Category: Alcohol Abuse

Since the past couple of decades, the appreciation and therapy for alcoholism has increased a lot. In actuality, now researches categorize alcoholism as a disease. There had been queries regarding the hereditary make up of alcoholic predisposition since several years but it is only recently that researches and studies have been conducted in order to clinically verify the fact that particular genetic elements are present which contribute to making alcoholism more or less probably within individuals. Furthermore, because various people respond to alcoholic consumption in very different manners, the concept of alcohol being a disease contains supporters as well as contractors.

As mentioned above, the concept of alcohol dependency and related problems running in families dates back to the distant past. From this stems the idea that they might have resulted due to heredity factors. Even though it is a common fact that the raised levels of alcohol among the general population raised the likelihood of a person developing drinking problems and addiction, it is also to be mentioned that there are only certain people who would be at risk.

Those particular elements can be genetic or environmental and may be interceded through personality factors, like psychiatric disorder, alcohol metabolizing enzyme variations or by abnormal brain neurophysiology. Moreover, certain impediments secondary to consumption and physical addiction could result due to one more independent category of hereditary or environmental elements. Surprisingly, in spite of happening to be a typically complicated malady alcoholism has in addition, also been the one malady in psychiatry wherein the researches have recognized the impacts of genes.

Through family studies it has been established that the likelihood of alcohol dependence and similar complications happening is more in the families of the individuals who have been affected as compared to in the people who have remained unaffected (Cook & Gurling, 1989). Through twin and adoption studies it has been validated that the raised familiality is at least partially hereditary in origin (Cook & Gurling, 1989).

This paper will investigate into the evidence that is available regarding the lately explanation of there being a genetic predisposition to alcoholism.

As has been mentioned above, there were adoption studies undertaken. A very important finding of those studies was the evidence that was discovered regarding the two subcategories of alcoholism. The first was type 1 and this is very much hereditary. This type was linked with criminality in adoptee and real fathers plus it starts at an early age. The second kind, type 2, was called “milieu limited” and was linked to being just slightly hereditary in origin. It originated at a later age.

Sigvardsson and his team (1996) duplicated the Stockholm, Sweden, adoption study and their evidence confirms the idea of type 1 and type 2 alcoholism as being different kinds of alcoholism. The results that were obtained from the two widely and functionally explained subcategories of alcoholism in replicated adoption studies very nicely correlates with a much reasonable understanding of the twin studies, which was that connected unfriendly characteristics or unlawful conduct signify a higher hereditary subcategory of alcoholism (Sigvardsson et al., 1996).

Clear indication has been put forward by epidemiological studies concerning the fact that hereditary elements and family history have a major part to play in the determination of an individual’s susceptibility for high alcohol usage and alcoholism.

Twin studies, adoption and cross-fostering studies, and also explained pedigree examinations all point to the fact that alcoholism runs in families. Nevertheless, there are several genes which interrelate with environmental elements in a complicated way for increasing or decreasing a person’s susceptibility to alcoholism (Cloninger et al.; Goldman & Linnoila). Actually, studies signify that the children of the people who have an alcohol dependency have a four to nine times greater danger of them becoming an alcoholic as compared to the children of parents who are not dependent (Cloninger et al.; Goldman & Linnoila).

Nevertheless, not every child inherits the hereditary elements that are linked with raised susceptibility to high alcohol consumption. A comparison was made of the physiologic, hormonal, and psychological reactions to alcohol from the individuals who have a positive or negative family history of alcoholism. This was done so as to decide whether any biological markers could be utilized for the identification of persons in high-risk families who had inherited the susceptibility for high alcohol ingestion.

“These markers could be behavioral (e.g., impulsive or violent behavior), physiological (e.g., electroencephalographic [EEG] abnormalities or body sway) or biochemical markers (e.g., enzymes, hormones, neurotransmitters and neuro-modulators)” (Gianoulakis, 310).

Certainly, findings from such studies signify that a couple of physiological reactions, which includes electroencephalographic, heart rate and hormonal changes, may vary among people having or not having a family history of alcoholism. Additionally, socio-cultural studies inform on several environmental elements, for instance culture and stress, which are responsible for increasing or decreasing the danger of alcoholism. Therefore, a possible proposition can be that alcoholism is a multi-factorial malady, having a hereditary tendency interrelating with certain environmental elements.

Lately, the disease idea of alcoholism had been strengthened through the premise that at a minimum there are a couple of individuals who are at a risk due to the fact that they get a hereditary tendency to alcohol abuse from their family. Several scientists have a belief that a hereditary tendency to alcohol abuse allows for explaining the broad diversity in the human reaction toward alcohol.

There are findings from behavioral as well as molecular genetics research which point to the fact that alcoholism is partly heritable (Yoshida, 227). Nevertheless, there is a possibility that there are no particular genes which have the ability to directly predispose individuals to alcoholism, but just those genes which predispose to personality characteristics, for instance impulsive and sensation seeking kinds, which mediate the usage of alcohol. Although behavioral genetics research has not resulted in much success in the tackling of elements which can act as mediators between genes and behavior. Nevertheless, they can eventually answer the question about how these genetic effects arise (Yoshida, 227).

Additionally, several researchers and practitioners have a belief that alcoholism can be best prevented and treated if those hereditary determinants are identifies which are accountable for vulnerability to alcohol abuse, knowledge which would be applicable, for instance, for developing the screening tests in order to detect the individuals who are at risk much prior to the commencement of alcohol usage.

If these kinds of tests would be there for the younger individuals who are at risk, the belief is that then development of suitable precautionary means could take place. Even though ongoing attempts for the elucidation of hereditary and behavioral elements inclining a person to alcoholism could assist in the creation of means that could allow for early detection, this kind of data would be required to be understood and operated cautiously.

Work Cited

Cloninger CR, Bohman M, Sigvardsson S, Von Knorring AL. Psychopathology in adopted-out children of alcoholics: The Stockholm adoption study. In: Galanter Marc, editor. Recent Developments in Alcoholism. New York: Plenum Press; 1985.

Cook, Chris and Hugh Gurling. Genetic factors in alcoholism. In: The Molecular Pathology of Alcoholism. Palmer, T. Norman (editor). USA: Oxford University Press; 1989.

Gianoulakis, Christina. “Influence of the endogenous opioid system on high alcohol consumption and genetic predisposition to alcoholism”. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. 26.4 (2001): 304–318.

Goldman, David and Markku Linnoila. “Genetic approaches to alcoholism”. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 10.2 (1986): 237-42.

Sigvardsson, Soren, Michael Bohman and C. Robert Cloninger. “Replication of the Stockholm adoption study of alcoholism”. Archives of General Psychiatry 53.8 (1996): 681-687.

Yoshida, Rin. Trends in Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Research. 1^st ed. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2006.

Although excessive alcohol use is not in any way a geographically isolated health problem, a report released in 2013 revealed that heavy alcohol consumption particularly among the adult population was turning out to be one of the biggest public health issues in the state of Wisconsin (Black & Paltzer, 2013). This paper employs the socio-ecological assessment to demonstrate how the health issue of excessive alcohol consumption influences the social dynamics of the adult population in Wisconsin.

Excessive alcohol consumption represents major social problems for the adult population in Wisconsin in terms of addictions, dependence due to loss of productivity, absenteeism, increase in neighbourhood crime, traffic accidents, violence, incarceration of perpetrators, family-related violence, and additional social costs related to fetal alcohol syndrome (Black & Paltzer, 2013). The Global Status Report on Alcohol demonstrates that such social problems affect individuals and communities other than the heavy alcohol consumers, not mentioning that these problems have the capacity to ignite entrenched economic consequences (World Health Organization, 2004).

The indicators related to excessive alcohol consumption among the stated group of the population are many and varied. In 2011, for instance, excessive alcohol consumption in the state of Wisconsin “resulted in approximately 1529 deaths, 48,578 hospitalisations, 46,583 treatment admissions, 60,221 arrests, and 5,751 motor vehicle accidents” (Black & Paltzer, 2013 p. 1). Additionally, as acknowledged by Black and Paltzer (2013), Wisconsin has over the years reported high incidences of binge alcohol consumption among its adult male population and a high rate of alcohol consumption among pregnant women.

In relating to the interconnections as practiced in the socio-ecological assessment, it is a well known fact that excessive alcohol consumption is a recipe for several health-related issues, such as mortality arising from liver cirrhosis, specialty care for abuse/dependence, hospitalisations for alcohol-related diseases, fetal alcohol syndrome, nursing home costs, and training of substance abuse and mental health professionals. Other health and social issues include lost productivity, absenteeism, traffic-related casualties, family members affected by failure to fulfil social obligations, and occurrence of violence in the family.

In explaining how health behaviours within the mentioned population contribute to the observed risks, it is important to note that excessive consumption of alcohol may lead to liver cirrhosis and cardiovascular disease, poor judgment, violence, child abuse and neglect, acute alcohol dependency, and job loss (Laslett, Room, Dietze, & Feiris, 2012). These behaviours can be directly linked to the risks observed among heavy drinkers in Wisconsin. For example, excessive consumption of alcohol in Wisconsin has been noted to trigger several health-related conditions such as liver cirrhosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer, which have in turn led to death, hospitalisations, and treatment admissions. Additionally, excessive alcohol use by pregnant mothers has led to enhanced opportunities for fetal alcohol syndrome.

Alcohol dependency, which is an offshoot of excessive alcohol consumption, has been noted to lead to behaviours such as child abuse and neglect, poor dietary habits and absenteeism among the adult population in Wisconsin. Such risky behaviours have in turn led to incarceration, frequent hospitalisations, burden to other family or community members, loss of productivity, and even death. Another risky behaviour related to excessive consumption of alcohol is poor judgment, which is blamed for high number of arrests and motor vehicle accidents reported in Wisconsin according to the figures indicated above (Black & Paltzer, 2013). Poor judgment has also perpetuated certain risk-related behaviours such as highway speeding and driving without wearing safety belts, leading to injuries and death. Lastly, it cannot escape mention that both alcohol dependency and poor judgment, caused by excessive consumption of alcohol among the adult population in Wisconsin, have been directly linked to incidences of violence in the family, workplace problems, poverty, and failure by victims to actively fulfil social role obligations (Black & Paltzer, 2013).

References

Black, P., & Paltzer, J. (2013). The burden of excessive alcohol use in Wisconsin. Web.

Laslett, A.M., Room, R., Dietze, P., & Feiris, J. (2012). Alcohol’s involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases. Addiction, 107(10), 1786-1793.

World Health Organization. (2004).Global status report on Alcohol 2004. Web.

Introduction

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is like a pestilence that indiscriminately plagues people of all races, ages, religions, and social-economic statuses. Solving this human service issue requires greater awareness of its germ, as this paper briefly explores. Alcohol use disorder is caused by various internal and external factors, demanding the infected seek help over their condition.

Main body

Causes of AUD are subsumable into two categories: internal and external factors. Internal causes of alcohol use disorder are genetics, drinking history, personality, psychological conditions, and personal choice (Juergens, 2021; Smith, 2020; Vertava Health, 2020). Researchers believe that genetic factors compile into the most significant determinant of whether a person will become an alcoholic. Having a biological parent with AUD increases the likelihood of becoming an addict, even if the child is raised by non-alcoholics – and vice versa (Juergens, 2021). Likewise, if other internal factors lean towards alcohol, especially over a stretched period, a person may become an alcoholic. External factors, which fall mainly within sociocultural and economic spheres, have equally been linked with UDI. Considerably higher family income, social settings, and cultural norms that are generally permissive of drinking likely produce alcoholics (Alcohol.org, 2019; Vertava Health, 2020). Although it is difficult to pinpoint a single cause of alcoholism, it is clear that many internal and external factors serve as raw material in the making of an alcoholic.

The Bible takes a rather disdainful stance on alcohol, perceiving it as a trial with adverse effects, requiring endurance and exploitation of the right resources to overcome. The scripture stresses the pervasiveness and indiscriminateness of alcoholism, noting that drinking blurs vision and compromises judgment (Isaiah 28:7). Moreover, Paul perceives alcohol abuse as an act of vandalism on God’s temple – the body (1 Corinthians 3:16–17). It is not surprising, then, that 1^st Peter 5:8 advises people to remain sober-minded and watchful, warning that getting drunk predisposes a person to sin. Interestingly, Paul views alcoholism as a temptation that is never too great for the individual to defeat (2 Corinthians 10:14). The scriptures advise people to avoid alcohol and offer hope to those with UDI that a means of escaping is always within reach.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both science and religious teachings acknowledge the destructive nature of AUD. They recognize drinking as a problem that anyone can have. Regardless of causes or level, alcoholism can be defeated, a victory that begins by seeking help.

References

Alcohol.org. (2019). What are the causes of alcoholism & alcohol abuse? Web.

English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. Web.

Juergens, J., & Parisi, T. (2021). Causes and risk factors of alcoholism. Addiction Center. Web.

Smith, C. (2020). Causes of alcoholism. Rehab Spot. Web.

Vertava Health. (2020). Factors that influence alcohol abuse and addiction. Web.

Introduction

Alcoholism is a problem that has invaded the modern world to a substantially high degree. Shockingly, young people have indulged greatly in alcoholism, which led to a global health menace (Sommer, 2013). However, some people have managed to quit excessive drinking and bounce back to their sobriety once again in several instances. This paper creates a profile of an alcohol addict named June showing the way she was addicted and how she quitted alcoholism.

Way towards Addiction

June was brought up in Europe during a war that denied her a chance to experience a standard girl-child life with her parents’ guidance. When she was narrating her story, she stated that instead of leading a typical girl livelihood, the best lesson she had learned was wearing gas masks during the World War II. In 1947, her family migrated to America following successful survival in Europe. At the age of 17, she got married to a marine, and they were blessed with four children within a period of eight years. June indulged in drinking alcohol at the age of 30 to 42, whereby it numbed her senses. At this point, alcoholism was a major disaster in her family bearing in mind that his husband was alcoholic too (June’s Recovery Story, 2007). It had changed her perspective of reality and destroyed her family in a way that each of her children had a health problem leading to death of one child at the age of 10 years.

Reasons for Quitting

According to her story, it was evident that June decided to quit drinking owing to self-realization. In this regard, she pitied herself due to the fact that she had ruined her whole family. In fact, she admitted that alcohol changed her into a woman who was very different from the original character. She confessed that alcohol had taken her to places she could not have gone in her entire life. This implies that she has realized her mistakes and evaluated her afflictions before making a decision.

Treatment Plan

After self-realization, June joined Alcohol Anonymous (AA) where they conducted meetings that involved a twelve-step rehabilitation program. Among those twelve steps, there are three critical ones that essentially lead to the successful rehabilitation of victims. In this case, addicts are first made to understand that their lives have become unmanageable in order to enhance self-acceptance. The other critically significant step is conducting personal evaluation that assists in understanding what they have become and determining the progress. Lastly, addicts are taught to live by the values of Christianity and submit their wills to God in order to attain transformations based on the premise that there is a higher power than human beings.

Issue of Relapse

Although June did not reveal cases of relapse in her recovery period, most of the addicts would often experience a relapse due to the various reasons, such as attempting to test the ability of practicing moderate drinking. However, this could be prevented in different ways that include constant motivation and encouragement.

Conclusion

It is evident that alcoholism and addiction have become critically dangerous vice in the modern society. Additionally, the addicts can recover from alcoholism if they are guided, treated, and encouraged constantly (Thakkar, 2006). Lastly, relapse is one of the main challenges experienced during recovery that can be eliminated using the three aspects mentioned previously.

References

June’s Recovery Story. (2007). Web.

Sommer, W. (2013). Behavioral Neurobiology of Alcohol Addiction. Berlin: Springer.

Thakkar, V. (2006). Addiction. New York, NY: Chelsea House.

Introduction

The article studies personality issues among male people with alcoholism. Social damage from addiction is enormous, where families break up, crime grows, and life expectancy and the intellectual level of society decreases. Alcoholism has a significant negative impact on the quality of the gene pool of the entire social system. Children of alcoholics have reduced mental potential, suffer from various diseases of the central nervous system, which ultimately inhibits the normal development of society as a whole. The article’s primary question is how personality features and alcoholism are linked. The main hypothesis is that personality disorders are caused by alcohol dependency, which disorganizes social and psychological adaptation patterns. This leads to the fact that maladaptive personal properties are fixed, precisely because of the specific social and socio-psychological conditions that provoke alcohol consumption.

Main text

Nevertheless, alcohol consumption continues to grow steadily, and the experts are inclined to consider the main reason for this non-encouraging tendency to be personality changes. The sample size of the study is 194 males, who consumed 40g of pure alcohol per day (Berglund et al., 2011). The main descriptive statistical tools are normative T-scores, where individual raw data was changed into means analysis. The applied concepts are the Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) (Berglund et al., 2011). The main message of the authors is that the personality degradation occurring during alcoholism is directly caused by problems of a socio-psychological nature.

The statistical approach could have included the variables of marital status and employment history, which would outline alcoholism triggering events. The statistical evaluation shows that the methodology fully covers the population sample, but it dismisses the individual level intricacies (Berglund et al., 2011). This would increase the overall understanding of the causes and allow to design of preventative measures. To a certain extent, personality changes relate to the stage of alcoholism. An alcohol-guided person counts on treating himself/herself as a patient in need of care and support, and this is seen as a conditional psychological benefit. An alcoholic is generally subject to excessive personality dissociation, which leads to an internal dialogue between alcoholic and sober subpersonalities.

There are minor limitations and assumptions in the article’s statistical analysis. It makes sense to associate personality disorders in alcoholism with the level of claims from the point of view of the situational approach. Thus, the main limitation is a high dependency on the circumstance to identify alcoholic features. It is not possible to turn in detail to the consideration of the main provisions of this article. A similar structure of the level of claims is observed not only in many cases of pronounced development of psychopathic personality disorders states but also with fixed alcohol dependence (Berglund et al., 2011). It is known that the process of solving a difficult task usually consists of three stages.

First, the step of immediate decisions when a person tries to immediately find the right way out. Second, there are a series of setbacks, where he/she attempts to postpone the treatment. Third, the personality changes, which makes a person unreasonable and highly addicted. Therefore, the main assumption is that the article analyzes the problem only as a three-stage issue (Berglund et al., 2011). The study could have included more steps or viewed alcoholism as a five-stage process, where it involves trigger events and the point of problem recognition.

The authors used mainly the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) as the main personality frame for statistical pattern recognition. They applied the SIMCA for the given purpose, which was followed by PCA to compress the images. By categorizing data into normative T-score, they were able to understand that the personality changes of the first stage of alcohol dependence are mostly clear and easy to structure in the mainstream of theories of social psychology (Tanner, 2016). It is much more difficult to investigate personality changes in the second stage since they are much more challenging to see the setbacks. By non-binary analysis, the authors identified that during the second stage of alcoholism, persistent neurosis and psychopathic-like disorders arise along with personality shifts, which are often closely associated with characteristics before illness (Berglund et al., 2011). T-score pattern recognition resulted in realizing that the third stage is linked with the alcoholism-specific and personality shifts and psychopathic-like changes in the second stage of alcoholism (Tanner, 2016). Some signs suggest a decrease in the level of personal organization and the ability to integrate mental processes in the social channel.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the article focuses on this topic of alcoholism and relies on material from both theoretical and empirical studies, where the main idea is that personality disorders are caused by alcohol dependence. This leads to the fact that maladaptive personal properties are fixed, precisely because of the specific purely social and socio-psychological conditions that provoke alcohol consumption. However, these properties were mainly formed before the onset of alcohol abuse, which means that they were formally actualized in a situation that led to the formation of a stable dependence as a maladaptive behavioral contour. As a result, a complete version of circular dependence was already formed. Alcohol and lowering the level of anxiety, at the same time, reduce the effectiveness of adaptation processes, the functions of which are replaced by regular consumption. The response to the very psycho-emotional situation of alcohol intake is determined mainly by socio-cultural factors that reduce the availability of social support.

References

Berglund, K., Roman, E., Balldin, J., Berggren, U., Eriksson, M., Gustavsson, P., & Fahlke, C. (2011). Do men with excessive alcohol consumption and social stability have an addictive personality? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 52(3), 257-260.

Tanner, D. (2016). Statistics for the behavioral & social sciences. San-Diego, US: Bridgepoint Education.

Introduction

When it comes to drug and alcohol abuse, Florida is far higher than the national average, with this pattern being present in Miami Gardens as well. It has turned into a major economic issue. However, the financial impact of alcohol misuse in Florida is not the only one. Alcohol treatment facilities in Florida point out that the whole cost has an impact on society. Alcoholism has been on the rise in Florida over the past two decades, according to recent data.

While Miami Gardens is waging its own drug wars with opioids and cocaine, alcohol use continues to climb throughout all age categories, especially among women. The new data also matches tendencies from the summer of 2020, when the coronavirus struck, when many Floridians resorted to alcohol and other narcotics in the face of unpredictable circumstances. This method was the only alternative for people at a time when almost all public places were closed.

Main body

As with most multilayered social phenomena, it is difficult to distinctly identify the precise causes behind the alcohol issue in Miami Gardens. According to research published in 2019, 18 percent of individuals in Florida participate in excessive or binge drinking, up from 16.2 percent in 2002 (Wang et al., 2020). The most common substance found in decedents, according to the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, is alcohol. Between 2012 and 2019, the number of deaths caused by alcohol increased across the state (Wang et al., 2020). In the same period of time, the number of decedents for whom alcohol was a contributing factor in death grew by 72 percent (Wang et al., 2020). The overall number of alcohol-related occurrences statewide increased from 4,029 to 5,385 occurrences, indicating that a substance did not play a direct role in the death but was present or detectable in the deceased (Wang et al., 2020).

Medical intervention might be an appropriate state to take since alcohol-related deaths have been on the rise in the United States since the end of the 1990-s. From 2011 to 2015, it is predicted that 95,000 people died each year as a result of excessive alcohol use (De Leon et al., 2020). Researchers used cross-sectional U.S. death data from 2000 to 2016 to discover that alcohol-related fatalities increased by 77 percent over that time (De Leon et al., 220).

Between 2013 and 2016, the number of fatalities among women increased the most (De Leon et al., 220). Among all racial groups, American Indians and Alaskan Natives had the greatest rates of alcohol-related death. Overall, people between the ages of 55 and 64 had the highest incidence of alcohol-related fatalities (De Leon et al., 220). This demographical and social background might be instrumental in reviewing the available literature in search of models and observations that would be usable for the intervention program.

The first article reviewed concerns the prevention techniques of screening and behavioral counseling, attempting to solve the issue of alcoholism before it becomes relevant for the article subjects. According to the article “Screening and behavioral counselling interventions to reduce unhealthy alcohol use in adolescents and adults,” adults, especially pregnant women, benefit somewhat from screening and short behavioral therapy treatments for harmful alcohol consumption (“Screening and behavioral counseling interventions,” 2018). Screening and short behavioral therapy therapies for unhealthy alcohol consumption in teenagers have inadequate data to determine the balance of benefits and hazards.

Additionally, adults 18 years and older, including pregnant women, should be screened for unhealthy alcohol use in primary care settings, according to the USPSTF (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force), and those who participate in risky or hazardous drinking should get short behavioral therapy treatments to help them quit. The USPSTF concluded that monitoring indicators of alcohol consumption in adolescents aged 12-17 years are not reasonable (“Screening and behavioral counseling interventions,” 2018). The problem of alcoholism needs a collective solution and requires the implementation of not only medical but also social, pedagogical, and legal measures.

The second article reviewed the potential intervention plans was also focused on the preventive measures but picked adolescents as a part of its target group. “Screening and behavioral counselling interventions to reduce unhealthy alcohol use in adolescents and adults” prioritizes early identification of the issue. Adult screening devices that can successfully detect persons with unhealthy alcohol use are available in primary care, and counseling treatments in those who screen positive are related to decreases in unhealthy alcohol consumption. There was no proof that these actions had unforeseen negative consequences.

Alcohol abuse can aggravate or cause a variety of medical disorders that are typically seen in primary care, including neurologic, reproductive, cardiovascular, or muscle issues. Many popular prescription and over-the-counter drugs interact adversely with alcohol. Screening and counseling to minimize harmful alcohol consumption may assist in preventing negative health consequences and the development of more severe kinds of harmful use (O’Connor et al., 2018). As research was conducted in part among teenagers, this study might potentially be replicated by the hosts in a variety of settings. It also provides access to a demographic that is relatively underrepresented in studies on alcoholism or serial alcohol consumption.

The third article chosen analyses the anatomy and internal chemistry of alcohol addiction and therefore involves a rather unusual perspective on the matter. It analyses the inner workings of an alcoholic’s body and therefore provides a valuable medical insight. In 2016, alcohol was responsible for 2.2 percent of female fatalities and 6.8 percent of male deaths, with 2.3 percent of female DALYs and 8.9 percent of male DALYs (O’Connor et al., 2018).

Alcohol use disorder puts people at risk for anxiety, depression, decreased cognition, and illicit substance use. Alcohol freely enters the gastrointestinal tract, circulatory and nervous system and affects the liver, brain, and kidneys, which causes increased mortality among alcoholics. As a priority method of treating alcoholism, European doctors recommend using methods of psychological influence; psychologists use various methods of personality change, for example, cognitive therapy. The article is named “Alcohol addiction, gut microbiota, and alcoholism treatment: A review” and can therefore be useful for designing an intervention.

Conclusion

In conclusion, alcoholism in Miami Gardens is a problem on both national and individual levels. Interventions for it should be designed with the utmost care to avoid any double meanings or unfortunate implications when introducing them. Throughout the first step of the analysis, the introduced articles on the prevention therapy and chemical subtexts of alcoholism provide a beneficial input with necessary evidence.

The findings presented them will allow activists to design a better and more inclusive rehabilitation facility alongside some other measures against the alcoholism epidemic in the area. Alcohol is the same drug, only legal and easily accessible even for teenagers. It is necessary to learn how to identify problems with addiction as early as possible and carry out several preventive measures. It will not be possible to get rid of it entirely, but it is quite possible to return to the indicators that were 20 or even 30 years ago.

References

De Leon, A. N., Dvorak, R. D., Kramer, M. P., Peterson, R., Pinto, D. A., Leary, A. V., & Magri, T. D. (2020). Daily patterns of emotional functioning on drinking and nondrinking days. Alcoholism: Clinical and experimental research, 44(12), 2598-2610. Web.

O’Connor, E. A., Perdue, L. A., Senger, C.A., Rushkin, M., Patnode, C. D., Bean, S. I., & Jonas, D. E. (2018). Screening and behavioral counseling interventions to reduce unhealthy alcohol use in adolescents and adults: Updated evidence report and systematic review for the us preventive services task force. JAMA, 320(18), 1910-1928. Web.

US Preventive Services Task Force. (2018). Screening and behavioral counseling interventions to reduce unhealthy alcohol use in adolescents and adults: US preventive services task force recommendation statement. JAMA, 320(18), 1899-1909. Web.

Wang, S.-C., Chen, Y.-C., Chen, S.-J., Lee, C.-H., & Cheng, C.-M. (2020). Alcohol addiction, gut microbiota, and alcoholism treatment: A review. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(17), 6413. Web.

Alcohol is a product that is consumed globally by various people. According to Anderson et al., alcoholic beverages form a significant part of the economies of many countries and build a strong market (127). The availability of these products is a major driver of individual and family problems that many people face. The inability to give up excessive alcohol consumption on one’s own entails significant health concerns.

What Is Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a form of physical and mental addiction to drinks containing alcohol. As Edenberg et al. state, in about half of the cases, this dependence is hereditary (1). This suggests that family history plays an essential role in preventing the development of a dangerous problem. Excessive consumption of alcoholic products develops an addiction, which often requires the intervention of specialists since personal motivation may be insufficient.

Effects of Alcoholism

Both physical and mental effects are the consequences of alcoholism. According to the statistics cited by Edenberg et al., about 5.3% of all deaths in the world are caused by alcoholism, and the average number is about 3 million cases per year (1). In addition to the load on the internal organs, the psyche of alcoholics is deformed. Hallucinations, neuroses, seizures, and other dangerous manifestations may arise, especially in its neglected state. Broken families are also a common outcome of alcohol addiction.

How One Can Cope with Alcoholism

One of the basic steps to take is to identify the causes of addiction. People may consume alcohol for a variety of reasons, such as to combat stress, which is a strong reason to consider other stress mitigation strategies (Anthenien et al. 102). Involving loved ones in helping an addict is another potentially effective practice. Solving the problem on one’s own is unlikely without sufficient motivation, and relatives’ assistance and support can be valuable in the context of overcoming addiction, especially at the initial stage.

Works Cited

Anderson, Kym, et al. “Global Alcohol Markets: Evolving Consumption Patterns, Regulations, and Industrial Organizations.” Annual Review of Resource Economics, vol. 10, 2018, pp. 105-132.

Anthenien, Amber M., et al. “Drinking Motives and Alcohol Outcome Expectancies as Mediators of the Association Between Negative Urgency and Alcohol Consumption.” Addictive Behaviors, vol. 66, 2017, pp. 101-107.

Edenberg, Howard J., et al. “Genetics of Alcoholism.” Current Psychiatry Reports, vol. 21, no. 4, 2019, pp. 1-7.

Alcoholism is one of the major factors affecting the health of individuals and family relations due to the repercussions of the dependence. Liquor is highly addictive mainly because of the significant impact on the body leading to inhibitions and euphoria. The major effect rendered by the consumption and abuse encompasses compromising the individual’s perception, reactionary behavior, and judgment. It is a depressant to the central nervous system but causes profound damage to the liver; a condition referred to as liver cirrhosis. Drunkenness is a perspective that fosters the dependence of the victims on other family members. The main reason victims become dependent involves the overutilization of financial resources, loss of jobs, and health issues. The unproductive and dependence rate among the victims causes psychological abuse among the family members since the individuals resolve to violence as a desperate solution.

The family environment is one of the mainframes that significantly influence the addiction rate among drunkards while fostering the contradiction within the scope of the aftermath. The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” focuses on the articulation of a relationship between a father and son. Roethke establishes that the amount of alcohol consumed is too much for a baby’s breath while the father dances with the son (4). On the one hand, the bond between the individuals is a symbol showing the necessary compassion between father and son. On the other hand, the poet demonstrates one of the ideal consequences of alcoholism through the imagery of a father and son interconnectedness. According to Sharma and Sharma, recovery from dependence lies in exposure to a therapeutic surroundings and constructive interactions (1347). The primary objective during the development of an action plan involves the involvement of relatives towards alleviating the main problem and enhancing growth.

Alcoholism is a concept that leads to dynamic issues within the society enshrining the community’s health. Sharma and Sharma argue that different factors attribute to the behavior among the addicts (1348). An excellent example is the demonstrated affection between father and son based on alcohol consumption (Roethke 7). It is important to establish mechanisms that enhance communication among people as a form of understanding personal appeals. The poem showcases divergent attitudes among the audiences due to the dynamic imagery of a bond whose fragility depends on character among drunkards. On the one hand, and enhanced family environment fosters significant self-realization. On the other hand, the influence of liquor threatens the misconception and poor mentorship based on the impact on short-term happiness.

The dependence on alcohol negatively affects the health of an individual that is an embodiment of a spiritual, mental, and physical being. In this case, Sharma and Sharma indicate the establishment of a therapeutic family environment fosters the optimal acquisition of insights to avoid alcoholism (1348). In a different spectrum, the researchers establish that it is crucial to exploit the social learning theorem. It is a construct that indicates the interdependence of human behavior to exposure to different ideologies. In this case, the exposure of a child to an alcoholic father is symbolic of the risk of inheritance of the habit based on the perceptive approach. Therefore, it is crucial for relatives to alleviate the aspect of exposing the younger generations to the conduct as a preventive aspect.

The consequence of alcoholism entails poor health and financial instability. The overdependence on liquor risks the quality of living due to the focus on attaining satisfaction from the booze. Therefore, individuals exploit all resources without the essence of protecting the future based on the steadiness in performance at workplaces and savings. In the poem, the son finds joy in the interaction with the father despite his inability to complete tasks independently while drunk (Roethke 8). Although it is an experience that poses a lesson for the child, it is symbolic of the significant risk of negatively influencing his behavior. In this case, Sharma and Sharma establish that conflicts and achievement orientation are attributed to family relations under the spectrum of alcoholism (1349). Primarily, the ideal solution to the addiction matter is the incorporation of dynamic strategies that render the alleviation of the concern.

The nature of family relationships orients the behavior of the personnel due to the ability to contribute to self-realization. Individual esteem translates to the quality of experiences with relatives. During a child’s growth and development, the cognition’s response and attitude toward particular concepts depend on the previous experiences. Therefore, Sharma and Sharma argue that expressiveness and cohesion become variables that impact the ethical and moral code and interpretation across the dynamic population (1348). The primary duty of parenthood entails mentorship in developing charismatic leadership qualities. In this case, the shortcoming is based on such interactions and exposure as in the poem, Sharma and Sharma articulate that the addiction becomes an emblem of self-confidence.

Consequently, alcoholism is a prominent issue within society due to its negative influence on family relationships. On the one hand, the consumption of liquor provides a platform for engagement among individuals. On the other hand, it forms a cycle of disparate human behavior that shatters the future of personnel based on misuse of funds and poor health. Therefore, it is crucial to abolish the habits as a form of alleviating the foundation of relationships among relatives from negative appeals.

References

Roethke, Theodore. “My Papa’s Waltz”. 1942.

Sharma, Jyoti, and Anita Sharma. Risk Factors in Alcoholism: The Role of Family Environment. Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing, 8. 11 (2017): 1347-1352.

In addition to its physical effects on the chronic drinker’s body, alcohol is associated with a variety of mental impairments. Alcoholic dementia and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome are among the most prominent concerns in the matter. The former is a blanket term for a variety of cognitive deficiencies caused by the substance. The latter is a two-stage condition that results from a B1 vitamin deficiency and can progress into apathy and chronic amnesia if left untreated (Levinthal, 2014). This answer will discuss the diagnosis and treatment of the two illnesses and the differences in their degrees of danger.

Alcoholic dementia expresses similar symptoms as many other mental impairments and can be challenging to identify at first. Fillit, Rockwood, and Young (2017) suggest an instrument that can be used as a screening tool in the case of suspected substance abuse. Most treatments for the condition involve behavioral and cognitive therapy that focuses on abstinence and the elimination of the causes behind the consumption of the substance. If necessary, sedatives may be administered to calm down the patient, particularly in case of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome’s emergence. In the long term, the effects of alcoholic dementia on the body are mostly reversible.

As is mentioned above, malnutrition is the primary cause of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. According to Balan, Murrell, and Lentz (2018), treatment should begin with a complete medical evaluation as soon as there is suspicion of the condition. Generally, the illness can be halted through the consumption of a balanced diet and an increased vitamin B1 intake. However, while the effects of the Wernicke encephalopathy, the first stage, are reversible, the damage caused by the Korsakoff syndrome that follows is not. As such, the second condition is substantially more harmful than the first unless noticed and prevented early.

References

Balan, Y., Murrell, K., & Lentz, C. (2018). Big book of emergency department psychiatry: A guide to patient centered operational improvement. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Fillit, H. M., Rockwood, K., & Young, J. (eds.). (2017). Brocklehurst’s textbook of geriatric medicine and gerontology (8th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.

Levinthal, C. F. (2014). Drugs, behavior and modern society (8th ed.). London, United Kingdom: Pearson Education.

Alcoholism is a broad term for excessive and addictive consumption of alcohol that leads to adverse health outcomes and social problems. The main implication of alcoholism and other opioid addictions is that individuals feel a continuous urge to consume a new dose, which is usually larger due to drug tolerance (Gale Research, p. 52). In order to stop the drinking problem and treat the alcohol-use disorder (AUD), successful intervention is needed. Taking into consideration that it is a brain disease, intervention should comprise an allopathic treatment approach and medication that helps to avoid relapse. Allopathic treatment of alcoholism is based on modern medicine and includes detoxification and recovery as its main stages. Nevertheless, such drugs have been used with variable success, and further research is needed. Despite the overall advance in treatment, alcoholism is still a challenge due to the lack of successful drug efficacy appraisals and pharmacotherapy personalization in patients with AUD.

Alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse are common AUD causes. According to Zastrozhin, 60% of AUD cases emerge due to genetic reasons, which is a high heritability rate (p. 132). More than 17 million US adults were reported to have drinking problems (Charting Alcohol’s Impact on America, p. 58). Face-to-face interviews with 44,000 of the US civilians indicated that self-reported alcohol dependence rate declined, and alcohol disorder rates were highest among young adults. Moreover, Kimbrough et al., in their research, found that mice’s functional architecture of brain modularity and activity was reorganized as a consequence of alcohol abstinence (p. 2155). It showed that particular parts of the brain are involved in alcohol addiction and how the whole-brain modularity is affected. Those findings may be applied to the human being because mice generally have almost a similar brain structure, but further research is needed. In general, alcohol changes the functional development of the cerebellum, cerebral cortex, and also prevents the formation of new synapses.

Adult children of alcoholics were believed to be AUD prone because of genetic heritage and childhood experiences, but analysis of previous studies showed that there is no enough evidence. According to Vail, the main researches on parental alcoholism and its impact lack the appropriate categorical approach and reliable knowledge base (p. 117). Nevertheless, the government needs to design appropriate health programs to prevent the initiation of drinking patterns during adolescence. It is crucial because continuous alcohol consumption causes addiction and adverse changes to health. For instance, AUD was estimated to result in more than 5% of total deaths in the world (Zastrozhin, p. 134). Excessive alcohol consumption usually leads to health problems within the cardiovascular, reproductive, gastrointestinal, and nervous systems.

Withdrawal states and acute effects such as nausea, seizures, hallucinations, agitation, and anxiety are clinical conditions that usually prevail in practice. These disorders often require pharmacological treatment in order to relieve discomfort or ovoid resuming to drinking. The list of common medications includes acamprosate, nalmefene, disulfiram, baclofen, naltrexone, topiramate, and gabapentin. All of them showed efficacy superiority over placebo in accordance with available studies.

Disulfiram effect can be enhanced by a reduced plasma D[beta]H level in patients who carry that biomarker. Moreover, disulfiram efficacy can be significantly affected by the polymorphism of the ANKK1 and DRD2 genes (Zastrozhin, p. 135). Naltrexone, together with acamprosate, is seen to help eliminate the effects of a relapse gradually. The assessment showed that acamprosate is effective and can be used to treat alcohol addiction. Nevertheless, the outcomes of the studies examining other medications are controversial, so there is a lack of evidence on its pharmacogenetics (Zastrozhin 137). In general, such medications have common adverse outcomes, including vomiting, nausea, headache, dizziness, and insomnia, while naltrexone even causes liver issues. Hence, some of them should be added to the treatment only as a last resort.

To conclude, alcoholism is still a huge medical problem because of its biological, genetic, emotional, and behavioral causes. Alcoholism treatment requires a comprehensive approach that includes special therapy and medication. Pharmacogenetic biomarkers have the potential to personalize treatment for every alcoholic and increase therapeutic efficacy, but the needed information is available only for naltrexone. Further research on the common medication efficacy is welcomed, while currently, some alcoholism medications should be applied only in case of emergency.

Works Cited

1. “Charting Alcohol’s Impact on America.” Clinician Reviews, vol. 14, no. 7, 2004, p. 58. Web.
2. Gale Research Inc. The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine. 5th ed. Gale, 2019, pp. 52-60.
3. Kimbrough, Adam, et al. “Brain-wide Functional Architecture Remodeling by Alcohol Dependence and Abstinence.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. vol. 17, no. 4, 2020, pp. 2149-2159.
4. Vail, Mary Orosz, et al. “Sampling Issues in Research on Adult Children of Alcoholics: Adolescence and Beyond.” Adolescence, vol. 35, no. 137, 2000, pp. 113-119.
5. Zastrozhin, M. S., et al. “Pharmacogenetics of Alcohol Addiction: Current Perspectives.” The Application of Clinical Genetics, 2019, p. 131-140.