Cause and Effects of Alcohol
What is alcohol and how does it effect a person and the family members around them. Alcoholism is a long term chronic disease. We all know what alcohol is. The medical term is someone who drinks frequently too much and becomes unable to maintain a normal healthy life. An individual who can’t control his need for alcohol.
Alcoholism is a symptom of a psychological or social problem, or is a learned behavior used to cope with everyday people’s lives. This is a serious disease that effects many people in the world. It is a disease that progresses over several years, not just over a few days. This disease not only effects the alcoholic it affects everyone that is involved with this individual.
Alcoholism
…show more content…
Unlike alcoholics, alcohol abusers have some ability to set limits on their drinking. However, their alcohol use is still self-destructive and dangerous to themselves or others. Just because someone drinks or abuses alcohol means they will become alcoholics, but they are at a big risk. Sometimes things in someone’s life develop and in response to this stressful event a person turns to alcohol as a blanket to soften this tragedy in their life. Other times drinking gets out of hand and your alcohol tolerance increases and you begin to drink daily and it gets out of control. A person who abuses alcohol may have many of these signs and symptoms, but they do not have the withdrawal symptoms like an alcoholic does, nor the same degree of compulsion to …show more content…
A person’s judgement can become altered and lower the inhibitions, thoughts, emotions, and general behavior. It can affect the person’s ability to coordinate their muscles and speak properly. Lots of heavy drinking can cause them to go into a coma. Eventually they can have fatigue, memory loss, lots of health problems, arrest, money issues, loss of employment, suicide, family issues.
There are several types of alcoholics, the first is they young adult subtype, who does not have a family history is young adult drinker. The second type is the young antisocial subtype, these folks are young, do have a family history of alcoholism, and have mental illnesses and addictions to other substance. The third type is functional, middle aged and successful with a stable job and a supportive family. These have a family history of alcoholism and history of depression. The fourth type is intermediate familial subtype, middle aged with a family history of alcoholism and prior depressive episode. The fifth type is the chronic severe subtype, includes middle aged with family histories of alcoholism, mental illness, and addictions to other
Lily, Henrietta M. and Harmon, Daniel E. Alcohol Abuse and Binge Drinking. New York: the Rosen Publishing Group Inc., 2012. Print.
As illustrated the model of drug abuse and the theories behind addiction are varied. There is no concrete reason for one person who drinks to become alcohol dependent versus the person who does not. Several factors contribute to why a person begins drinking and why they continue to do so despite reasons to stop. The case history exhibits a client with many risk factors associated with alcohol use and dependence.
Alcoholism is a deadly addiction that affects the main organs of the human body and upturns chances of developing cancer. Vital organs such as the heart and brain are affected and also the liver and pancreas. The immune system becomes weaker as the risk of cancer increases. My grandmother on my dad’s side was an alcoholic, as is my mother’s sister. Alcoholism runs in families making my risk of becoming an alcoholic high. Being an alcoholic also affects those around you.
Alcoholism, as opposed to merely excessive or irresponsible drinking, has been thought of as a symptom of psychological or social stress or as a learned, maladaptive coping behaviour. More recently, and probably more accurately, it has come to be viewed as a complex disease in its own right. Alcoholism usually develops over a period of years. Alcohol comes to be used more as a mood-changing drug than as a foodstuff or beverage served as a part of social custom or religious ritual.
Alcoholism is defined as a destructive addiction to alcohol while alcohol abuse is defined as a destructive abuse of alcohol. Alcoholism is the most severe form of alcohol abuse but there are many different factors that contribute to a person becoming an alcoholic. Alcoholism is genetic but usually influenced by someone’s environment growing up and their present environment. Having a abusive childhood or a hard life in general can trigger feelings that turn into a need to drink. An alcoholic can not control his/her intake of alcohol because he/she does not have control over it. There are many signs and symptoms to determine if someone is in fact an al...
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, alcoholism is defined as "the compulsive consumption of and psychophysiological dependence on alcoholic beverages." It is a problem that can tear apart marriages and families, cause someone to lose his job, and many more negative results. In order to recover from this dependency a person must lose his desire for and dependence upon alcohol, continue to remain sober, and resolve all conflicts caused by the alcohol abuse. There are several alternatives an alcoholic has to rehabilitate himself. The best solution is a combination of individual therapy and a support group like Alcoholics Anonymous.
The problem of alcohol abuse has been recognized for thousands of years, but only more recently have we begun to see alcohol addiction as a treatable disorder. According to the Classical Disease Model of `Alcoholism,' habitual use of alcohol can be identified as a disease. Webster's Dictionary defines the concept of `disease' as follows: "Any departure from health presenting marked symptoms; malady; illness; disorder." Therefore, as many occurrences of alcohol excess provoke such symptoms, it is somewhat understandable that `alcoholism' is classified as a disease. The Classical Disease Model appears to offer a hopeful option. Treatment and sobriety can allow people to lead fulfilling lives. Adjacent to the notion of alcoholism as personal failure or moral deterioration, the Classical Disease Model appears to be a more desirable concept as it provides a motive for the alcoholic to seek treatment and gain sympathy, minimizing personal guilt. As alcoholism is seen as a progressive and, to an extent, hereditary illness for which those afflicted are not accountable, victims avoid being ostracized from society (Jellinek, 1960). Labeling the problem as a `disease' allows the medical profession to take responsibility for the treatment of alcoholism, which puts the problem in a more favourable light than if it were in the hands of psychologists or social workers, thus detaching the stigma connected with the problem while it is put on a par with other diseases such as diabetes or cancer. However, critics of the Classical Disease Model believe stigma helps reduce alcohol problems and aids the alcoholic. Any effort to reduce the stigma which is faced by the alcoholic will reduce pressures to moderate consumption and could have the additional ...
The first to advocate alcoholism as a disease was Benjamin Rush (1785-1843), and he even proposed that hospitals should be established to aid in the treatment of this disease (Cox, 1987). Since Rush, there have been many more definitions of alcoholism including the Statistical Abstracts (1979) account that an alcoholic is defined as ?one who is unable consistently to choose whether he shall drink or not, and if he drinks, is unable consistently to choose whether he shall stop or not. ?Alcoholics with complications? are those who have developed bodily or mental disorders through prolonged excessive drinking? (O?Brien & Chafetz, 1982, p.26). Further, Mark Keller of Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcoholism in March of 1960 stated that alcoholism is a ?chronic disease manifested by repeat implicative drinking so as to ca...
Drinking alcohol is associated with many adverse health problems in the short and long-term. These include cancer, stroke, heart disease, miscarriage, premature birth and unintentional injuries. Despite the fact that alcohol brings many negative impacts, many people still choose to drink and do not overcome their drinking habit. They have been successfully seduced by alcohol until drinking has become their addiction. However, some of them try to quit drinking, but they still cannot break the addiction. Basically, quitting alcohol is difficult and almost impossible for them because of brain-craving, lack of belief and support, and weak willpower.
Alcoholism has been a problem throughout the history of humanity, a disease which has caused many people to be overcome with burdens, problems, and debts. Alcoholism is a term that is widely recognized throughout the United States and the World. Alcoholism is a chronic disease, progressive and often fatal; it is a disorder and not due to other diseases or emotional problems.
...f Alcoholics Anonymous describes alcoholism as a “cunning, baffling, and powerful “ disease (Alcoholics Anonymous 2001). So when it is said by opponents of the disease concept that alcoholism is a condition of moral weakness or a behavioral condition, I am reminded of people I have met or personally known who have the disease of alcoholism. Most of them were good ,hard working people whom one would never suspect of being alcoholics. But over time alcohol took its toll on their bodies and minds, and, before long they were only shells of their former selves. Many of these alcoholics ended up in hospitals and rehabilitation centers, not because they were “bad people” or had “behavioral problems” , but simply because they had a disease called “alcoholism”. Because of what chronic drinking does to the mind and body, alcoholism should definitely be considered a disease.
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.
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...
"Because time and amount of drinking are uncontrollable, the alcoholics is likely to engage in such behaviors as [1] breaking family commitments, both major and minor; [2] spending more money than planned; [3] drinking while intoxicated and getting arrested; [4] making inappropriate remarks to friends, family, and co-workers; [5] arguing, fighting and other anti-social actions. The alcoholic would probably neither do such things, nor approve of them in others unless he was drinking" (Johnson 203).
Alcohol and drug abuse is one of biggest problems in United States today. It is not only a personal problem that dramatically affects individuals' lives, but is a major social problem that affects society as whole. "Drug and alcohol abuse", these phrases we hear daily on the radio, television or in discussions of social problem. But what do they mean or what do we think and understand by it? Most of us don't really view drug or alcohol use as a problem, if that includes your grandmother taking two aspirins when she has a headache or your friends having few beers or drinks on Saturday night. What we really mean is that some drugs or alcohol are being used by some people or in some situations constitute problem with which our society must deal. It becomes a real problem when using or I should say abusing drugs cause accidents, antisocial behavior, broken relationships, family instability, crime and violence, poverty, unsafe streets and highways, worker absenteeism and nonproductivity, and the most tragic one death. The situation in which the drug or alcohol uses accurse often makes all the difference. The clearest example is the drinking of alcohol, when individual begins to drink during the job, at school, or in the morning, we have evidence that indicates a potential drinking problem. If a person takes narcotic drug because he just wrecked his knee while his physician prescribed playing football and the drug, most of us would be not concerned. If, on the other hand, he took the same drug on his own just because he likes the way it makes him feel, then we should begin to worry about him developing dependence. Even use of illegal drugs are sometimes acceptable, but it also depends on situation, for example in some countries smoking marijuana is legal just like drinking alcohol in United States. Some subcultures even in United States that accept the use of illegal drugs may distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable situation, some college age groups might accept marijuana smoking at a party on weekends, but not just before going to a calculus class. Most of people would accept a fact that a bartender or a waiter who is working at a night club is having a beer or a drink on his break or that a landscape worker is having a cold beer with his lunch on a hot summer day. I'm not saying that it is "OK" but we wouldn't complain a...