Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol addiction is a compulsion that takes control on a person and influences them to act out repeated and uncontrollable acts of self-destructions.  This behavior can include drinking excessive amounts of alcohol without the ability to stop or set a limit for one’s self.  Alcoholism is a disease that overwhelms a person and drives them to a single purpose.  The ability of a substance to have such a tight grip on a person’s behavior and life is not always understood by people that do not suffer from this disease. 

Alcohol addiction is more than a desire to drink it is an overpowering urge to consume a substance that is usually understood to be detrimental but the need is more intense than rational judgment.   It is not simply a matter of will or want.  It is a disease that has emotional, mental, and physical ramifications not just for the use of the substance but for the discontinued use of the substance.  The cravings for alcohol can cause a person to experience symptoms of withdrawal that can include anxiety, headaches, sweating, shakes, loss of appetite, and nausea.

Alcoholism is a progressive condition that requires greater amounts of alcohol consumption in order to get that euphoric feeling or high that alcoholics crave.  Alcoholics are not social drinkers, where a person that drinks socially can stop drinking after they have a buzz a person that suffers from alcohol addiction cannot stop and many times only stops when he/she is either sick, unconscious, or in an altered state of mind where they just go through the motions.       

Scientists believe there is a genetic factor to alcohol addiction and that the offspring of alcoholics are fifty percent more likely to be alcoholics.  Other studies have shown that as many as twenty-five percent of male relatives of alcoholics are themselves alcoholics.  Social condition, ethnicity, economic class, and occupation have also shown to have an influence in the development of alcoholism.  So far, there has been irrefutable evidence that any specific genetic component actually causes alcoholism.   

Behavioral patterns and drinking routines vary widely from one alcoholic to another.  Some alcoholics drink randomly to get drunk, others drink on a daily bases, while others are nonstop all the time.  One thing all alcoholics have in common is the fact that they have no control over their desire and craving for alcohol.

• Brain damage
• Short-term memory loss
• Cirrhosis of the liver
• Alcoholic Hepatitis

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