Introduction: What is alcohol dependence?

Alcohol dependence is defined as any alcohol consumption that causes problems. This includes alcoholism and alcohol abuse, where a person’s life increasingly starts to revolve around the use of this substance.

A few years ago, the American Psychological Association updated the criteria for alcoholism to at least 1 glass of light alcoholic beverage per day (before that, the limit was 2 glasses). So if someone drinks one beer or one glass of wine a day, every day, they are considered an alcoholic by this criterion. So alcoholism is also a matter of frequency, not just quantity. It is not necessary for every alcoholic to drink 2 bottles of whiskey every day, it is enough to drink a non-spirituous alcoholic drink such as wine every day to be classed as an alcoholic.

Alcohol addiction becomes a social problem when a person starts drinking heavily and may even continue to drink until they resort to reckless acts or face dangerous consequences such as committing crimes, injuring themselves or others, or drink-driving.

Alcohol addiction is a dangerous medical and psychological disease that poses a high risk to life.

Alcoholism is caused by the use of alcohol in the presence of one or more enabling factors, such as genetic and environmental vulnerability, problems in the alcoholic’s life, social pressure or stress.

People with alcoholic tendencies, who drink even in small quantities, are at risk of progressing to full-blown addiction as well as other health problems such as liver damage, malnutrition and pancreatitis.

Alcohol addiction also poses a significant risk of physical harm. Alcohol abuse is the most common health problem in the United States and is the third leading preventable cause of death.

Alcoholism has many causes, but often has to do with a person’s emotional imbalance due to an event, a change in environment, or a lack of support from loved ones.

How alcohol addiction affects the brain and body

Alcohol addiction is a chronic disease that affects the brain and body. It can lead to a variety of health problems, including cirrhosis of the liver, heart disease and cancer. Alcohol addiction is also known as alcoholism.

Alcoholism is characterised by an inability to control alcohol consumption despite negative consequences such as physical illness or job loss. Alcoholism can be caused by genetic factors or environmental factors such as trauma or stress.

Alcohol dependence affects the body and brain in many different ways. It influences many areas of life, including job performance, academic performance, crime rates, and simply how happy or peaceful you are day to day.

Different levels of alcohol dependence have different ways in which they affect different parts of the human body. For example, initially it can make drinkers more talkative, but at a high level, addiction can cause seizures and even alcoholic coma.

Alcohol impairs the functioning of areas of the brain responsible for balance, memory, judgement and speech, increasing the risk of injury or other adverse consequences. Long-term consumption causes organic changes in neurons, reducing their size.

Alcohol attacks the myelin sheath in which axons are wrapped (axons are the connections between neurons), making nerve impulses between neurons not transmit as well.

One of the effects of long-term alcohol consumption is neurotoxicity, the body’s response to the very high amount of neurotransmitters generated by alcohol, which causes neurons to ‘burn out’ and die much faster than in people who do not drink alcohol.

Women are more vulnerable to the medical effects of long-term alcohol consumption, taking fewer years of heavy drinking to develop specific conditions such as

• cirrhosis of the liver
• cardiomyopathy: damage to the heart muscle due to alcohol consumption
• peripheral neuropathy: damage to nerves due to alcohol consumption

Most people, even those who are alcoholics, are aware that alcohol primarily affects the liver, because the liver is the organ responsible for breaking down and eliminating alcohol from the body. What many people don’t know is that when the liver becomes diseased, in addition to cirrhosis, alcoholics often develop another extremely serious disease, a brain disorder called hepatic encephalopathy, which is often fatal.

There is a link between early alcohol abuse and impaired intellectual abilities. Increased dopamine resistance slows down critical decision-making reactions later in life. When alcohol exposure leads to neglect of aggressive behaviors, such as territorial crying and conflict resolution, it leads to unstable brain chemistry, creating lifelong changes in the intellect due to insufficient development of performance functions into adulthood. That is, alcohol does not allow the brain to develop normally, and if this development has been arrested, there is often nothing that can be done to recover.

How to treat alcohol dependence

Alcohol addiction is a condition that can cause physical and mental health problems. There is no universal treatment for alcohol addiction, but many options are available for treating alcoholism. The effects of alcoholism include feeling the need to numb painful emotions, withdrawing from socialising with friends and falling into restless sleeping patterns.

Alcohol addiction is a chronic disease that can be treated with medication and psychotherapy.

But treatment should begin before the addict becomes entrenched in a cycle of recurring behaviours that trigger uncontrolled drinking.

This is because alcoholism is a complex condition that requires treatment for both the symptoms of alcoholism and the cause behind the symptoms. Treatment for alcoholism is never limited to just the physical symptoms of the disease.

Symptoms such as foggy thinking, mood swings and relapse are defined as part of addiction. People suffering from alcohol addiction may not even know about these common symptoms that cause the stigma surrounding addiction.

Treatment for alcoholism is often a complex process. Addiction requires harsh or uncomfortable treatments that people often avoid because they don’t want to deal with the discomfort of the moment. Alcohol disorders are one of the risk factors for addiction among adolescents and young adults. If treatment is unsuccessful, psychologists may refer an alcoholic to outpatient or inpatient alcohol rehab.

Hospitalisation is particularly common in the treatment of alcoholism. Inpatient treatment usually involves a combination of medical stabilisation, detoxification and rehabilitation.

Conclusion: start treating alcohol dependence before it’s too late

For some people, the idea that alcohol can have a positive effect on life encourages alcohol consumption. But real, healthy self-esteem is only possible without alcohol.

Most people who abuse substances do so to temporarily escape their problems, such as anxiety, stress or depression. Alcohol is often combined with prescription psychotropic drugs such as benzodiazepines and opiates, a habit that can lead to exacerbation of mental problems or even death.

Some people use alcohol to try to avoid situations where they think they will fail because of low self-esteem, which often causes them to consume even more alcohol. Drinking causes them to fail even more often in different social situations, which leads to even more drinking. And so a vicious circle is created from which the addict finds it very difficult to escape.

However, there are treatments, such as psychotherapy, that can provide a path to recovery.