Alcoholism Essay, Research Paper

Alcoholism

Alcohol is a legal drug and is readily available, yet alcohol is more powerful and addictive than most drugs in the black market. It is also found in almost every society. Alcohol has been defined as the inability of a person to guarantee its behavior after the first drink. Unlike stimulants, alcohol depresses the functioning of the nervous system beginning with the first drink. Alcoholism is found through addiction, dependence, depression, and also genetically, but relates to severe damage to most parts of the body, illness, and disease.

The majority of people who drink alcohol drink it to feel good, to blot out bad feelings, or to become more relaxed. One cause of alcoholism is that people drink when they are depressed. A sign of alcoholism is when the person loses total control over consumption. Alcoholism cannot be cured, but its effects can be slowed down or arrested, and its effects reversed. Alcoholics who recognize their problem and try to seek professional help can improve and also turn their lives around.

Addiction for the drug also causes alcoholism. Like that of my father and my grandfather, people become addicted very easily. They have cravings for the drug and also build up a tolerance that sometimes becomes uncontrollable. There are an estimated sixteen million alcoholics in the United States today. Alcohol addiction is marked by tolerance, craving for the drug, and withdrawal. Most alcoholics do not know when to stop, and some of them often find themselves drinking alone. The cells of the body become more receptive to alcohol from consent exposure. This is also caused by the dependence for the drug. Alcohol also causes the brain to become dull and depressed. Alcoholism also can also come genetically. This means that if someone in your family is or was an alcoholic, then you could become an alcoholic yourself.

Alcoholism is permanent and is also a primary disease. It is the only disease that fights its own cure. Alcohol was recognized as a disease in 1956, by the American Medical Association. Some of the physical symptoms associated with alcoholism are that the brain cells are destroyed, the liver loses part of its ability to function, it increases the chance of heart attacks, and it eventually impairs the basic mental functions of several parts of the body. Numbness and pain are also felt in the limbs that are caused by nerve cell damage, which makes it harder to function using your arms and legs. This is one of the many reasons it is illegal to drink and drive, because it slows down many parts of the brain that helps your body to function properly.

Illness is also an effect of alcoholism. As illness runs its course behavior changes can be expected. Therefore peoples actions become more unpredictable, bizarre, and destructive as a means of hiding their problems. Sometimes the alcoholic adopts a new defense in order to fight negative feelings and begin to rationalize away its behavior. Some feelings are from shame, guilt, and painful memories. This drug affects people in several ways.

Alcohol, which is used throughout the world, causes many problems and effects several lives in our society. It is also very hard to pinpoint when a person actually becomes an alcoholic. Therefore alcoholism is a progressive disease, but some alcoholics show more severe symptoms than others. This drug results in people becoming addicted, depressed, and even dying. Even though everyone is affected differently..