Alcoholism

Overview

When you start to lose control of how much you drink, despite how much damage it is doing to relationships, finances, health and work, that is what is known as alcoholism. Initially, researchers studied the lives of 600 American males who had gradual change in their drinking behaviors and tried to find the factors leading to alcoholism. You become addicted only when the frequency, quantity and degree of your consuming is high.

Types

Generally, the alcoholic problems are divided into the following three categories:

• Binge Drinking: This problem occurs mainly for young people whose age is between 18 and 21. If you are a male drinking five or more glasses at one sitting or a female drinking three or more glasses at a time, then you are under this category.
• Alcohol Abuse: When you continue drinking even after knowing that it may cause social or interpersonal problems, then you are in this division.
• Alcohol Dependence: You are very much alcohol dependent if you drink despite repeated problems at home and work place. This is mostly influenced by psychological factors and complex interplay of genes.

Symptoms

There are a number of symptoms associated with alcoholism that are indicators of a problem. The inability to limit the amount of alcohol you consume, drinking large quantities at once and building a tolerance to alcohol are all key symptoms. When you try to mask the disease by drinking alone, hiding liquor all around the home in unlikely spots and making a ritual of the drinking process then clearly you have neared alcohol abuse.

Causes/Risk Factors

Alcoholism is a gradual disease, slowly affecting the brain's chemistry as your body becomes more and more dependent. There are some key factors that can lead to the development of alcoholism. First is the prevalence towards genetics and the identification of a trend of alcoholism in your family tree. Your emotional state is also a key part, with high levels of stress, anxiety and emotional injuries contributing to the disease. Depression or low self-esteem can also result in alcoholism.

Tests/Diagnosis

There are criteria established in the DSM for the identification of alcoholism. The identification is made when three or more of the following symptoms are found in a three month period. The development of a tolerance, while experiencing withdrawal symptoms makes the individual stop drinking alcohol. Drinking over longer periods of time and spending more time for recovering. More importantly, devastating symptoms include wanting to quit, but failing and giving up on important activities.

Treatment

Alcoholism is treated by first ceasing the alcohol consumption, dealing with the detoxification and withdrawal. Once the patient has been through the withdrawal, then a medical assessment is performed and treatment is prescribed. Psychological treatment may be necessary to treat the root cause of the disease, to help prevent remission. The patient must accept that they have a problem and must abstain from further consumption, as once the body develops an addiction, any alcohol consumption will restart the disease.