Alcoholism: These Are The Effects Of Dependence On Drinking
Alcoholism is a health problem caused by compulsive consumption of alcohol, which is capable of generating physical and psychological dependence.
It is an excessive intake, problematic, difficult to control by one’s own will. In turn, this behavior is caused by multiple and varied factors: physical predisposition, psychological vulnerabilities and social factors that facilitate consumption.
But one of the most striking aspects of alcoholism is that many times, in its early phases, it is socially accepted. This shows another of the most important dimensions of the problem of alcoholism: its psychological and social facet.
Alcoholism is a pathology based on addiction to alcoholic beverages, that is, those that contain a significant amount of ethanol It is also one of the most widespread types of addiction throughout the world as well as one of the oldest, given that the products on which it is based have existed for thousands of years, and have appeared in several cultures in parallel.
Alcoholism is also a very harmful addiction not only for the person who develops dependence on these drinks, but also for other people since it gives rise to accidents very frequently.
On the other hand, alcohol is a drug that is consumed on a massive scale even by minors in many countries, a situation that leads many young people to develop alcoholism at a very early age, without even having had the opportunity to have the capacity to establish your own way of life.
Excessive alcohol consumption is usually naturalized and socially accepted And in the social imagination, an alcoholic is considered someone who is seen drunk during the day, on the street, starting to drink in the morning or drinking every day of the week. In this way, other forms of alcoholism remain invisible.
This is not determined by the amount of alcohol a person consumes per day but by how that person relates to alcohol: with dependence, need, compulsion and difficulties in not consuming.
That is, a person is an alcoholic because of how they drink, regardless of whether they do it every day, one day a week, or more sporadically. However, anyone who consumes alcohol is not an alcoholic, since there may be consumption without establishing a bond of dependency and addiction with him But… what happens in the human body where there is dependence?
The effects of this addiction on health
Once ingested into the body, alcohol produces two opposing actions, a disinhibitory effect and a depressant effect The first blocks parts of the brain responsible for thinking, the ability to reflect, moral conscience, and ethical values; and overstimulates impulses and emotions. This allows us to understand that an alcoholic person can behave differently than when they are sober and even commit crimes without the possibility of control, which, without consumption, they would not carry out.
The depressant effect inhibits the central nervous system causing a decrease in their functions: less attention, less psychomotor coordination, drowsiness, feeling of exhaustion, among others, leading in extreme cases to respiratory arrest and death. This explains that although alcohol is often consumed in the hope that it will make us more sociable, after the first wave of effects, it produces a tendency towards isolation, favoring the appearance of a low or directly aggressive mood.
Why are the consumed quantities of alcoholic beverages increasing? Because the body generates tolerance to the substance it is as if you get used to it and, since it does not produce the expected effect, then it becomes necessary to drink more amounts of alcohol or stronger alcoholic beverages to achieve the effects you are looking for.
Why can’t an alcoholic person stop drinking?
Another conception to denature refers to the reasons for the difficulty, in some cases, and the impossibility, in others, of stopping drinking. It is not because of taste, whim or vice, it is because of the strong compulsion to drink that the alcoholic person feels, which becomes uncontrollable and escapes your voluntary control because he is in a situation of physical and psychological dependence.
The body asks for alcohol and the head needs it to continue. Furthermore, without consumption, withdrawal symptoms develop, which presents with unpleasant sensations, physical manifestations, anxiety, irritability, anguish and a strong desire (need) to consume.
How to act when you suspect that someone close to you is addicted?
A first step involves denaturalizing problematic alcohol consumption. In doing so, Doubts begin to arise and the need to ask for help
Here we can locate a second step: look for a space for listening, for asking questions, for guidance on alcoholism, to learn to observe what the person’s relationship is like with consumption and with alcohol: can they control their intake without depending on it? of alcohol?; Do you find it difficult to stop drinking? Are you looking for excuses to drink?
It is important to become aware of problematic alcohol consumption in time, due to the risks it can cause, since alcoholism causes a greater probability of suffering accidents, illnesses and death in addition to having effects on a behavioral, emotional, bonding, social, work, and legal level.
Guidance and support for families is essential to understand that alcoholism is a disease that has recovery and for which specialized treatment is essential for both the alcoholic family member and the rest of the family. This will allow families to redefine consumption and its consequences, generate changes in attitude and build spaces for family dialogue and communication.
Furthermore, it is important that the family can work in spaces specialized in alcoholism on those difficult and traumatic situations caused by the effect of alcoholism that affects the entire family, such as anguish, helplessness, fears, anger, psychosomatic symptoms, feelings of guilt… to begin to have new healthy lifestyle habits themselves, strengthening self-esteem, developing new personal fulfillment projects to learn to live better and build a healthier life.
