Alcoholism

Stop Alcoholism

In order for one to be able to stop alcoholism the individual must first ask himself the question what is alcoholism.  Alcoholism is when a person is drinking alcoholic beverages at a level that interferes with mental health, physical health, and family, social, or job responsibilities.  Alcoholism also has other names such as alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse.  Above all alcoholism is a drug addiction and should be treated as just that. There is really no known cause of alcoholism. It is known that people continue to drink, in spite of all the problems it has caused in their lives, either because of their physical or mental dependence on alcohol.  So for a person to help stop alcoholism, either in his family, his community, or in himself, he needs to discover what type of dependence drives the addict to drink. The mental reasons could be things such as depression, anxiety, stress, or low self-esteem. Whereas the physical reasons an addict drinks is, more than likely, to ease withdrawal symptoms such as tremors, restlessness, nervousness, loss of appetite, and most of all to regain the ability to function.

Alcohol abuse cuts across gender, race, and nationality. Nearly 14 million people in the United States--1 in every 13 adults--abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent. In general, though, more men than women are alcohol dependent or have alcohol problems. And alcohol problems are high amongst young adults ages 18-29 and low amongst adults ages 65 and older. We also know that people who start drinking at an early age, for example, around age 14 or younger--greatly increases the chance that they will develop one or more alcohol problems at some point in their lives and greatly decrease the chance that the person will be able to regain control of their addiction once that problem has arouse. This is then why there are many different types of treatment centers, rehabilitation facilities, and support groups that help prevent and stop alcoholism so that the number of people affected by the addiction will decrease.

One of the first things a person will experience once they have decided to quit drinking is the withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal from alcohol is normally and preferably done in a controlled, supervised setting in which allows the person to be observed. More than often some type of medication or vitamins are given to relieve symptoms. Detoxification usually takes 4 to 7 days. After that there are many options for treatment/rehab programs. These programs offer a sober environment, counseling, support, therapy, and tools to stay clean. Once a person has completed one of theses programs there are many different types of groups to choose from that the person can attend in order to still be within an alcohol free social scene and also help stop alcoholism within their own community.