The Characteristics Of Alcoholism

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Alcohol dependence is also called alcoholism. A central characteristic of alcohol dependence is the often overpowering desire to consume alcohol. Patients experience difficulties in controlling the consumption of alcohol and continue drinking alcohol despite harmful consequences. Problem drinking has multiple causes, with genetic, physiological, psychological and social factors all playing a role. Not every individual is equally affected by each cause. For some alcohol abusers, psychological traits such as impulsiveness, low self-esteem, and a need for approval prompt inappropriate drinking. Alcoholism is a multifactorial trait because there are a lot of environmental and genetic factors that influence this trait.
Drinking too much on a single …show more content…

Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion. Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of developing certain cancers with the most notorious being the liver. Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a much easier target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much (Alcohol's Effects on the Body, 2017). Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability to ward off infections even up to 24 hours after getting drunk (Alcohol's Effects on the Body, …show more content…

The new finding not only helps shed light on the behavior of our primate ancestors, but also might explain why alcoholism or even the craving for a single drink exists in the first place (Williams, S., 2014). A craving for alcohol had to start somewhere and evolution dictated who would have more of a craving then other people. Scientists knew that the human ability to metabolize ethanol, allowing people to consume moderate amounts of alcohol without getting sick relies on a set of proteins including the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme ADH4 (Williams, S., 2014). Although all primates have ADH4, which performs the crucial first step in breaking down ethanol, not all can metabolize alcohol; lemurs and baboons, for instance, have a version of ADH4 that is less effective than the human one (Williams, S., 2014). Many scientists didn’t know how long ago that people evolved the more active form of the

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