What is alcoholism?

Alcoholism is a chronic disease characterized by the incapacity to control the desire or need to ingest alcoholic beverages. The constant or uncontrolled use of substances that contain alcohol can compromise the proper functioning of the body, often leading to irreversible consequences.

Alcohol abuse disorder refers to a long-term addiction. An individual with this condition does not know when or how they can stop drinking, exhibiting compulsive behavior. In this article, you will learn more about alcoholism, find out what types of alcoholics are, the causes of alcoholism, and other aspects of this disease.

Types of alcoholics

Contrary to what many people think, there is not only one type of alcoholic person. The most common is to know about a general profile of this disease, however, there are some types or profiles of alcoholic people. Find out what they are in the next topics.

Young adult alcoholic

This is considered to be the largest group of alcoholics. In this type, the person becomes dependent still in youth, around 21 to 24 years of age. They drink less frequently compared to the other existing types. However, they usually exaggerate when they drink alcoholic beverages.

This type of behavior is associated, also, with behavioral exaggerations. Generally, the contact with alcohol happens a lot by the social context and discovery, characterizing as the beginning of an adult life.

Antisocial young alcoholic

This type is so called because most of the youths so characterized have an antisocial personality disorder, known as sociopaths. Most are male and have low education levels, and there are few job opportunities.

Most of them are young people who became addicted even before they were 20 years old. It is also natural that they seek to consume other types of drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, cigarettes, among others. In this type of alcoholism it is also common the presence of other disorders such as OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), depression, anxiety disorders and other personality disorders.

Functional Alcoholic

A functional alcoholic is the type of person who is a little bit different from the definition of alcoholism. Generally, he drinks in a strong and many times uncontrolled way. The difference is that this person is able to maintain good relationships with family members and at work. The most common type of person is men over 30 years old up to 60 years old.

This type, despite already showing some symptoms such as weight gain or loss, problems with sleep, health problems, mainly having diseases in the heart, liver and brain, still ends up keeping a good relationship with others and with you.

However, this good coexistence ends up being a matter of time before it ends, that is, the longer you stay without treatment the more the unwanted symptoms get strong.

Chronic alcoholic

This type of alcoholic usually drinks very early. Their first contact with alcohol is during childhood or adolescence, and from this beginning they do not stop with the consumption. They usually drink smaller doses, but with a much higher frequency. It is common for them to use other drugs.

Most people of this type usually come from families that have other people with alcohol addiction problems, so there is also the possibility of having personality disorders.

It is a group with real chances of developing other diseases along with alcoholism, known as comorbidities. Problems with divorces, fights with friends or fights at work are some problems experienced by them because of the disease.

Intermediate family alcoholic

These alcoholics had contact with the world of alcohol through friends and family members in late adolescence and early youth. As well as the chronic alcoholic type, this profile also tends to use other substances besides alcohol, thus generating the possibility of developing mental disorders due to this use.

Most people of this profile manage to maintain a good relationship with family, friends and work, because despite having problems with alcohol they usually attend some support groups or even do individual therapy sessions to better deal with some internal conflicts.

Causes of alcoholism

Many people, when they end up getting into alcohol addiction, barely know what causes led them to be in that situation. Some emotional issues can serve as triggers to create an alcohol dependency. In the following topics, we will explore more about the causes of alcoholism.

Genetic factors

Some researches point out that children of people with alcohol dependency have 3 to 4 times more risk of developing this disease, but the genetic factor is not the only cause of alcoholism.

However, if genetically speaking, this person has a predisposition to have an addiction to alcoholic beverages, the possibility of getting addicted having contact with alcohol will be higher. Therefore, it is important to do everything possible so that these people stay away from environments or occasions that provide an easy contact with beverages.

Age

The early contact with drink is a very common cause among people who have the alcoholism disease. By maintaining contact from a young age and using the substance for many years, dependence can become greater.

Drinking is totally harmful until around 20 years of age, due to the damage it can cause to the brain - which is still developing in this phase of life. Therefore, the younger you start and the longer you consume alcohol, the greater the chances of developing alcoholism.

Ease of access

A very common cause, but many times taken as something trivial, is the facility that this person has to ingest alcoholic beverages. Some people end up developing alcohol addiction for being able to maintain a frequency of use for having facilitated access to these substances.

The ease of access is perceived within the home and in circles of friends, both of which are usually the consumption environment and source of obtaining drinks, often cited by younger people.

Stress

Many people end up getting into the world of alcohol because they are very stressed. A common behavior is to use alcohol for possible "relaxation", considering drinking as a factor to achieve de-stressing. An attitude that can be very dangerous throughout life.

Drinking to relieve stress can be more dangerous than we imagine, because stress alters the psychological and physiological reactions to alcohol, causing the person to drink more than usual, that is, stress stimulates the use of alcohol.

Depression and anxiety

People who are diagnosed with anxiety or depression disorders, or who are going through difficult emotional situations and often do not develop healthy coping skills, end up seeking alcohol as an alternative for relief, extravasation or relaxation.

This search for alcohol as an alternative to cope with these moments can be very dangerous, because the person, for always having this search for alcohol as a solution for what he/she is feeling, may become dependent on the use of alcoholic beverages. In addition, the excessive ingestion of alcohol may cause the person to become depressed.

Metabolization of alcohol

When a person ingests in excess quantities of alcohol, many times, the organism ends up not being able to metabolize and eliminate the toxic substances. Thus, the neurons end up adapting and getting used to the doses of drinks that are ingested daily, thus increasing the possibilities of developing alcoholism.

Symptoms of alcoholism

Alcoholism carries with it some symptoms, some of them physical, others not, which end up helping to characterize an alcoholic person. However, in order to identify the symptoms of alcoholism it is necessary to analyse the general picture and not only an isolated episode. Check some of these symptoms in the following topics.

Need to drink at any time

The alcoholic beverage is a chemical substance that causes several alterations in the organism of those who consume it. It acts on the central nervous system of the person, stimulating the sensations of pleasure, euphoria and numbness.

These sensations caused by alcohol may cause the person to create a certain dependency, that is, the more alcohol the person ingests, the greater and more frequent will be the desire to ingest alcoholic beverages.

As consumption increases, the more resistant the person becomes to the effects of alcohol, leading to increased doses in order to feel the effects that generate pleasure. Some people even exchange some meals for drinking, offering greater health risks.

Fatigue and impaired thinking

Alcohol is capable of affecting the human cognitive system, by acting on the nervous system of the person who consumes it. Among the classification of psychoactive drugs (chemical substances that act on the central nervous system) alcohol is characterized as a depressant substance. Thus, its consumption causes drowsiness and a feeling of relaxation.

When using this substance long term, it can cause physical fatigue and affect thinking, and in some more severe cases can present mental confusion or hallucinations. As the person builds up a tolerance to this substance the symptoms tend to increase.

Eating or sleeping disorders

When consumed in excess, alcohol can contribute to the loss of appetite, thus causing problems related to eating, such as anorexia or alcoholic bulimia. In these problems the person does not eat on their own, trying to induce vomiting or purging.

Besides causing an eating disorder, alcohol tends to disturb the person's sleep, leading to a low quality of sleep, it can propitiate the development of disorders such as insomnia itself, sleepwalking and even some respiratory problems such as sleep apnea.

Changes in metabolism

When consumed, alcohol is a substance that has a rapid absorption. After the immediate effect of pleasure and euphoria, it can cause some symptoms such as headache, nausea and vomiting (the famous and well-known hangover). The exaggeration of this substance can disturb the functioning of some organs, such as liver, pancreas and kidneys, which are responsible for processing alcohol in the body.

Besides this, the lack of alcoholic beverage can cause abstinence syndrome, which happens when the concentration of alcohol in the blood decreases, causing irritability, tachycardia, and excessive sweating; in more serious cases it can lead to convulsions, causing the person to die.

Mood swings

A person, when under the effect of alcoholic beverages, tends to demonstrate attitudes of joy, euphoria and relaxation, becoming dependent on these emotions, starting to consume alcohol more frequently in order to prolong this effect of pleasure.

On the other hand, when the alcohol level decreases in an organism that has a habit of ingesting high doses of alcoholic substances, signs of anxiety, irritability and aggressiveness may appear, causing the person to change his/her mood very frequently, depending on alcohol to "stabilize" or feel better.

Withdrawal signs

When a person consumes alcohol too frequently, he/she ends up becoming dependent on the alcoholic substance. Because of this dependence, withdrawal signs become more frequent, that is, the person is no longer able to go some periods without drinking alcoholic beverages.

Symptoms such as anxiety, agitation, excessive sweating, mood alterations, strong headaches, mental confusion, become part of the routine of an alcoholic person, creating the perspective that he needs the alcoholic substance to be well.

Diseases caused by alcoholism

When the addiction to alcoholic substances cannot be controlled, those who use them are subject to acquire some diseases caused by alcoholism. Check some of them in the next topics.

Malnutrition

Especially for those who consume alcoholic substances from adolescence on, being the phase in which the nutritional needs are greater, the consumption of these substances affects the ability to absorb nutrients, thus preventing a good nutritional development.

Due to the great toxicity, these substances have a great potential of damaging noble organs that compose the gastrointestinal system, thus compromising liver and stomach functions, for example. But, remember: as alcohol has the capacity of affecting metabolization, these nutritional damages can be caused at any age.

Alcoholic hepatitis

This disease usually occurs in people who drink in excess for many years. What characterizes it is an inflammation of the liver related to the abuse of any alcoholic beverage, that is, the longer the time of ingestion the higher the risk of having this disease.

It is considered a pre-cirrhosis, because in this phase of the disease, the liver starts to be compromised. Generally, 80% of patients with alcoholic hepatitis have a history of alcohol consumption for more than 5 years. The most common signs and symptoms are liver enlargement, anorexia (loss of appetite), tumors, weight loss, fever, abdominal pain, among others.

Cirrhosis

Being classified as one of the worst diseases caused by alcoholism, cirrhosis can cause liver lesions that are often impossible to heal. In the long term, these lesions prevent the regeneration of cells and blood circulation, resulting in the replacement of normal liver tissue by nodules and fibrosis, that is, scarring.

The great danger of this disease is that it is silent for years. That is, the liver, even suffering with these lesions, seems not to complain, causing a delay in medical diagnosis. Often, when identified, it is in a very advanced stage.

Gastritis

The chronic use of alcoholic substances can damage the stomach wall, leaving the protective layer well weakened. With this, the stomach becomes increasingly vulnerable and irritated, leading to the disease known as gastritis.

Other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, headache and diarrhea, may appear when this disease is in a more critical stage.

Emotional disorders

Some emotional diseases are also part of the list of diseases caused by alcoholism. Alcohol addicts have greater difficulties in dealing with or judging their emotions. Because they usually use drinking as a way to escape their emotions or conflicts, those who have this addiction tend to have a compromised emotional intelligence.

Among the most famous, depression and anxiety crises are some of the emotional diseases generated by alcoholism. Some results of the toxic effects of alcohol, in neural circuits, end up making it impossible for the dependent person to react adequately to his/her environment.

Brain involvement

Alcohol Dementia is one of the most common neural symptoms in people with alcohol addiction. It is a condition caused when one has the habit of consuming alcohol in excess, and being classified as a more worrying disease when drinking excessively.

Among the aggravating factors of brain health is the impairment of memory and reasoning, much difficulty with the learning process and other brain functions. Anyone who ingests excessive amounts of alcohol in the course of life tends to have the risk of developing these diseases.

How to treat alcoholism

How can I stop drinking? This is one of the questions that many who suffer from this addiction end up asking. In the next topics we list some suggestions of attitudes that can be done to treat alcoholism.

Deciding to ask for help

Perhaps recognizing that you need help is not such an easy task for a person suffering from alcoholism. However, it is always good to remember that the sooner you are able to ask for help, the better your chances of making a successful recovery.

Unfortunately, the problem with alcohol is seen by society as a moral problem. Accepting that this is not true is a big step. Many people are afraid or ashamed to ask for help because they are too worried about what other people will think of them.

So remember, alcoholism is a disease like any other. Being able to identify the problem with alcohol addiction and get proper and effective treatment as soon as possible will help you to have more health and quality of life.

Treatment

To get proper treatment for the stage a person is in within alcoholism will depend on the degree of the individual's addiction.

The treatment process may include steps such as detoxification, the use of medications (to allow alcohol to become aversive or to reduce the compulsion for alcohol), counseling to help people identify contexts that lead them to consume the drink, among others.

Treatment can be done in hospitals, in homes or outpatient appointments. In the treatment phase, it is essential to have the support of family members to make it a more effective process. Having the support of family even more in emotional aspects will help the addict to feel more confident in their own progress in treatment.

Alcoholics Anonymous

It is a community of men and women who help each other get sober. Known as AA, this community has the intention that the members themselves help each other by sharing testimonies and experiences regarding the process of recovery from alcoholism.

Not all people adapt to AA's form of treatment, however, other approaches may be available. Even people who adapt to the program identify other alternatives to enhance treatment, always seeking the advice of a physician.

Is alcoholism curable?

Although alcoholism has some sources of treatment, it is a disease that has no cure. This means that even if an alcoholic is sober for a long period of time, he or she may suffer from some relapses.

So, it is always good to avoid any amount of drinking when you are going through a treatment. But remember: any relapse is natural to happen in this quest for improvement, the important thing is not to lose focus and always seek your health first.