Hello World! Welcome Friends! For decades, alcohol abuse and addiction were buried and not talked about until the 1980s, when drunk-driving laws started being passed widely among states thanks to the excessive amount of DUI-related accidents and deaths. Today, alcohol abuse addiction has been formally recognized as a sickness and substance disorder. In this regard, addiction treatment is widely available and regularly provided. However, that hasn’t solved the problem of widespread alcoholism, which continues to damage lives and result in mortalities annually.
An American Cultural Problem
Generation after generation has had a love-hate relationship with alcohol. American teens are practically programmed by movies and social trends to binge-drink, setting the early stage for alcoholism as a form of escape that isn’t as serious as illegal drug abuse, but it can definitely result in momentary euphoria for a cheap price. Once the addiction is established, however, it can continue for years afterward, graduating from a few beers on the weekend to regular hard liquor and spirits to eventually being unable to go a day completely sober without suffering from withdrawals.
Common Causes for Increased Alcohol Use and Growing Addiction
While teenagers are frequently driven by an interest in having unallowed fun or peer pressure, at the adult level, alcohol abuse can be driven by life’s pressure. The need to unwind, relax from stress, forget about reality and responsibilities, or just have fun in a wild way tends to cause repeated binge-drinking behavior. Additionally, those who want to forget about trauma can easily fall into a pattern of repetitive consumption to the point of intoxication to dampen mental pain. Loneliness is also a big catalyst for alcohol consumption, especially as adults grow older and lose relationships or feel they are no longer attractive. In rare cases, certain mental health conditions or medications can contribute to an increase in alcohol abuse as well.
Commonality Hides the Seriousness
Unlike other concerns about addiction, such as prescription medicine abuse or illegal narcotics, alcohol consumption is an allowed behavior within reason. In fact, there is probably a bar in every town and city, as well as alcohol served in many restaurants. Like smoking, it has been a tolerated behavior for years, at least since Prohibition was repealed. That accepted condition actually contributes to devaluing the concerns regarding alcoholism and its related damage. It’s only until someone actually gets hurt or killed does the addiction register as a serious problem again.
Treatment and Acknowledgment of a Health Disorder
In recent years, however, alcohol addiction has been fully recognized by the American Society of Addiction Medicine and many other established medical institutions as an addictive disorder. Thanks to both physical changes and modifications to how the brain operates after long-term alcohol exposure, the disorder has been recognized in variations as well, including mild to severe conditions. This recognition, while it might seem bureaucratic in reading, has in fact opened up the door for treatment for all age ranges and demographics.
As a result, alcohol use addiction help and treatment go well beyond simple non-profit counseling meetings. With concentrated withdrawal assistance under medical care, targeted counseling, outpatient support and monitoring, real addiction recovery is far more possible today than it has been for years.
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