How Alcohol Addiction Develops

Alcoholism is a chronic disease that has the power to devastate the career, family and physical health of the addict over a course of time. Thankfully though the kick-off of full blown alcoholism is not difficult to distinguish and can be treated.

The advancement of the disease can normally be tracked over three stages - an early, middle and later stage - and the sooner the addicted person or his or her family can determine the symptoms, the easier it should be to stop the development of the disease.

In the early stage of alcohol dependency the individual drinks only to relax or to cope with a momentary problem that is resulting in anxiety. When he drinks it softens the pain and he feels positive, and so drinking becomes the normal mechanism through which he deals with his issues.

Gradually this turns into a fixed habit, but even close family members can easily miss this development. The drinker, usually, seems normal during this stage, and indeed may come across as more confident and stable.

If challenged about his level of alcohol consumption, the early-stage addict tends to rationalise his drinking in a way that can be perfectly convincing to those dearest to him, at least for the short term. Over time though, the loss of control of the tongue and posture signify unambiguously that he has a drinking problem, and indeed that he is entering middle stage alcohol dependency.

The middle stage of alcoholism is where the patient develops a intense physical dependency on the drug. The want to consume alcohol gradually increases, and if the individual had strived to contain his drinking in the early stage, now that resistance absolutely gives way.

As the alcohol intake increases, so the patient's physical ability to process that alchol is at the same time reduced. Consequently the middle-stage alcoholic can get drunk very qucikly, even on small amounts of alcohol. By this stage it should be indisputable to everybody, and even to the alcoholic himself, that he has a problem, though he might feel at this stage that he has already lost the war.

The final stage of alcoholism is marked by obsessive drinking and a desperate averting of having to handle the problem. Everyone around the alcoholic now identifies the problem. When they confront the drinker, he will no longer be indifferent, but may become aggressively defensive or even violent.

Physical health steadily degenerates during this final stage, eventually ending in death if the disease is not treated. The alcoholic's immunity levels decrease along with his desire for food, and so he becomes increasingly prone to a variety of regular diseases. Moreover, specific conditions caused directly by the alcohol consumption start to develop - liver disease, cancers, brain damage, etc.

The one consoling aspect for the friends and family of someone in the final stage of alcohol dependency is the traditional knowledge is that healing only comes after the alcoholic has hit 'rock bottom', and so the further the alcoholic degenerates, the closer (we hope) he is getting to rock bottom. Having said that, according to the same wisdom, only the alcoholic himself can establish where that 'rock bottom' point is set, and some people just never seem to reach it.

Article Source: http://www.rightarticle.com

For more information on alcoholism and alcohol addiction treatment programs, visit Alcohol Addiction Treatment

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated