Valentin Bosioc
Alcohol, a legal substance to consume if you’re over the age of 21, can become detrimental to your lifestyle and those around you if you begin to abuse it. Because drinking alcohol is a cultural norm in today’s society, it can be hard to deceiver social consumption from addiction. Alcohol is virtually everywhere, parties, concerts, professional events, sporting events, and is even normal to consume at dinner. It’s important not to lose sight of the fact that regardless of its acceptance, alcohol is still a drug, and is actually the most widely used drug in America.
According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, over 17.6 million people in America meet the standards to be considered people that abuse alcohol or are addicted. With that, less than 10% of those people will ever get help.
The problem occurs when social drinking turns into a dependency or a habitual pattern begins to surface. The American Psychiatric Association uses specific criteria that determines if a person is suffering from AUD or alcohol use disorder. The intensity of the dependency/addiction can be rated as mild, moderate, or severe. You should be able to identify problem drinking by the negative emotional states that surface when alcohol is not in the picture. For people who drink compulsively and recklessly, they will begin to see a deterioration in their relationships, maybe get into financial trouble, and lose productivity at their job or lose their job altogether.
A treatment Center in Los Angeles, identifies potential signs of alcohol addiction. Below are those signs:
- Drinking or it’s after-effects frequently interferes with work, school, or home-life
- Experiencing frequent alcohol cravings- feeling the need or urge to drink to feel normal
- Compromising relationships with family and friends due to alcohol use
- Giving up extracurricular activities in order to drink
- Putting yourself or others at risk while intoxicated
- Trying to cut down or stop drinking, but can’t
- Having symptoms of alcohol withdrawal such as tremors, shakiness, nausea, irritability, anxiety, or depression
- Frequently blacking out while drinking
- Building a tolerance to alcohol- needing to drink more to get the same effects
- Experiencing financial or legal problems due to drinking, such as DUIs or arrests
- Lying about or becoming defensive when asked about alcohol consumption
The quicker you can identify these symptoms that you or a loved one are experiencing, the quicker you can receive help. The Treatment Center in Los Angeles notes that alcohol addiction is a chronic brain disease and should be treated by medical professionals. The treatment process is different for everyone, but regardless of the degree of the addiction, alcoholics need to be monitored, supervised, and supported. The treatment center in Los Angeles, sets goals to not only allow the client to sustain sobriety after leaving the facility, but also finding the underlying reason for the alcohol abuse or addiction and treat that directly.
The Center also identified some of the long-term effects of alcohol abuse and why it’s important to treat the disease at its roots in the early stages of the abuse. The long-term health effects include:
- Cancer- particularly liver, mouth, and throat
- Liver damage
- Heart disease
- Brain damage
- Memory loss
- Dementia
- Stomach ulcers
- Impotence and infertility
If you or a loved one is suffering from alcohol abuse or addiction, it’s important to get help from a treatment facility that can meet your needs and personalized the treatment techniques to your background. Alcohol abuse usually stems from other problems like depression, anxiety, or stress; all which can be treated as well for sustained sobriety.
