Is Alcoholism A Type Of Behavior?

It is said to believe that alcoholism is a type of behavior, which is why it shouldn’t just be studied by medical doctors, but by psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychoanalysts. Why? Psychology is the study of human behavior. This article argues that alcohol addiction is distinguished by an imbalance of two different psychological reports leading to the loss of willpower (Bechara 2005). The first one being a spontaneous reaction for signaling immediate expectations. The second report is a reflective reaction needed to decrease the response triggered by the impulsive system. The article also reviews some candidates that can trigger alcohol use either knowingly or unknowingly. According to Alcoholism and the Loss of Willpower, alcohol-related stimuli capture the attention of problematic users of alcohol, triggers specific attributes (good/bad and sedative/arousal), and both of which could increase the likelihood to drink more alcohol or to drink in inappropriate situations, like before an exam or before driving a car. (Page 1) Another main aspect of alcoholism is the diminished extent for self-control. This also includes things like addicts not being able to efficiently execute certain behaviors and regulate their emotions and feelings. This can have a lot to do with the insula, which is a region of the brain deep inside the cerebral cortex. Where a lot of decision making takes place here, once the insula is engaged it makes conscious and unconscious decisions to drink that beer or take that drug. All of these findings conclude to possessing willpower. “Willpower depends in many important ways on neural substrates that regulate homeostasis, emotion, and feeling.” (Persaud, McLeod, & Cowey, 2007) All these understandings of alcohol...

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... Learning all these new facts and findings, it answers a lot of questions I once had about the way the brain is affected by alcohol and how alcoholism originates. Things make more sense now as to why people relapse so easily or why they have weakened self-control. These are the kinds of things I could never explain to myself when my brother would always be on and off with his sober life or why it seemed he chose alcohol over his family or school. I hear about people abusing alcoholics more frequently these days than I ever have, so I think it’s important that we keep studying this illness both mentally and physically. I also think people forget that alcohol not only affects your body physically, but more so mentally and that there are reasons as to why these people make the choices that they do. The more information we know, the more help that could be put out there!