Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol Addiction is more commonly known as alcoholism and its correct clinical term is “alcohol dependence”.

However you choose to name it, alcoholism is a potentially fatal condition with no known cure. Medically recognised as a primary disease, symptoms of alcoholism include a mental craving and ultimately a physical compulsion to keep on drinking despite the actual or potential negative consequences.

The Dangers of Binge-drinking

Binge drinking means having five or more drinks in one session for men and four or more for women. Another definition for binge drinking is simply drinking getting drunk.

Binge drinking is the most common drinking problem for young people, under age 21. Binge drinkers have the highest risk of injury including lethal consequences through liver failure, black-outs, car accidents, and even suffocation.

The Difference between Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol problems occur at different levels of severity, from mild and annoying to life-threatening. Although alcohol dependence (alcohol addiction) is the most severe stage, less severe drinking problems can also be dangerous.

The primary difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction is the presences of ‘loss of control’ and ‘withdrawal symptoms’. More about this later.

Alcohol Abuse

Binge drinking turns into alcohol abuse when someone's drinking begins to cause problems and the drinking continues anyway. Alcohol abuse is when someone continues to drink in spite of continued social, interpersonal or legal difficulties.

Alcohol abuse can result in missing time at school or work, neglecting child or household responsibilities or trouble with the law. If you’re wondering whether someone you love is showing alcohol problem signs please contact us today to arrange an assessment.

Alcohol Dependence

Alcohol abuse becomes alcohol dependence when drinkers begin to experience a craving for alcohol, a loss of control of their drinking, withdrawal symptoms when they are not drinking and an increased tolerance to alcohol so that they have to drink more to achieve the same effect. Alcohol abuse does not always imply an addiction. An addiction generally follows a fairly predictable pattern, characterized by both mental and physical symptoms. These include:

Craving

Craving alcohol is way more intense than simply looking forward to a glass of wine over dinner. It begins in the recesses of the mind, and results in an obsessive desire to have that first drink.

Regardless of the circumstances an alcoholic finds themselves in – and regardless of their better intentions – this urge is uncontrollable, and to the sufferer, the only remedy is to get it over with and have that drink.

The first drink brings a profound sense of relief to the alcoholic. They have “obeyed the thirst”. It does not always mean they have enjoyed the drink. In many cases, the first drink is an object of resentment. The suffering alcoholic is not unaware that they are under the control of something other than their own willpower.

A surprising characteristic of craving is the measures that the alcoholic tries to take to postpone the first drink. Everything from limiting times, places and people may be used in an attempt to exert control. However, once the disease has progressed sufficiently, one measure after the next will be given up, such is the distracting intensity of craving.

Loss of Control

Simply put, once the first drink is taken, there is no predicting where it will end. Alcoholics all have accounts of how they landed up in strange places, doing strange things, having lost count of how much they have had to drink. The only predictable outcome of this loss of control is how unpredictable the outcomes will be.

In more advanced phases of the disease, this includes blackouts, whereby the sufferer genuinely has no memory of substantial periods of time.

Physical Dependence

Dependence is characterized by withdrawal. Once dependence has set in, the loss of control takes on physical characteristics. Typically, these include the “shakes” – medically known as delirium tremens (DTs), nausea, sweating and anxiety. Once dependence has set in, withdrawal from alcohol must be medically supervised.

Tolerance

The human nervous system is nothing if not adaptable. In the case of alcohol, the entire body of the alcoholic requires progressively more alcohol to achieve the desired results. As with dependence, this phase of the disease is extremely dangerous, as damage to the liver and the brain are risks that the alcoholic is in no position to control.

The Dangers of Alcohol Withdrawal

It is critical to understand that withdrawal from alcoholism is potentially fatal. Without correct medical supervision, the alcoholic risks intense convulsion that can be lethal. Even more so than withdrawal from heroin.

The Importance of Alcohol Detoxification

The ultimate goal of alcohol detoxification is to ease the passage of the alcoholic from physical dependence to physical sobriety. It is a necessary first step. It is process that differs from one alcoholic to another, and needs to tailor-made to suit each case. Length of time can be anywhere from a week to a month, depending on the physical severity of the dependence.

In advanced cases, liver damage, brain damage and neurological damage may also need to be managed, requiring a multi-disciplinary team of medical expertise. Syndromes such “Wet-Brain syndrome” can last for long periods, and unfortunately, complete restoration of health is no longer possible in advanced cases. None-the-less, no matter what the physical severity of the dependency, quality of life can be substantially improved.

The treatment goal of withdrawal should always be to establish readiness for the sufferer to meaningfully participate in a comprehensive treatment programme that will increase the alcoholic’s chances of staying sober once treatment is over.

Alcoholism Treatment and Rehabilitation

Once the withdrawal from alcohol has been completed, the alcoholic should be encouraged to engage in more long-term treatment. It is at this juncture that the alcoholic needs to realize that the problem is no longer in the bottle, but in themselves.

Treatment should focus on education about the disease of addiction, addressing denial of the problem, addressing current life problems consequential to the disease, one-on-one counseling and guidance, and facilitation into long-term support groups to help the alcoholic maintain sobriety.

It is generally accepted that 12 Step support groups, such alcoholic anonymous, offer a sustainable and meaningful opportunity to maintain life-long sobriety. It must be borne in mind, however, that one of the diagnostic criteria of the disease of alcoholism is that it is chronic, progressive disease, subject to relapse.

If you, or someone you know has relapsed, don’t be afraid to get further treatment. Most especially, do not be embarrassed. Treatment and support is not there to shame anyone. Alcohol addiction is a disease like any other, and recovery is always possible.

Recent studies indicate that recovery from addiction and alcoholism is as realistic an outcome as that for diabetes. Both conditions require life-long management, and to the alcoholic in a healthy frame of mind, abstinence is a sacrifice readily taken, as much as diet and medication are for diabetics.