Understand Your Alcoholism: Considerations for Change

This guide was originally designed by the author to be delivered to the alcoholic patient. We hope it can help you as a guide, however if you think you have a problem with alcoholism you should visit a professional or contact an association for help.

In this PsychologyOnline guide, we talk about Understand Your Alcoholism: Considerations for Change

Index

1. Understanding addiction
2. The alcoholism
3. Consequences of Prolonged Alcohol Consumption
4. Psychological Dependence, Physical Addiction and Withdrawal Syndrome
5. Family deterioration
6. Labor and Social Complications
7. Considerations for change
8. Conclusions

I think that to be able to understand more objectively and clearly The problem of Alcoholism or consumption of any other Toxic, we must previously understand why we become dependent on these substances. That is why I have considered dedicating a few lines to the definition and development of Addiction, possibly facilitating the understanding of the disease and putting aside the ideas of vice, immorality, perversion, etc., which labels most of the people with drinking and / or drug problems.

It is therefore important to point out that a addiction it is a dependency on a substance, activity or relationship that drags the addicted person away from everything else around him.

Addictions are "dependencies" with serious consequences in real life they deteriorate, negatively affect, and destroy relationships, health (physical and mental), and the ability to function positively, practically, and steadily.

Consequently, an addict is a person "dependent" on that thing that dominates her thoughts and desires and directs its behavior or conduct, and the pretense of that thing becomes the most important activity of its lifetime. In very advanced states of addiction, there is nothing more important to the person who suffers than the addiction itself. If we detail all these general concepts and specify a little more with alcohol, the concept of Alcohol Addiction and its dependence becomes clearer.

How do people become addicted?

Some people see addiction as a disease in which the addict is desperate and has little power over the cause of his addiction. Others see these addictive behaviors as a choice, that is, because they are the ones who have chosen it.

There are many beliefs that exist about the origin of addictions, but there is no doubt that the main causes that can Explaining these behaviors (alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, etc.) are defended from a Bio-psycho-social point of view, it is tell, influences the individual's own biology, personality and social and cultural environment.

Understanding alcohol addiction and its dependence

Defining exactly what is meant by addiction is not simple. Many people often associate addiction solely with alcohol or drug abuse, but it is clear that addictive behaviors go further.

In fact the key to "addiction" is a obsessive need or dependence and compulsive towards a substance, an object, a relationship, an activity or a thing. Based on this, it is realistic and appropriate to say that anyone can be addicted to almost anything.

There are six clear indicators of an addiction:

1. An object of desire. There is always an object that is desired, which can be, substance, thing, activity, or relationship that leads to addiction, be it alcohol, food, gambling, drugs, or anything else that provokes obsessive ideas and leads to behaviors compulsive.
2. Worry. There is a need for the thing that causes the addiction.
3. Guided behaviors. That is, you have to act to reduce anxiety and satisfy the obsession that causes addictive behavior.
4. Lack of control. Addiction always involves a loss of control over thoughts, feelings, ideas, or behaviors when the thing you want appears. When an addict tries to stop or stop her addictive behaviors, they fail and this is the key and the central characteristic of addiction and dependence.
5. Dependence. There is dependence on what is desired, physically or psychologically, and only that thing can satisfy the desire of the addict (at least temporarily)
6. Negative consequences. Addiction is always accompanied by negative consequences.

The continuity of addiction

An addict does not become it overnight. There is a progression in which behaviors and experiences are carried out first and later they can become addictions.

In most addictions, repeated use creates a "tolerance" whereby it takes more and more substance or activity to feel the satisfaction that addiction facilitates. Eventually, the addict has to use the thing (or do the activity) just to feel normal. This is what it really means "dependence".

Therefore, there is a continuity in addiction ranging from pre-addition to advanced stages of dependency. Progression from use to addiction can be measured in two ways:

1. The effect that addictive behaviors have on practical and healthy personal functioning.
2. The intensity of anxiety produced by the substance, activity, relationship or thing.

Taken together, these two measures can help people who engage in addictive behaviors measure their progression from addiction.

Recover from addiction

Be it physical or psychological, we know that you can beat an addiction. Millions of people have been helped in their recovery and many millions remain in recovery their entire lives.

But, in any case, we will return to this in the following pages in order to be able to make a clear record of the “how, why and why of the recovery.

Definition

There are many ways to define either alcoholism or the person dependent on alcohol, but it is well known by all that a person is considered to be an alcoholic when he loses the freedom to abstain from alcohol.

Therefore, alcoholism is an addictive disease in which the patient cannot control the consumption of alcohol, which in most cases is excessive and prolonged consumption.

Everything that has been exposed, such as what will continue to be detailed, affects both men and women, therefore, we must consider all the analysis equally for both sexes. It is true that some nuances should be taken into account, but from a global point of view, there are many common points.

Classification

We are going to try to give some of the criteria to classify the different types of alcoholism, obviously, it is not a closed or unique classification.

Adults can be classified, according to the amount of alcohol they consume, into:

1. Teetotalers. It would be those people who do not enjoy or show an active dislike of the taste and effects of alcohol and, consequently, have no interest in repeating the experience. Likewise, there are the concerned non-drinkers, who not only abstain but also seek to persuade or coerce others who share their abstention.

2. Social drinkers. They drink with their friends. Alcohol is part of your socialization processbut it is not essential, and they do not tolerate a disruptive drunkenness. This drunkenness is rare, it can occur only during a group activity, such as a wedding, a party or on New Years Eve, when excessive drinking is allowed.

3.Social Alcoholics: They are frequently intoxicated, but maintain certain controls of their behavior. They anticipate occasions that routinely require “a couple of drinks” before going home. They are people who like to always go to the same drinking places with a high tolerance for alcohol. A social alcoholic will find time for at least one drink before dinner. Your drinking does not usually interfere with your marriage or seriously at work as long as you are in this situation.

4. Alcoholics. It is identified by its great dependence or addiction towards alcohol and a cumulative form of behaviors associated with drinking. The term alcoholism is applied to the social maladjustment that occurs in the lives of addicted individuals and their families.

Causes of alcoholism

No single causes could be given and common for all people with drinking problems, since, in addition, the effects of alcohol vary from one individual to another in equal doses, intervening factors of a biological, psychological, cultural, social, moral, etc.

That is why, we could consider as the main causes that promote alcoholism:

• Family customs
• Personal and social pressures
• The education and social environment in which the individual has developed and how it has marked him in one way or another, enabling him to develop coping strategies or not
• A self-esteem not adequate to social demands, which he tries to supply with the consumption of alcohol

Anyway, later we will refer to the "why" people consume toxic substances and maintain that behavior.

The adverse effects or results obtained by the consumption of alcohol maintained over time are multiple, so we are going to try to highlight the complications that will prevent us from developing as free people in our family, work, social environment, etc.

Physical Impairment and Problems

Most of the people do not usually give importance to the effects that alcohol can have on them organically, or they believe that They will be able to recognize when they have a problem and stop drinking on their own before that problem turns into something I laughed. That is, they attack long-term problems with short-term solutions like stopping drinking for a week, taking vitamins, and not drinking beer.

Let's take a general overview of the physical problems caused by alcohol. In general, it is usually true that the longer and more alcohol has been drunk, the greater the negative physical consequences. The most well-known problems such as cirrhosis of the liver or "Wet Brain" (Korsakoff Syndrome) usually occur after 15 to 20 years of heavy drinking.

However, medical problems do not appear suddenly after those years pass. Cirrhosis or irreparable liver damage doesn't happen without first sending out some notices. Body systems are under attack long before; the damage is beginning to manifest itself.

The causes of physical alcohol problems have two origins:

1. Alcohol has an effect directly irritant on all parts of the body.
2. With continued use of alcohol, a person can become malnourished. Certain vitamins or proteins may not be taken in in the diet, or they may not be absorbed by the body.

It has already been said that physical problems occur progressively. In this way, you may go from a stage in which there are no symptoms to one in which there are middle-type symptoms and then to serious symptoms that limit your life very seriously. Thus, the problems can go from being reversible to irreversible or without the possibility of improvement.

Let's see the route that alcohol follows and the effects it produces:

The Upper Digestive System.

It passes through the mouth into the esophagus, throat and stomach, producing an abrasive effect on the protective layers. The esophagus can become inflamed and cause esophagitis.

The stomach lining can also become irritated; the stomach muscles can become more flaccid, more acids are produced, resulting in the most irritating content, damaging the mucous membranes and protective walls of the stomach and producing gastritis or inflammation of the stomach lining. Symptoms: constant heartburn, indigestion, vomiting and nausea.

If the damage to the tissues continues, the peptic ulcer occurs, leaving the muscular areas exposed to pain or perforations, manifesting through stomach pain and blood in the stool or vomiting

For all of these types of upper digestive tract diseases, it is necessary to stop drinking to stop irritation and decrease acid production. For the peptic ulcer sometimes it is necessary to resort to surgical interventions to remove damaged tissues.

In the longer term, a less predictable and more difficult to control problem that can occur are cancers of the upper digestive tract. The incidence of mouth, throat and stomach cancers is higher in people with drinking problems.

Lower digestive tract

Alcohol passes from the stomach to the small intestine, almost without undergoing any transformation, since alcohol needs little digestion. Alcohol in the intestine decreases the ability to absorb important vitamins. This difficulty in absorbing fundamental nutritional principles makes it possible for other physical complications to occur due to alcohol.

The pancreas. It produces enzymes that transform fats, proteins and carbohydrates, being an important part of the digestive system. The use of alcohol alters its functioning, and may cause Pancreatitis, Diabetes, Peritonitis, etc.

Mortality from diseases related to the pancreas is high (30% of people with pancreatitis die) From the small intestine, alcohol circulates through all organs of the body, and is distributed through all body tissues through the flow blood.

Nervous System and Brain

The damage that alcohol produces on the nervous tissues is due to the combined action of alcohol as a toxic substance, and to the lack of vitamins, specifically B1 or thiamine. The most common nervous system problems are:

Peripheral neuropathy: nerve fibers in the legs and arms are damaged. Feeling of muscle weakness, pain, or cramps after drinking. Neuropathy is reversible and recovery occurs when you stop drinking, take vitamins, and follow a proper diet.

Wernicke's disease: Reversible disease that affects brain cells related to thinking, feeling, and memory. When it is suffered, it produces excitability, disorientation, memory loss and visual problems. Again, abstinence, vitamins, and a correct diet can correct this problem.

Korsakoff syndrome: it proceeds as a progression of Wernicke's disease and is irreversible. When it occurs, the person appears to be mentally alert, but if you look more closely, you will notice that there are intellectual problems. He cannot learn new things or memorize anything that is said to him. The thought is rigid, you cannot change the topic of conversation or your thoughts. Replace the forgotten facts with others that are not such (conspiracy).

Cerebellar Degeneration. The cerebellum is the part of the brain that coordinates movements and controls balance. When affected, the person may have difficulty walking. Recovery is not always complete.

Heart

The alcohol that circulates around the blood vessels damages them. The end result is known as Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy The heart increases in size and has a flaccid muscle tone. Therefore, it has to do more effort to be able to function well. Pulse and blood pressure rise. Occasionally, the heart pump deteriorates and "explodes" from overwork, producing a Congestive heart failure. There are also serious breathing difficulties, cardiac arrhythmias, and edema (lumps in feet, legs, etc., due to fluid retention) that can limit and endanger one's own lifetime.

Liver

Once alcohol circulates through the body fluids, it passes through the liver where it is transformed. Sometimes this organ is influenced by the toxic effect of alcohol. We can find:

Fatty liver: increased fat in the liver, because fewer fats are burned when alcohol, which is a carbohydrate, is more readily available than other compounds. The symptoms are: the liver is noted under the chest, liver tests may be abnormal, and there is no pain. Recovery is complete by stopping drinking.

If you don't stop drinking, liver cells can become inflamed, causing Hepatitis. The symptoms are: decreased appetite, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes).

Long treatment and complete abstinence from alcohol, rest, diet and vitamins. Continuing to drink will increase the number of dead cells and sometimes scar the liver that forms the Cirrhosis. Cirrhosis or scarring of liver tissues and decreased ability to function is irreversible.

Cirrhosis can lead to many life-threatening complications. Some of these are: Esophageal varices (varicose veins in the throat). Ascites: accumulation of fluids in the abdominal cavity. In both cases, the cause is that the scarring of the liver tissues prevents the passage of blood through the blood vessels that connect the intestine with the liver. Liver failure: When 70% of the liver is damaged, it stops working, leading to stupor, coma, and finally death.

Respiratory system

High alcohol alcohols tend to have a low resistance to infection due to the stress at which subject the body, as well as nutritional deficiencies, that is why alcoholic patients are more susceptible to Pneumonia and Tuberculosis. At the same time we can find emphysema, a disease that causes breathing difficulties, as well as Lung cancer.

As previously mentioned, when looking for the “why” or “why” people drink alcohol and become dependent on it, causes have been proposed hereditary, cultural, physical or personality factors, and yet an adequate explanation for all cases of alcoholism.

The first time is usually in adolescence and we will look at these three areas:

1. Physical: Getting the "point" versus getting "bad."
2. Social: "Cheer up" or receive the approval of others in the face of Punishment or receive Negative consequences.
3. Emotional: Does alcohol improve mood? Does it reduce anxiety or remove bad mood? Can he feel better about himself? Can you feel more confident, or more mature?

A person may not have positive experiences at all these levels, but the overall result may be: "It looks promising, let's try again to see what happens."

Psychological Dependence

With the continued consumption of alcohol in certain situations, the person can get frequent positive consequences with drinking. Thus he begins to "learn" that alcohol gives him "power" over the situation and his feelings.

In this way you begin to plan to drink and hope to achieve the same results. What you think is: “alcohol works and is important, i believe in alcohol”. In this way he begins to use alcohol in other situations, beginning to expect the positive effects of the drink more and more. At this time, alcohol can go from having an “integrative” function (drinking as a complement to other activities such as meals, special dates) to drink to get the effects ("get the point", escape from problems, or have "courage")

Tolerance

While a person is psychologically adding alcohol to his decisions to cope with life situations, the physical part of the body is adjusting to alcohol. The body no longer reacts to alcohol like a poison or toxic substance, and begins to react more like a drug. This is what is called tolerance. The best sign that dependency is developing is that more and more alcohol is needed to achieve the expected physical and emotional effects. The process is gradual and may go unnoticed for a long time by the person with alcohol problems.

Physical addiction

When the amount of alcohol consumed is drastically reduced or completely disrupted, the body experiences the withdrawal symptoms.

What moderate or moderate symptomsYou can point out: sweats and tremors, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. Insomnia, anxiety, restlessness. Elevated pulse, elevated temperature and blood pressure. Occasional hallucinations can occur. It lasts between 3 and 12 days, approximately.

There are other symptoms of greater importance such as Delirium Tremens and seizures or epileptic seizures.

Not all people who are psychologically dependent on alcohol have a physical addiction. The moment a person is addicted, the thought "I believe in alcohol" changes to the thought "I need alcohol."

The fear of withdrawal syndrome and feeling unable to stop drinking and be able to function without drinking can lead to developing a secondary psychological dependence “I'm caught up in this: I don't control alcohol; alcohol controls me ”. Continued use of alcohol can be linked to feelings of panic, fear, helplessness, or guilt.

Residual Withdrawal Syndrome

After a week of detoxification you are sure to feel better. However, it is important to be aware that some parts of the syndrome can last for several weeks or months. Some of the most annoying symptoms of the syndrome in the long term are: difficulty sleeping, nervousness, nonspecific fears, "drinking dry" or thoughts about previous stages in which the person was drunk or had very strong withdrawal syndromes that now produce fear and scare. It is at this time that many people drink again. Cognitive functioning (our ability to think) and memory problems can take a year to fully recover.

Other physical problems due to alcohol abuse. We could highlight sleep problems, anxiety, decreased sexual ability, memory gaps

As has been proven, emphasis has been placed on the physical damage caused by uncontrolled alcohol consumption, however, it is not the only deterioration that conquers, since the consequences suffered and tolerated by a family where there is a sick alcoholic person, they are quite serious and conflictive.

Children, if they are at an age where they realize the problem, one of the first steps they take is to get away from the patient; good because it can exist both physical and verbal aggressiveness or because of the lack of affection and dialogue between the person with drinking problems and her children.

In most cases they even usually feel shame, especially when they are in society (with their friends). Also in many cases they feel fear of events that can occur in the house itself when the father arrives in poor condition.
The spouse has to live with the problem of alcoholism, suffering in many cases significant psychological disorders.

The family member, like the children, the first thing they usually feel when faced with the patient is rejection, creating a state of heartbreak and a conflictive environment, where each member of the family acts on his own without taking into consideration the others, especially the alcoholic, who only worries about being able to continue drinking.

Are produced innumerable problems, affective, economic, social, etc.

But with all these problems that we have discussed, the spouses of alcoholic patients usually push and support them to go to medical services, as well as other associations in 80% of the cases.

The person with drinking problems must begin to become aware of family disintegration that occurs, from family impotence for wanting to recover the alcoholic patient and not being able, from daily uncertainty, from living in an anxious state that becomes pathological. All this, with the sole purpose of surviving a problem that can be corrected willingly.

Among alcohol consumers, the most frequent occupational accidents, decreased performance and repeated sick leave. This is even more likely if alcohol is consumed in the workplace.

Repeated sick leave, are, most of the time due to minor illnesses, or in the days after weekends, and they make companies tend to part with these people.

Most of the problems attributable to alcohol are related to the disinhibiting effects, the loss of control, decreased performance, and psychomotor arousal that occur during states of drunkenness.

Continual states of intoxication lead to a diminishing control capacity, and this in turn leads to fights and destruction of property, with legal problems.
The need to cover debts or to sustain the eating behavior, leads to a economic precariousness that sometimes it is a matter of alleviating with small thefts.

Of particular relevance are all the problems related to driving intoxicated. The consumption of alcohol increases the risk of suffering traffic accidents. The main cause is the decrease in psychomotor performance together with the deceptive feeling of ease and lucidity.

The alcoholic patient must recognize that he needs help for an alcohol problem, although we know that it is not easy. However, keep in mind that the sooner you get help, the better and more likely he / she will make a successful recovery.

If you are uncomfortable discussing your drinking habits with your doctor or with your spouse, family member, or anyone else, this feeling may originate from your wrong beliefs about alcoholism and alcoholics. In our society, the myth prevails that alcohol problems are in some way a sign of moral weakness. As a result, you may think that seeking help means admitting some kind of shameful flaw.

The reality is, however, that alcoholism is a disease that shows as strong a sign of weakness as asthma or diabetes. On the other hand, taking the steps necessary to identify a potential drinking problem has a huge payoff -the opportunity for a healthy and satisfying life-

Something that should be considered very important is that, when deciding to change your drinking behavior, it is not only about stopping drinking, but also that the change should integrate other aspects of relevance for progress in the change, that is, it must be improved in family, personal, social, work relationships, etc., because if Due to dissatisfaction with these aspects, they were trying to solve with the consumption of alcohol, it is evident that we must relearn to function in these areas in order to other than those that re-awaken the desire to drink, so we must become aware of a more global change that will allow us to maintain the abstinence.

It is true that I know they will need to learn a series of skills and acquire skills to be able to cope with those triggers that led to the uncontrolled consumption of alcohol, therefore it is advisable to be helped by health professionals and associations dedicated to this job.
What we can have no doubt about is that, in a drunk person, judgment and observation are difficult, there is euphoria progressive, appears incoordination, nausea and vomiting, progressive disturbance of consciousness, being able to present the coma at least waiting.

I would like to comment some reflections on the treatment of alcohol addiction by Bernardo Ruiz, (Clinical Psychologist, Director of the Detox Institute):

"The therapeutic objective of the treatment of alcohol dependence is to promote a change of behavior in the subject that allows you to face in a different way the situations in which drinking alcohol has become your answer predominant. So what we are faced with is a behavior problem, a habit that has become the answer prevalence of the subject in certain situations of his life and of which he has lost a good part of his ability to control voluntary.
Dependence or addiction is characterized by the fact that the patient has lost, to a greater or lesser degree, self-control of behavior drinking alcohol, and it is that capacity for self-control that must be restored to consider that the trouble.

By self control We understand the ability to develop a different behavior of drinking alcohol in situations, both social type and emotional type, in which the person used to drink, and in which he has developed the trouble. And speaking of drinking alcohol, self-control means, in practice, the total suppression of problem behavior, that is, learning not to drink at all.
The fatalistic model of incurable disease must be contested. The predominant conceptual model in the treatment of alcoholism in which it is presented as a "progressive" disease and "Incurable", in which relapses are little less than inevitable and in which the patient has lost forever his ability to self-control.
This is not the case, so the person with drinking problems must be told that the addiction process is like a learned habit that can be controlled.
We must teach him that his drinking behavior has become addictive, in part due to the chemical effect of alcohol itself. in his brain, but also to a great extent because it has been a very strongly and consistently reinforced behavior for a long time weather. For this, it is necessary to know the basic mechanisms of learning, the influence of triggers about the desire to drink, about the consequences and maintenance, as well as how to extinguish the conduct.
With all this, it will be possible to eliminate feelings of guilt and increase the capacity for self-control. The subject sees himself as a victim of addiction, not guilty of it. And from this conviction he becomes the main responsible for his own recovery "

From all this, to the alcoholic patient, something must be very clear and that is that this problem that, is none other than alcoholism, it has a solution. It can be slow and heavy work, as changing a way of life that has been maintained for so many years can be difficult. Now, in all cases, it will be necessary to proceed to assess and compare the advantages and disadvantages of abstinence, as well as the advantages and disadvantages that are reached with the continued consumption of alcohol.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will verify that the scale will tip to the withdrawal side, so you should start working as soon as possible to achieve that personal, family, social and work stability that has been desired so much and, why not, is still desired.

The desire for change is a desire for personal freedom.

It is true that the ultimate decision and commitment to change is that of the person with drinking problems, who, at the same time, must become aware of her alcoholism to perpetuate her abstinence and all that entails herself.

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 Understand Your Alcoholism: Considerations for Change, we recommend that you enter our category of Addictions.