Stop Drinking Alcohol Risk For Developing Alcoholism example essay topic

Many people wrongly believe that those who are alcoholics drink because they want to, despite all the negative consequences. For instance, on television and in movies, alcoholics are stereotyped in several ways: as a homeless man on the street, as people who beat their wives, as low-class and as people who don't try. I want to show how this stereotype is incorrect, and that it can happen to anyone. Alcohol is the most used and abused drug in the world, for this reason there is no wonder why we have alcohol problems. The most common problem is alcoholism. Alcoholism is a chronic, usually progressive disease, which includes a psychological and a physical addiction to alcohol.

Alcoholics know what will happen to them when they drink, but they are so addicted to the alcohol that they cannot stop themselves. One definition of this term is "a diseased condition of the system, brought about by the continued use of alcoholic liquors" (Webster's Dictionary, 37). I would like to focus on the word disease. Alcoholism is just like cancer or diabetes. Many people do not know that in an alcoholic person, there is a chemical imbalance causing a different reaction than the normal person. Alcoholism usually begins with social drinking then a person will find excuses to drink more often.

When alcohol is made more readily available to an individual, such as in a college environment, it increases the risk that person will drink excessively. The chances of a person becoming an alcoholic are much higher for a person who drinks excessively and lower for a person who drinks moderately. Most alcoholics start out by building up a tolerance, causing them to drink higher amounts of alcohol to get the same effect; this tolerance is the starting point of an alcoholic's dependence and causes many problems in an alcoholic's life. Alcohol begins to control the individual's life and causes their drinking habits to conflict with their best interests. Personal relationships can be torn apart, jobs are frequently lost, and the health of a person deteriorates when an individual begins to rely on a drink to get by.

Sometimes a person may start to drink at every waking moment of the day because they cannot deal with the withdrawals or the reality of being sober. Furthermore, alcohol can have many physical effects on a person's body; internal organs and systems can be severely damaged and even shut down when too much alcohol is consumed. The prolonged use of large amounts of alcohol without an adequate diet may cause serious liver damage, such as "cirrhosis of the liver."It has been estimated that 10% of all alcoholic persons develop cirrhosis, a disease characterized by diffuse scarring of the liver" (Secretary of health 47). The central nervous system can also be permanently damaged causing a person to possibly blackout, hallucinate, and experience tremors. The term "blackout" does not mean loss of consciousness, but is referred to as the "lost hour" with the intoxicated person remembering nothing the next day. The withdrawal symptoms that a severe alcoholic can experience are sometimes compared to the same withdrawals as a heroin addict, yet people still do not consider alcohol to be a drug.

Drinking during pregnancy can cause serious damage to the unborn child. An unborn child of an alcoholic may develop mental or physical retardation during pregnancy. Additionally, a child who has an alcoholic parent is much more likely to become alcoholics themselves later in life. As you can see, there are a lot of negative consequences, so why would a person keep drinking, even though they are losing everything? The answer to that is they just can't stop. Alcohol dependence is a disease that includes four symptoms: Cravings, a strong need, or compulsion, to drink.

Loss of control, the inability to limit one's drinking on any given occasion, and physical dependence with withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety. The withdraw symptoms occur when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking and tolerance, the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol in order to "get high" or to get the same feeling. People who are not alcoholic sometimes do not understand why an alcoholic can't just "use a little willpower" to stop drinking. However, alcoholism has little to do with willpower.

Alcoholics are in the grip of a powerful "craving" or uncontrollable need, for alcohol that overrides their ability to stop drinking. This need can be as strong as the need for food or water. Although some people are able to recover from alcoholism without help, the majority of alcoholics need assistance. With treatment and support, many individuals are able to stop drinking and rebuild their lives. People wonder why some individuals can use alcohol without problems but others cannot. One important reason has to do with genetics.

Scientists have found that having an alcoholic family member makes it more likely that if you choose to drink you too may develop alcoholism. For example, I know a family of alcoholics, a father, uncle, a brother and sister. I have seen how alcoholism has led them through divorcees, loss of jobs, loss of friends, loss of important relationships and many financial losses. Genes, however, are not the whole story.

In fact, scientists now believe that certain factors in a person's environment influence whether a person with a genetic risk for alcoholism ever develops the disease. A person's risk for developing alcoholism can increase based on the person's environment, including where and how he or she lives; family, friends, and culture; peer pressure; and even how easy it is to get alcohol. Another classic symptom of alcoholism is the alcoholic's refusal to admit that a drinking problem exists. This symptom is known as denial. It is generally present in all people with serious drinking problems. The alcoholic is often unaware that he or she is addicted to alcohol.

There are several reasons for this. In the early stage of alcohol addiction, there is little to indicate that he or she is becoming an alcoholic. Early on, the alcoholic will have a better than average ability to drink without getting noticeably drunk. This reinforces the belief that drinking is not a problem.

By the time the alcoholic's behavior and emotional state has become a problem, he or she is already physically addicted to alcohol. By the middle or late stage of alcoholism, alcohol's toxic effect on the brain may cause irrational behavior. All the person knows is that he or she suffers physically and emotionally when they stop drinking. These withdrawal symptoms indicate a serious addiction. The alcoholic and others around him often will not realize that alcohol is the root problem at home and work. He will tend to believe that he drinks because of his marital or job problems, instead of seeing that the drinking is causing these problems.

There are many different stereotypes that are tied in with alcoholism. As I have shown, a person who suffers from this disease cannot simply stop, nor do they choose to start. It becomes an obsession of their mind, and nothing else matters when they have gotten into the late stages of alcoholism. People who stereotype these people as losers, pathetic, and not wanting to try, really have to open their eyes and see what this is really all about, because it is a very deadly disease. An alcoholic isn't usually the homeless man sitting in the gutter with a paper bag of alcohol like people mostly portray it. They can be a housewife, computer analyst, teacher, student, young, old, black or white.

This is hurtful because people who don't fit the stereotype are afraid to seek treatment to better their lives. They believe they will be labeled as the stereotypical homeless person in the gutter, or that they are lazy and lack the willpower to quit. This is something that can effect anyone, at anytime from all walks of life.