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A drug is a chemical substance that acts on the brain and nervous system, and changes individual's mood, emotion or state of consciousness (Health Service Executive 2013).
Drugs classified by the effect they produce:
• Stimulants, such as cocaine, make people feel full of energy;
• Depressants (or sedatives), such as heroin and alcohol, make people feel relaxed;
• Hallucinogens, such as LSD, make people see, feel or hear things that are not real (Health Service Executive 2013).
Legal drugs.
Under Irish law, most drugs are illegal. However, some drugs are legal, they include:
• Caffeine;
• Alcohol;
• Cigarettes (Health Service Executive 2013).
What is alcohol?
Alcohol is a legal, sedative drug which can alter feelings (Drugs.ie n.k). Alcohol is a colourless, odourless and highly inflammable fluid. It is a legal drug which does not contain any nutrients for the body. Alcoholic beverages used in most societies, for different purposes.
No one knows exact timeline, of first confrontation with alcohol by human race. Like many other discoveries it is lost in time. Best one can speculate is that discovery occurred in the early infancy of humanity by the meaning of a chance.
Carey (2008) states that, for 300 years “alcohol” is a term identical to “spirituous” liquid. Furthermore alcohol consumption and means of limiting it go back 1700 B.C. There are four main types of alcohol:
1. Methyl;
2. Ethyl;
3. Propyl;
4. Butyl (Carey 2008).
The type that is used in production, of alcoholic beverages - ethyl (ethanol) (Carey 2008). Its chemical formula is C2H5OH Royal Society of Chemistry 2014). Correspondingly methyl, propyl and butyl alcohol are toxic and consumption of even a small dose of such, could potentially lead to b...
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...ed at: http://tauruspet.med.yale.edu/staff/edm42/papers/2012-journal-club/Sci-Transl-Med-2012-Mitchell-116ra6-alcohol-induces-endog-opioids.pdf 08/03/2014
Sabourin B.C. & Stewart S.H. (2007) Alcohol Use and Anxiety Disorders. Alcohol and Anxiety. Anxiety in Health Behaviors and Physical Illness. P29-54. Electronic. Accessed at: http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CHUQFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springer.com%2Fcda%2Fcontent%2Fdocument%2Fcda_downloaddocument%2F9780387747521-c2.pdf%3FSGWID%3D0-0-45-461840-p173756746&ei=L28bU6-0GsTR7Ab17IDwCw&usg=AFQjCNEjZFrAIXaE708KRrCzn9D-g3920Q 08/03/2014
Edwards G., Marshall E.J., and Cook C.C.H. (2003)The Treatment of Drinking Problems. A guide for the helping professions. Fourth Edition. pp 3-16. Electronic. Accessed at: http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam041/2002073459.pdf
Today, one out of every thirteen adults abuse alcohol or are alcoholics. That means nearly thirteen million Americans have a drinking problem. (www.niaaa.nih.gov) This topic offers a broad range of ideas to be researched within the psychological field. For this particular project, the topic of alcoholism and the psychological effects on people best fit the criteria. Alcoholism is defined as a disorder characterized by the excessive consumption of and dependence on alcoholic beverages, leading to physical and psychological harm and impaired social and vocational functioning. (www.dictionary.com) Through this project, the most important information regarding personal experiences dealing with alcoholism will be revealed. Not only are statistics, like the facts mentioned before, important when dealing with an issue such as alcoholism, but personal accounts and information are often more powerful and influential evidence. Non-alcoholics should be allowed to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for research purposes.
To understand alcoholism, it must first be understood what this affliction is dependent on. Alcohol is a substance that is made by the fermentation of fruits, grains, or miscellaneous other organic materials. The chemical, alcohol, is a depressant and acts on every cell in the human body. Due to this, the central nervous system, along with the pleasure centers of the brain, are affected resulting in a feeling of euphoria and a sense of well being. After repeated exposure, the brain becomes dependent on this drug to unburden itself whenever it feels the compulsion. Several factors that contribute to alcoholism are the individual’s psychology, genetics, culture, and the individual’s response to physical pain.
People have believed in medicinal benefits of alcohol since ancient times, using it to cure snake bites and control disease. Even though the belief has begun to dwindle in the early twentieth century, alcohol was legally manufactured for medic...
David C. Lewis, "Putting Training About Alcohol and Other Drugs Into the Mainstream of Medical Education," Alcohol Research and Health 1989: 8+.
Alcohol has been all around the world for centuries and has become a custom of people all over. No one knows for sure who discovered alcohol, but we know how different types of alcohol are made. Just as well, no know knows when alcohol was discovered. There are no records of the discovery or discoverers of alcohol. Although historians do know alcohol ?was used by primitive people and recorded as early as 10,000 years ago in the Neolithic period and by European civilization?(Milgram 22). As early as 5000 B.C., the ancient Babylonians brewed, the process of making beer, their beer in religious temples because it was considered a gift from God. Beer is an alcoholic beverage made by fermentation of cereal grains such as, wheat, rye, corn, or barley; beer contains 3 to 6 percent alcohol. Besides the ancient Babylonians, the ancient Egyptians drank beer. The Egyptians called their beer hek, which was made from barley bread. The bread was crumbled into jars, covered with water, and allowed to ferment. The Egyptian pharaohs blessed this beer in the honor of the goddess of nature, Isis. Egyptians handed out free jugs of beer to peasant workers, and by no surprise drunkenness was a common problem in ancient Egypt (Nielsen 13).
In 1849, Swedish physician, Dr. Magnus Huss coined the term “alcoholism” to describe a diseased condition caused by excessive consumption of alcohol. Also in 1849, a French doctoral candidate, M.Gabriel, first used the term in its modern sense, as a disease which causes one to lose control over his/her intake of alcohol, leading to excessive use of alcohol, what we now call addiction ( Keller & Doria,1991).
Alcohol can be an addictive substance if abused on a daily basis or consumed in large quantities. Alcohol is technically defined as, “a colorless flammable liquid that has the active principle of intoxicating drinks” (HarperCollins Publishers 2009). One of the leading causes of death in the United States is deaths induced by alcohol. There are many types of alcohol that are produced and distributed throughout the country. Common alcoholic beverages that are sold regularly are vodka, beer, rum, wine, whiskey, and much more. Each type does as much damage to the body as the other one, though they differ in amounts, or percentage, of alcohol. It depends on a person’s body type how alcohol will affect them personally. Weight, height, family background, and gender are common factors associated with a person’s blood alcohol content (HealthCheck Systems 2012).
“Alcoholism (alcohol dependence) is a more severe pattern of drinking that includes the problems of alcohol abuse plus persistent drinking in spite of obvious physical, mental, and social problems caused by alcohol” (Ringold, M. S.). Alcoholism is a major social problem in today’s world. People can agree that alcoholism threatens the lives of the person and the people they care about. Alcohol is one of the drugs that have caused serious problems for the younger generation. Alcoholism is greatly influenced by peer pressure. To get stress out, sometimes an alcoholic will drink heavily. Alcohol consumption is associated with your health. Drinking heavily can be the cause for liver cancer. Also, you can be intoxicated and could be driving drunk
The ingestion of alcoholic beverages for their enjoyable effects is a custom which has been around for thousands of years, and alcohol continues to be a popular drug because of its short-term effects (Coleman, Butcher & Carson, 1984). An enormous amount of damage can be attributed directly to alcohol abuse as a result of lost jobs, accidents caused by drunk drivers, and so forth (Maltzman, 2000). Alcohol also compounds other problems--an estimated 25% to 40% of hospital patients have problems caused by, or recovery delayed by alcohol abuse (Maltzman, 2000). Clinical psychologists spend about one-fourth of their time dealing with people who are suffering in part from alcohol or other substance problems (Vaillant, 1995). Although alcohol problems have been around for so long, it is only recently that these problems have begun to be associated with medical or psychological difficulties.
Alcoholism is a disease in which the drinking of alcohol becomes uncontrollable. Compulsion and craving of alcohol rules the life of the alcoholic. Many of us drink alcohol to socialize which is not alcoholism. An alcoholic is a frequent habitual user. Alcohol, a central nervous system depressant, dulls the senses especially vision and hearing. Signs of alcoholism are tremors, delirium, inability to concentrate and many others. “According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, more than 13 million Americans abuse alcohol”(Mayo Clinic Health Information 1). There are many causes leading an individual to alcoholism. Alcohol damaging effects are physically, psychologically, and socially devastating.
Marcus, D. (March 27, 2000). Drnking To Get Drunk. U.S. News & World Report [On-line], Available: www2.gasou.edu/library/ (Galileo)(EBSCOhost)(Search=Alcohol Abuse).
Early American alcohol abuse dates back as far as our ancestors settling the 13 colonies. Whiskey was popularly used and early developing towns in those original colonies did start to want to rid their towns of the “town drunk”. Laws would be instilled in those settlements to put the town drunk into jail, saving the town embarrassment of one of its people.
Alcoholism is of interest to many people in the world today. This paper examines what has recently been learned about alcoholism, especially how serious of a disorder it actually is. Some of the aspects that are explained are what exactly alcohol abuse involves, the negative effects alcohol has on the human body, and options for treatment.
Alcoholism is a disease that affects many people in the United States today. It not only affects the alcoholic, but also their family, friends, co-workers, and eventually total strangers. The symptoms are many, as are the causes and the effects.
According to Institute of Alcohol Studies there is more than one kind of relationship involved between alcohol problems and mental health, such as: mental health problems may be a cause of problem drinking and vice versa; there may be a factor in common, in the genes or in the early family environment, which later contributes to both a mental health problems and alcohol probl...