Alcohol is legal and widely accepted in society; it’s used at the end of the day to relieve stress, to celebrate the end of a football game or just to “have a good time” on the weekends. With that, there’s a blurred line at times which makes it difficult to identify if a person has an alcohol addiction or is abusing the substance.
According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, 17.6 million people in the United States or one in every 12 adults suffers from alcohol abuse or dependence, along with the millions of people who engage in binge drinking patterns that could lead to alcoholism. In addition to those numbers, more than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or drinking problems, and more than 7 million children live in a household with at least one parent who abuses alcohol.
Alcohol is a central nervous system (CNS) depressant, so it slows down mental and bodily processes. With the first drink of alcohol, users may experience a decrease in feelings of anxiety or stress.
According to the Addiction Center, you can have an alcohol addiction if you put alcohol above all else, endanger yourself or others, act combative when confronted and/or feel unable to function without it. It also addresses the High-Functioning Alcoholics, which include the people who manage to relatively keep their addiction from interfering in their personal and professional lives. This situation is way more dangerous since the person can be victims of severe alcohol-related consequences and not be aware of the problematic behavior until it’s too late, making it even more difficult to recognize the problem.
Some people believe only people who binge drink are considered alcohol abusers. Taking alcoholic beverages and driving, drinking throughout the day, consuming alcohol in order to numb sensations, feeling the need to drink every day and drinking large amounts of alcohol in social situations are signs that show a person may be abusing alcohol as well. Other signs of alcoholism, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), can include tolerance to the impact of alcohol, loss of control over how much or how often the person is consuming alcohol, a wish to stop drinking but being unable to follow through, a tight focus on alcohol causing to neglect on the person’s personal life including their job, family, and friends, and continued use of alcohol no matter the situation.
Take into consideration that not everyone who drinks is an alcoholic of course, but people whose life is affected negatively by alcohol or show any of the symptoms or characteristics stated above by several medical centers specialized in substances addiction.
When is it appropriate to seek help then?
An intervention is needed when the person with alcoholism may want to change but they may feel unable to do it, making it seem impossible for them. Also in drastic situations like being arrested, losing your job, hospitalizations, accidents and even child custody concerns due to the abuse of alcohol are important to set up an intervention. Interventions are a good option to motivate the person and support them.
After the intervention, the individual affected will enter an addiction treatment program, depending on the facility or the way the family, friends or the person themselves approaches the situation the problem will be tackled. It’s a personal decision the family or person needs to consult to help their needs.
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism can affect all aspects of a person’s life from health complications to the impact on one’s family. This type of addiction not only affects the individual involved but the whole environment that surrounds them including their finances, career, lifestyle, community, family, and friends.
