Alcohol Essay Research Paper 1 What is

Alcohol Essay, Research Paper 1. What is alcoholism? 2. How do people become alcoholics? 3. What are the effects of alcoholism, on both the alcoholic and their family? 4. How do you diagnose alcoholism? 5. Is there a cure for alcoholics? 6. What is the treatment? What is Alcoholism? Alcoholism can be defined as the dependency on alcohol; addiction to alcohol. It is a chronic disease, this disease called alcoholism is progressive and potentially fatal. ? In 1966 the American Medical Association (AMA) declared Alcoholism a disease, but it is still judged morally by society? said Father Martin. There are different types of alcoholics, the first type of alcoholic is the everyday drinker. These alcoholics drink on a daily basis with a high dependency on alcohol. A second type is

the weekend alcoholics, they drink on weekends, usually to excess. Finally, the third type is the binge drinker. This is a person who drinks heavily on occasion. Probably the most dangerous type of alcoholism, because they are most likely to die of alcohol poisoning. How do people become alcoholics? Alcoholics don?t know how they became alcoholics. Some say it is genetic on the stress gene, triggered by psychological or social stress. While others say it is a learned maladaptive coping behavior. Studies have shown that alcoholism may be genetic. If alcoholism is genetic it would be indirect. it would be related to the stress gene. This means that stress would set off a trigger that makes alcohol a want to the person. If alcoholism is learned behavior it means that drinking is a

bad coping skill, most likely learned through an alcoholic parent. What are the effects of alcoholism, on both the alcoholic and their family? Alcohol has terrible effects on health, family and work. The effects of alcohol on the body are cirrhosis of the liver, loss of brain cells, stomach cancer, depression, tremors and blackouts. An alcoholic in the family causes many disruptions to the members of the family. They start arguments and fights by not functioning or being drunk. They either do not attend family gatherings or disrupt them. Some alcoholics can be abusive to other family members. A lot of alcoholic families find themselves in financial trouble, caused by the alcoholic using most of the money to buy alcohol. Kids of an alcoholic suffer the most, listening to arguments

and being the blame of their parents drinking, making the child feel at fault. This causes the child to become depressed. They stop bringing friends home and do not attend many social events. Alcoholism causes excessive absences at work. Which causes loss of money for both the employee and the employer. Up to 40% of industrial fatalities and 47% of industrial injuries can be linked to alcohol consumption and alcoholism. Alcohol also impairs productivity at work. Alcohol seriously effects one out of every ten Americans. It is the cause of more deaths, violence, family disruption and job absenteeism than any other substance. How do you diagnose alcoholism? Alcoholism is a tough disease for doctors to diagnose, due to the fact that any physical effects of alcoholism can be viewed as

another medical problem. The alcoholic is in denial and is not going to tell the doctor how much they drink, unless the doctor asks, but most doctors don?t. You can diagnose yourself by answering some of the following questions: 1. Have you gotten into financial difficulties as a result of drinking? 2. Is alcohol making your life unhappy? 3. Has drinking alcohol ever been behind your losing a job? 4. Has your efficiency decreased since drinking? 5. Has your ambition decreased since drinking? 6. Does drinking cause you to have difficulty sleeping? 7. Have you ever felt remorse after drinking? 8. Do you crave a drink at a definite time daily? 9. Do you want a drink the next morning? 10. Have you ever had a complete or partial loss of memory as a result of drinking? 11. Is drinking