The Selective Addictive Nature of Alcohol
Alcoholism has been misunderstood by people as a moral or emotional weakness. It is believed that people succumb to alcoholism because they have psychological and emotional problems that they want to escape from or relieve. People believe that alcoholism is caused by all kinds of social problems such as marital problems and death of loved ones.
However, the truth of the matter is that everyone has the same psychological and emotional problems. And most people will drink to escape these problems. The fact is that even as majority of the people are influenced to drink alcohol by emotional problems, not all of them will become alcoholics. Physiological factors in a man causing vulnerability towards alcohol are what will determine which person will become alcoholic not psychological factors (Milam and Ketcham, 12).
However, once the person is an alcoholic, he is unable to handle his problems well. The alcohol further aggravates his emotions leading him to feel fearful and depressed in exaggerated proportions whether he is in a drunken state or not. They are some myths on alcoholism that must be disregarded for the alcoholics to be correctly assisted by the medical experts.
First of all alcohol consumption affects people differently. It does not have the same effect on everyone. Secondly, not anyone can get addicted to alcohol even if they take the drug for a long time. It is a selectively addictive drug. It is only a minority of users who get addicted to the alcohol. It therefore does not appear in the category of addictive drugs in the WHO guidelines.
For most people, alcohol is a harmless social drink. There is also the myth that alcohol addiction is psychological. The truth of the matter however is that addiction is primarily physiological. There are people’s whose body is unable to process the alcohol normally. Alcoholics have a liver malfunction that causes a buildup of acetaldehyde throughout the body.
The acetaldehyde reacts with the brain amines to produce isoquinolines which trigger the urge to drink more and more alcohol to combat the excess production of acetaldehydes in the body. Secondly, studies have shown that alcoholism is hereditary. Children of alcoholics have a higher tendency of becoming alcoholics whether they are raised by their alcoholic parents or non-alcoholic relatives.
There is even the aspect of ethnic vulnerabilities to alcoholism. Jews and Italians have lower rates of alcoholisms than the Native Americans. This is because the number and variety of the alcohol dehydrogenate liver enzyme varies from one race to another. Furthermore the longer an ethnic group has been exposed to alcohol, the lower their vulnerability to alcohol.
Jews and Italians have been exposed to alcoholic drinks for over 7000 years while the Native Americans have been exposed to alcohol for only 300 years. Intermarriage within the different races also influences the susceptibility to alcohol. The alcoholics cannot cease to be alcoholics by simply limiting the amount of alcohol that they take.
The smaller amounts of alcohol taken will only go to reactivate his addiction. The society believes that if a person would only drink responsibly, then he would not become an alcoholic. The fact of the matter is that there are many responsible people who have become alcoholics.
The Effects of Alcohol
There is the belief that alcohol is primarily a sedative and depressant drug. The effect of the drug however depends on the amount that is consumed. When small portions are taken, the drug is a stimulant. The consumption of alcohol in small doses causes increase in heart rate, blood flow and the transmission of nerve impulses.
The individual’s performance on solving complex tasks is improved. The concentration level and creativity thinking is heightened. It is only when taken in large amounts that the drug acts like a depressant. At this point a person will avoid drinking because he does not want to experience nausea and other similar sensations.
For the alcoholics though they can take higher amounts of alcohol before they start experiencing discomfort. They have an increased tolerance to the alcohol. Nevertheless whether the dug is taken in small or large doses, the alcohol is a source of high amounts of calories and energy for the individual.
Medical experts believe that the alcohol is poisonous and dangerous. To the alcoholic, alcohol actually works as a medicine for the pain it creates for the individual. It gives the alcoholic relief from the pain of withdrawal leaving him feeling energetic and stimulated.
The Stages of Alcoholism
Alcoholism occurs in stages. In the early stages, the body adapts and builds tolerance. He does not feel sick and no one suspects a thing. The cells in the central nervous system change their functioning to accommodate the high levels of alcohol in the body. If he stops drinking the cells suffer distress showing the person’s dependence on the alcohol.
He then suffers withdrawal. If the alcoholic stops drinking he will experience acute withdrawal after a few days and the protracted withdrawal symptoms if he abstains from alcohol for months and years. In the acute withdrawal period, the person’s body reacts violently since the cells are addicted to the alcohol.
The person will experience hallucinations, mental confusion, memory defects, convulsions, paranoia, violent behavior and convulsions. The protracted withdrawal symptoms include loss of control, malnutrition, hypoglycemia and Autonomic Nervous system disorder. There are symptoms of alcoholics in the early stages such as greater tolerance for alcohol and growing preoccupation with alcohol.
In the middle stages the penalties of drinking alcohol become higher than the benefits achieved with drinking alcohol. The alcoholic craves for alcohol and does not realize the damage to his organs till it becomes full blown in the later stages. He will start sneaking or hiding drinks at the workplace or home. He may drink before a party to loosen up and hide his desire for more alcohol.
He will gulp the first drinks and show signs of loss of control. He will have mood swings, blackouts, loss of self-respect, remorse, guilt and personality changes. He will tend to isolates himself and have a lot of self-pity. The family tends to seek psychotherapy help for him that does not help. Social and professional interactions at home and work deteriorate as his disease starts showing.
His body soon starts rejecting food and his sexual performance dips. At the deteriorating stage of alcoholism, the person’s organs have been severely damaged. The physical health of the individual has deteriorated and he may die from heart failure, liver disease, cancer, respiratory disease and pancreatic.
The alcoholic at this stage will take morning drinks, exceed his tolerance level getting drunk and have prolonged binges. He may get hospitalized, attempt to kill himself or get arrested for drunk driving. He may end up becoming financially dependent on his family having lost his job.
He will prefer to drink with inferiors in seedy locations due to fear of becoming recognized by someone. He may start experiencing paranoia, vague religious or spiritual desires. The alcoholic is unable to stop because the disease does not allow him to see that he is addicted till in the last stages when it is too late.
The Correct Treatment of Alcoholism
Anyone interested in helping an alcoholic should do several things. He should learn about the disease, avoid moral judgment and develop an emotional detachment in the situation. The person should pick a treatment program with detoxification, professional counseling, nutritional and AA aspects to help the alcoholic maintain soberness.
The family also needs help in the convincing the alcoholic to agree on treatment. The family, the employer and the family doctor may all get involved in confronting the alcoholic. The alcoholic must submit to the program, understanding the disease and stay committed to the treatment.
Effective treatment needs to take place in a medical environment so that the medical staff can adequately treat the withdrawal symptoms. The patient will be given nutrients, fluids and adequate rest with medical intention. There are medical experts who believe that if an alcoholic takes three balanced meals a day, his nutritional requirements will be fulfilled.
However, an alcoholic requires additional supplements of vitamins and minerals for his nutritional deficiencies to be met. The amount of calories one gets from alcohol causes him to require lesser calories from other foods which are more nutritious. Furthermore it inhibits the body from absorbing valuable vitamins from the gastro-intestinal tract. There are also a lot of vitamins that are released by the alcoholic through urine.
The alcoholic therefore ends up being malnourished. The use of psychotherapy does not help the alcoholic at all either. Psychotherapy only makes the alcoholic feel more ashamed and guilty. Furthermore the use of this treatment method diverts the attention from the physical causes of the disease.
There are people who believe that the alcoholics should desire help in order to be helped. However the alcoholics do not want to be helped. The issue is that the alcoholics are very sick people. They cannot reason in a rational manner neither can they stop alcohol consumption by themselves.
The alcoholics have to be forced into treatment. It is only as the treatment progresses that the alcoholic gets the self-motivation to stop drinking. In the phase 2 of the treatment, the alcoholic learns about the disease and abstaining from alcohol. To help the alcoholics, people must let go of the prejudices and treat it like a disease.
Works Cited
Milam, James and Ketcham, Katherine. Under the Influence: A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism. New York: Bantam. 1984. Print.