify genes linked to abuse. NIDA researches identified clusters of genetic cariations in the 51 chromosomal region that they believe play a role in alcohol addiction. When researchers find differences in the sequences of DNA pairs they are genetic variations, which plays into people having a higher risk or not.
Although because someone may have the genetic tendency to become an alcoholic does not mean they will, it just means they have a greater chance. The idea that it runs in families goes back in time.
Although alcoholism is, a very difficult problem to deal with there is a variety of different programs set up to help people with their problems. The one leading the way is alcoholics anonymous. Their also are hospitalization programs where you go and stay in hospital away from the environment that has influenced your drinking. On the other hand, some just simply help themselves.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a 12-step program. They meet in groups of 10 to 100 or more. Two Thirds of the members are men. Step one in the program is for his or her to admit that they have a problem. This is probably the most important step in the program because you just cannot help someone if they do not think that they have a problem in the first place.
According to information from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) on individuals receiving substance abuse treatment in the United States, 42 percent of patients admitted into treatment facilities had alcohol as their primary substance of abuse. Of those admitted for alcohol abuse, in about 75 percent of the cases, alcohol was the sole substance that was the individuals problem. In 74 percent of the cases, the admitted patients were males.
One drug that did prove effective was developed accidentally in 1947, according to White. Danish researchers were testing disulfiram, a drug for the treatment of worms. They each tested the drug on themselves to see whether it was toxic and did not notice any effect. However, later in the day they both had a few drinks, and each had an extremely severe reaction of nausea and vomiting. The researchers, Erik Jacobsen and Jens Hald, then speculated that this drug might be effective in treating alcoholism. Disulfiram (Antabuse) was found to be effective as an aversive treatment and it is still in use in treatment facilities in the United States and the world.
Psychotherapy is a common component of treatment, and often a combination of medications and therapy is the most effective treatment for alcoholism. Therapists teach alcoholics how to avoid alcohol and how to deal with others who may encourage or even pressure them to drink. They also help patients cope with stress, because often severe stress can lead to relapse.
Related essay samples:
- drinking age 18
- Alcoholism: Compulsive and Uncontrolled Consumption of Beverages Essay
- Alcoholic Alana Club Connie Yonn West Coast University Abstract Melanie Curtin
- Alcoholic Beverage Should Be Illegal for All Ages
- Alcohol Consu[Tion
- Substance Abuse In The Workplace
- Teen Drinking Speech
- Hsm 210 Examining Government Regulations
- Alcohol Should Be Banned from Tv
- Underage Drinking
- Alchola and Tobacco and Other Drugs in College
- Underage Drinking Essay
- Classical Argument legal drinking age
- Drunk Driving
- Causes and Effects of Alcohol Essay