ALCOHOLISM: CHARACTERISTICS, SYMPTOMS AND CONSEQUENCES - ARTE - 2024

The alcoholism is a mental disorder characterized by experiencing a strong need to ingest alcohol. It is a chronic disorder caused by the excessive and compulsive consumption of alcohol that leads to physical or psychological dependence or addiction.

The alcoholic person presents a clear physical dependence on this substance, manifesting itself through the need to consume and experiencing a series of withdrawal symptoms when it is not ingested.

Likewise, alcoholism causes the individual to have no control over the limits of their consumption, which increases as tolerance to this drug develops. That is, as the person needs greater amounts of alcohol to perceive the same effects.

The most common symptoms and signs of alcoholism are binge drinking, not being able to control the amount of alcohol drunk, needing to drink more alcohol to have the same effect, drinking alone or secretly, withdrawal syndrome, and spending too much time drinking.

However, many times determining whether a person suffers from alcoholism is complicated, since defining when a person ingests normal amounts of alcohol and when they perform a pathological consumption pattern can generate many doubts.

To overcome this ambiguity and acquire knowledge about this mental disorder, a series of signs and symptoms have been described that define alcoholism as such and, therefore, allow differentiating the different consumption patterns.

Characteristics of alcoholism

Alcoholism is a psychological disorder. It is the first concept that must be clear to be able to define when a person suffers from alcohol dependence.

This disorder is caused by alcohol consumption, that is, it is created by the substance when it is ingested in a habitual and abusive way. However, alcohol by itself does not create any mental pathology. In other words, alcoholism is not caused by alcohol itself but by the consumption of these substances by an individual.

Alcoholism constitutes a psychopathology suffered by the consumer, so it can be equated to other mental disorders such as depression or anxiety since, although the main element is configured by alcohol, the pathology is present in the consumer's brain regions.

The continuous and prolonged consumption of alcohol affects the whole organism; heart, liver, pancreas, immune system and brain. There is a risk of developing Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, risk of cancer as well as other diseases.

In order to delimit alcoholism, we will not only have to pay attention to the amount of alcohol consumed, but we will also have to take into account the symptoms presented by the consumer.

In fact, the main elements that define alcoholism are the appearance of a series of symptoms that demonstrate the presence of addiction and dependence.

When does alcoholism appear?

Unlike other drugs such as tobacco, cocaine or amphetamines, which can cause addiction very quickly, the addictive process of alcohol seems to go slower. Consuming alcohol (even abusively) for a few months does not make you an alcoholic or generate a physical dependence on this substance.

This does not mean that abuse over a period of time does not predispose you to alcoholism. In fact, starting to consume alcohol frequently is the first step to become dependent on this substance.

In the initial moments of consumption, stopping alcohol intake can be more or less easy for the individual. However, as the drinking time passes, giving up alcohol can become a more complicated task and, therefore, dependence on the substance increases.

The addictive pattern of alcohol can generate many doubts because, despite the fact that many years of consumption are required to generate dependence on this substance, it seems that in the previous moments there may already be a "pseudoaddiction" to alcohol.

In fact, if before reaching alcoholism there was not a certain addiction to the substance, it would not be understood why people prolong their consumption for years until they become clearly dependent on alcohol.

For all this, in order to delimit the effect that alcohol is causing on mental functioning, it is important to know the symptoms and signs that define the presence of alcoholism and that can alarm the possible development of this disease.

Warning signs and symptoms

Most people have serious problems with alcohol without having all the signs and symptoms of alcoholism. In these cases, the individuals already carry out a maladaptive and dangerous consumption of the substance but, since the addiction to alcohol is usually slow, they have not yet generated a frank dependence on the substance.

Being able to detect these cases is extremely important since, although in these cases the person already has a certain addiction, if treatment is intervened at this time, it may be easier and the development of alcoholism can be avoided.

However, if it is not intervened in these cases, it is most likely that the person will continue with their problems with alcohol until they end up developing the disease of alcoholism.

Thus, alcoholism is considered a chronic, incurable, progressive and fatal disease (American Medical Association).

Some signs of alcohol abuse would be having social impairments such as problems at home, with family, with friends, at work, consuming in places where it is physically dangerous, loss of control, continuing to drink despite being aware of having legal problems, family, at work, as well as being affected by social and occupational activities.

The signs that best indicate that someone may have a drinking problem and be at risk of developing alcoholism are:

Binge drinking

It is one of the first symptoms that appear and that allow differentiating a consumption without addiction from a consumption with certain addictive components.

People who drink this substance do so in a more compulsive way, such as drinking fast or rushing to acquire the drink, may already present psychological alterations typical of addiction.

Not being able to limit the amount of alcohol consumed

In relation to the previous point, people who are at risk of generating alcoholism have difficulties to be aware of the amount of alcohol that has been consumed and to decide that they will not consume more.

Unlike someone who does not have a drinking problem, these types of people are easily intoxicated even when they have no intention of doing so.

Need more alcohol for the same effect

Tolerance to alcohol is the main symptom that indicates that the body is getting used to the substance.

In this way, people who consume excessively require greater amounts of alcohol to feel the desired effect, so they increase their consumption.

Need to drink to feel good

The typical phrase "I need a drink" can be more or less irrelevant when it is done sporadically or in special moments of stress, fatigue or mental saturation.

However, when the need to drink to feel good appears frequently, it becomes clear that the body begins to require the substance to function normally, that is, it is beginning to generate addiction to alcohol.

Drink alone or hide the drink

Secretly drinking alcohol can show that the consumption of the substance causes some discomfort to the person.

In the moments before alcoholism, the person may be aware that their drinking pattern is excessive, be ashamed to drink so much, want others not to know it, and hide the amounts of alcohol they drink.

Other physical symptoms that show alcohol dependence would be stomach pain, noticeable weight loss, redness of the cheeks and nose.

How can alcoholism be detected?

Far is the conceptualization of alcoholism as an individual who "drinks a lot" or "is always at the bar." Alcoholism itself is a much more complex disease than simply observing a pattern of abusive alcohol consumption.

In order to define the presence of alcoholism and anticipate which people may be at risk of developing this disease, we must pay attention to a series of signs and symptoms that can define this type of situation.

Furthermore, to intervene adequately in this pathology, it is very important to be able to establish a good diagnosis of both alcoholism and the pattern of consumption that can lead to alcoholism.

The detection of certain symptoms can manifest a pattern of consumption and a highly dangerous psychological condition for alcoholism, while others can reflect the appearance of a clear dependence on the substance.

Symptoms and signs of alcoholism

Unlike the previous point, below we will comment on the symptoms that define the presence of alcoholism, that is, when the person already has a clear dependence on the substance. The main ones are:

Abandonment of other activities

The alcoholic reduces or eliminates social coexistence related to work or recreational activities.

The stimuli that give you pleasure are limited to alcohol consumption, so little by little you eliminate all activities that do not involve the intake of these substances.

Alcohol abuse

The alcoholic usually consumes large amounts of alcohol over a long period of time.

While people who have problems with drinking consume alcohol frequently and sometimes become intoxicated, alcoholics drink daily, continuously and most of the time they appear drunk.

Little control

Alcoholics can make multiple attempts to reduce or control the amount of alcohol consumed, but these are always unsuccessful.

In alcoholism, the individual consumes more alcohol than he would like and, despite trying to control it, is totally unable to interrupt or reduce his intake.

He continues to consume despite being aware of the problems that it causes him and although he tries to reduce and control this consumption, he does not succeed.

Use persistence

The alcohol consumer will continue to drink despite being aware that it causes physical and pathological problems.

The most common is that the person has already begun to present various physical and / or psychological alterations caused by alcohol, but continues to consume despite knowing that alcohol will aggravate their pathologies.

Time spent on alcohol

Alcoholism causes the individual to spend an abnormal amount of time in activities related to the consumption or obtaining of alcohol.

The person will spend most of the day consuming or acquiring alcoholic beverages, since their only interest lies in the intake of these substances.

Abstinence syndrome

When we present addiction to the substance, we also develop the alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

This will appear whenever the individual does not drink for a certain period of time and will appear through annoying symptoms such as nausea, sweating, agitation or anxiety.

Consequences of alcohol

Alcohol is a drug considered soft and admitted as legal, which is why its consumption is today highly widespread in many regions of the world.

This fact falls on the main characteristics of the substance, which are not particularly dangerous as long as they are consumed in a prudent way.

As is well known, alcohol abuse can lead to a large number of physical conditions and disorders in different bodily organs. Likewise, an inappropriate consumption of alcohol can also cause mental alterations and, obviously, the development of alcoholism.

Nowadays, the idea is remarkably widespread and accepted that a little or sporadic consumption of alcohol does not have to lead to physical or mental alterations.

However, alcohol intoxication, that is, consuming a lot of alcohol at once, can be highly dangerous, presenting the typical symptoms of drunkenness or even being fatal if consumed excessively.

However, unlike other drugs, it takes a long time of abuse for a person to show a clear dependence on the substance.

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