Surprisingly, many people wonder what an alcoholic is and what is alcoholism. There is much information to be covered on the subject of alcoholism. The coverage here of this disease will be but a glimpse of the condition.
The term alcoholism is given to a disease which creates a strong craving for alcohol. The person that has this condition is considered to be an alcoholic. These people seem to have varying degrees of need in their drinking desires. While some seem to need the alcoholic beverage constantly others only seem to crave a drink when something goes wrong for them or causes them a degree of stress which is more than they feel they can handle on their own. Still, others are what are known as a social drinker.
Experts are no longer categorizing alcoholics just by the fact that they drink so much alcohol that it affects their lives but now alcoholism can be divided into varying degrees of alcoholism. Experts are now defining alcohol use by the level of harm the alcohol is causing. Alcohol is a drug that affects a persons mind, body, and spirit. Although, alcohol is a legal drug, addiction is a common problem and carries with it a multitude of social and psychological issues. Using these new categories, it is possible to get help for the alcoholics at earlier stages. For definition purposes the term “one drink” is referring to 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 90-proof liquor.
The parts which first suffer from alcohol are those expansions of the body which the anatomists call the membranes. “The skin is a membranous envelope. Through the whole of the alimentary surface, from the lips downward, and through the bronchial passages to their minutest ramifications, extends the mucous membrane. The lungs, the heart, the liver, the kidneys are folded in delicate membranes, which can be stripped easily from these parts. If you take a portion of bone, you will find it easy to strip off from it a membranous sheath or covering; if you examine a joint, you will find both the head and the socket lined with membranes. The whole of the intestines are enveloped in a fine membrane called peritoneum. All the muscles are enveloped in membranes, and the fasciculi, or bundles and fibres of muscles, have their membranous sheathing. The brain and spinal cord are enveloped in three membranes; one nearest to themselves, a pure vascular structure, a network of blood-vessels; another, a thin serous structure; a third, a strong fibrous structure. The eyeball is a structure of colloidal humors and membranes, and of nothing else. To complete the description, the minute structures of the vital organs are enrolled in membranous matter.”
Alcoholism is a disease. The alcoholic craves an alcoholic beverage as strongly as a person who is hungry craves food, or a person who is thirsty craves a glass of water.
There is a genetic connection discovered by scientists who have studied the disease. In other words, alcoholism can run in families; much the same way as other diseases can. There are other factors that are present just as even though Diabetes may run in your family, not all siblings contract the disease. So, it is with Alcoholism. Not all family members will become alcoholics. The other factors may be the presence of peer pressure, availability of alcohol, etc.
Studies have shown consistently that those who attend Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in an attempt to conquer a problem with alcoholism are among the most likely to successfully beat the problem. In this article, we’ll examine some of the basic beliefs of the Alcoholics Anonymous program – the first six of the ‘twelve steps’ as they are commonly known. Many people live their lives based on the twelve step program and they find that it makes it all the easier to keep them from drinking.
Alcoholism is a disease that requires a treatment program. That program should include both individual counseling and group support. These two are important ingredients to the recovery and ongoing management of the disease. The individual help is a given and most will agree with it’s importance. The group support system is a powerful aid to staying sober and tool to meeting your maintenance goals.
Group Support Provides:
Support groups are a safety net that exposes those who need help with caring professional who have a compassion for those suffering from this disease
Alcohol is the leading preventable cause of mental and physical birth defects. When a woman drinks alcohol during her pregnancy, she risks giving birth to a child who could have lifelong mental and physical deficiencies. These physical and mental deficiencies are referred to as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) or Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE). In 1996, the Institute of Medicine released this statement: “Of all the substances of abuse (including cocaine, heroin, and marijuana), alcohol produces by far the most serious neurobehavioral effects in the fetus.” There are an estimated 40,000 cases of FAE each year.
Signs and symptoms of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome:
Women process alcohol differently than men. Women who are alcoholics or even occasionally drink too much alcohol face much greater health risks than men who drink the same amounts. Women who drink will get drunk faster than men get and become addicted to alcohol faster than men become. Although men are more likely to drink alcohol and drink in larger amounts, gender differences in body structure and chemistry cause women to absorb more alcohol, and take longer to break it down and remove. In other words, upon drinking equal amounts, women have higher alcohol levels in their blood than men, and the immediate effects occur more quickly and last longer. These differences also make women more vulnerable to alcohol’s long-term effects on their health.
You do not have to go it alone. You can join a support group and talk with family and friends about what you are living with. It is important that you are not alone in what you are living with. If you think that it will make people feel differently about the person, you may be right, but then again, the alcoholic does not care anyway. You need to have someone to talk to or confide in if you do not join a support group. You would be surprised at how many friends and family already know that there is a problem.
An intervention is a confrontation by a group of concerned family and friends. The intervention should be a loving, gentle, and supportive strategy to encourage the alcoholic to admit to having a problem with alcohol and to agree to seek professional help in order to overcome the problems. The person who needs an intervention is one who is severely dependent and unable to see the severity of their addiction. Each intervention needs to be carefully organized, choreographed, and even rehearsed. The key to a successful intervention is preparation.
