One of the most tragic things about people, who are addicted to alcohol, is that they are rarely viewed as the victims of a disease. Moreover, the very phenomenon of alcoholism is practically never considered as a disease by most people, which is very wrong. Alcoholism is a malady, which eats at people, and denying the mere fact of its presence is most likely to lead to drastic effects.
Every single case of alcoholic dependence described in the lecture is perfectly consistent with the existing model, each piece of evidence falling into its place and, therefore, allowing the audience to have an entire picture of the problem that a drinking person is trapped in. For example, the narrator mentions the issues that a school student may have with drinking.
No matter how shocking such a discovery may seem to the society, people must acknowledge the fact that teenager drinking exists; the sooner parents realize the threat that their children may appear under, the more efficient the preventive measures will be. In the case described by Tack, a complete lack of motivation in studying and the following academic regression, which he was under, are quite characteristic of a typical alcoholic dependence.
The family issue, which Maria brought up, is also an essential aspect of alcoholic dependence analysis. While a range of researchers agree that family background does not define one’s addiction to alcohol, it will still be unreasonable to argue that a child, having their parents as the key role models, will assume that drinking is a natural and essential part of existence.
True, after growing old enough to be able to evaluate the actions of their parents critically, a child will be able to realize that drinking is, in fact, a very harmful habit and a part of self-destructive behavior.
However, it is still highly doubtful that, with a family record, which includes several years of having a consistent example of drinking as a natural habit to develop, a child will refuse from engaging in drinking. After all, teenage binge drinking (TBD), which often leads to further development of alcoholism in the future, is a notorious issue among present-day young people.
Ore to the point, one must also admit that addiction to alcohol may also emerge on a genetic level; in other words, with at least one family member having a drinking record, the possibility of the child to develop a similar problem in the future is dangerously high.
What is even more upsetting, the feeling of being trapped, which one of the participants of the conversation refers to in order to describe her teenager experience of addiction to alcohol, is devastating; with no outside help, a teenager may reach the level of being desperate, where they may think of suicide as the only possible way out.
Though a topic for a separate discussion, suicidal thoughts are very typical of the people, who suffer from alcoholism. The lack of motivation and the disbelief in one’s own ability to fight the malady lead to denying having a problem and, therefore, the further deterioration of health.
Alcoholism is one of the topics that need more discussion. Unfortunately, in modern society, addiction to alcohol remains among the subjects that people do not know how to tackle; as a result, the victims of the disease either remain helpless.
In the worst case scenario, an alcohol addict concludes that they are a burden on people. Also, it seems that awareness concerning the issue must be raised in contemporary society. Once the problem is recognized and the harmful stereotypes are defeated, better methods of both fighting and preventing alcoholism will be found.