Alcohol Addiction

image: happy male college student drinking

Alcohol is one of the hardest drugs to stop using considering its wide spread use and popularity in today's culture. It is easily accessible at most convenience stores and as we all know, convenience stores are everywhere.

For a person trying to kick their addiction, something as simple as paying for a tank of gasoline could be a big issue. It can be challenging if the person is not on the right footing when entering the store.

They may suddenly find themselves looking through the glass freezer doors, scanning the shelves, moving from Coca-Cola to Pepsi down to the energy drinks section and then to the alcohol section. For a normal individual (non alcoholic) it is a simple issue. They would give little thought and apply little effort in turning and walking away.

But for an alcoholic that wants and needs to drink, turning and walking away from the freezer door is like drowning in the middle of a stormy ocean, seeing a life preserver nearby but not reaching for it.

For the normal individual, this example seems extreme but for the alcoholic that is still drinking, it is a hard truth.

Alcohol addiction has yet to be completely understood by the scientific and medical communities. One thing commonly agreed upon is that alcohol addiction, or alcoholism, is a fatal disease if not treated.

Luckily, it is treatable. Though there has yet to be a vaccine invented that will cure the disease of alcoholism. As of today, there is no proven permanent cure for alcoholism. On the bright side, there are numerous ways to combat alcoholism for those willing to stop drinking and accept help.

If an individual is compulsively seeking and drinking alcohol despite negative consequences such as relationship problems, financial difficulties, employment loss, physical problems brought on by abusive drinking, and family problems, then he or she is more likely than not alcohol addicted.

Alcoholism is considered by most to be an obsession of the mind and allergy of the body. When thinking of an allergy, most people think of an allergic reaction to, say, shellfish. For someone who is allergic to shellfish to sit at the dinner table and fill their stomach with it could be fatal.

But what if this person has an obsession that cannot be controlled once they begin eating the shellfish? They need more and more until they have filled themselves with it and must be hospitalized because of it. Family members and friends can hide the shellfish, not buy it, skip the shellfish sections of the local market but somehow, someway, the individual with the shellfish obsession will find a way to get it and eat it.

Again, this sets off a turn of events that nearly kills the person and lands them in the hospital. Alcoholism is similar to the example above.

Alcohol temporarily blunts the effects of stress hormones. It typically leaves you feeling worse than ever because it depresses the brain and nervous system. One study looked at people who consumed one drink a day. After three months abstinence, their scores on standard depression inventories improved.

As it has been said before, one drink is too many and a thousand is never enough. The disease of alcoholism is sly, mysterious, potent and patient. A non alcoholic can be at a social event, have a drink maybe two, start to feel tipsy or a sense of loss of control, nausea might set in and they will stop.

For an alcoholic at the same event, they will have a drink and begin to feel more in control, more elated and free. Another drink increases that feeling so another will be needed after that and another and then another. The alcoholic will continue to drink and will be drunk before the night is over.

Thousands of facilities in the United States offer alcohol and drug rehabilitation and treatment services, ranging from short-term residential or in-patient hospitalization to long-term, outpatient counseling and therapy. The goal of these facilities is to help the alcoholic learn how to remain sober and resist the urge to drink.

When a person crosses the line between normal drinking and alcoholism, they will never be the same again. It is like changing a cucumber into a pickle. The pickle will never be cucumber again.

The alcoholic will try to grasp the same feelings and emotions they once associated with casual drinking but it will elude them indefinitely. They will continue down numerous paths to try and regain what once was but will exhaust every avenue until there is nowhere else to turn. Even then, they may still drink.

The culture of the workplace may either accept and encourage drinking or discourage and inhibit drinking. A workplace's tolerance of drinking is partly influenced by the gender mix of its workers. Studies of male-dominated occupations have described heavy drinking cultures in which workers use drinking to build solidarity and show conformity to the group. Some male-dominated occupations therefore tend to have high rates of heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems.

Alcoholism is misunderstood by the general population and there is good reason behind this. Non alcoholics will never be able to comprehend the powerful obsession affiliated with alcoholism.

It is something that cannot be understood unless it is lived by the individual themselves. Even the alcoholic may be baffled by their life threatening dilemma. Not too long ago alcoholics were thrown into insane asylums and locked away.

But there is hope for the alcoholic today. By accepting help, an alcoholic can increase their chances of living a purpose-filled and happy, alcohol-free life.

If you would like more information on alcohol and drug addiction, you can find it here: Alcohol Rehab

Patrick McLemore is a recovering alcoholic and addict. Patrick has worked with the Manor House Recovery Center for the last two years providing guidance to numerous recovering alcoholics and addicts.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patrick_Mclemore

The first symptom of an alcohol overdose is usually nausea, followed by vomiting. These symptoms are messages from your body that you ingested more alcohol than your body can metabolize.

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Alcohol addiction research shows that numerous people who engage in abusive drinking behavior receive five or fewer alcohol counseling sessions from physicians and other healthcare professionals. This kind of treatment and counseling is known as "brief intervention" and typically consists of information given by the healthcare professional to the person about local community alcohol agencies and resources and matter-of-fact advice on ways in which the individual can either drink responsibly or stop drinking altogether. The good news is this. Numerous research studies have found that brief intervention helps reduce the amount of alcohol that the person consumes, it diminishes the use of health care services, and it cuts down on alcohol-related problems that were experienced by the "problem drinker.

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