Drunkenness: symptoms and treatment

The term drunkenness is relatively new, although the phenomenon it describes is not so new. Drunkenness is a combination of alcoholism and anorexia nervosa or bulimia. Generally, a person suffering from drunkenness will restrict their food intake during the day and then drink at night to keep calories in check.

Although it is usually men who have excessive alcohol consumption, there are more women than men who suffer from drunkenness, especially between the ages of 17 and 24. In this Psychology-Online article we explain what is the drunkenness, its symptoms and treatment.

Index

1. What is drunkenness: definition
2. What are the symptoms of drunkenness?
3. Drunkenness and addiction
4. Treatment of drunkenness

Drunkenness is a non-medical term that refers to alcohol consumptionl without being accompanied by food for avoid consuming calories. Other people, who consume some food, may vomit food and alcohol to remove calories from their body. The American Eating Disorders Association defines drunkenness as behaviors that include: replacing food consumption with excessive alcohol consumption or consuming food together with sufficient amounts of alcohol to induce vomiting as a method of purging and numbness.

The typical behaviors of drunkenness are derived from the fear of gaining weight due to alcohol consumption and are more prevalent in college women, although there are men who also experience them. In extreme cases, eating behaviors can be framed in anorexia or bulimia, in the which alcohol can be used as a vomiting facilitator or to help control anxiety from eat. However, people without eating disorders who restrict their intake before going out at night can have problems with drunkenness.

Many people think that alcohol will provide enough calories to replace those in uneaten food. However, alcohol has no nutritional value and people consume what are considered "empty calories." In addition, those who want to become intoxicated can avoid eating food to allow faster absorption of alcohol in the stomach and small intestine.

Some of the symptoms of drunkenness are:

• Being very hungry for the day
• Drinking excessively at night
• Involvement and possible appearance of mood disorders from alcohol consumption
• Despite feeling unwell, continuing to drink to stay intoxicated or absent
• Tooth decay: if it is drunk on an empty stomach, the person gets drunk faster, and may vomit. If this happens on a regular basis, stomach acid will start to damage your teeth.
• Changes in behavior: can increase mood instability, especially bad mood and depressive symptoms.

In addition, it will present the symptoms of heavy alcohol use, which is defined as the rapid consumption of large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time:

• Barf
• Irregular breathing
• Extreme confusion
• Inability to wake up

Eating disorders combined with excessive alcohol consumption can occur in different ways. Those people who without having an eating disorder have drunkenness, are more likely to develop it, since depriving the calories on days when large amounts of alcohol are consumed have consequences for mental, emotional and physical:

• Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach makes the body unable to absorb or process alcohol fast enough to prevent alcohol poisoning.
• In some cases, there are binges (bulimia) because the person is very hungry and cannot control her impulses. After these binges, behaviors usually occur that eliminate those calories from the body, such as vomiting. And in this way, the person begins to develop an eating disorder.
• Reducing calories from nutrients puts the person at risk.

A person with an eating disorder who gets drunk frequently is susceptible to developing an addiction to alcohol. The cycle of addiction it is subtle and very strong. A very common mistake is to think that drinking only on weekends does not make them more vulnerable to alcoholism.

There is debate as to whether drunkenness is a new disorder or not, but there is no doubt that people who suffer from anorexia or bulimia are prone to alcohol or substance abuse. According to a 2009 study conducted by the international journal of eating disorders, there is a critical need for interventions in college women with excessive alcohol consumption and eating disorders.

There is no specific treatment for drunkenness, since not a diagnosable disorder but a combination of two different disorders. Treatment should address both the eating disorder and alcoholism. Also keep in mind that there may be an underlying mental health disorder that leads to both the eating disorder and alcohol addiction. An accurate diagnosis is essential to address both disorders.

Some experts start from the assumption that these people are dealing with fear, anxiety, pain, sadness, loss on a very deep emotional level and, the coping strategy they employ is drunkenness (an eating disorder and alcoholism). So learning healthy ways to regulate those emotions it could be an essential part of treatment. It is not only about eliminating disorders but about simultaneously building new ways of facing different situations in life.

The recovery of some healthy eating habits and the maintenance of abstinence it can be done with the right information and tools. A multidisciplinary team can create an individualized treatment plan and provide the support, knowledge, and skills necessary to rebuild the person's life. The earlier the treatment takes place, the better the result and the fewer long-term consequences.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Drunkenness: symptoms and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Addictions.