Alcohol Abuse - Alcoholism

Alcohol Abuse

Alcoholism is the addiction or craving for alcohol. There is a difference in alcoholism and alcohol abuse. NIAAA has provided much information to the subject of alcoholism because they want to make America aware of the growing problem in America of alcohol addition and abuse. The worst thing about alcohol addition and abuse is the person who is addicted or who abuses it doesn’t recognize that they have a problem. According to the NIAAA 14 millions Americans or 1 in every 13 adults are addicted to alcohol or abuse it.

Most people in can enjoy a beer, a glass of wine, or a shot everyday and stop while there is other people who can’t, who have this graving to drink to the point of a pixilation and don’t know why they have to but just do. Millions of Americans partake in risky drinking that could lead to an alcohol problem. Risky drinking includes binge drinking or heavy drinking on a regular basis. Heavy drinking for men is consuming more then 35 drinks per week and for women it’s 21 drinks per week. Binge drinking is not necessarily drinking every night but when drinking takes place it is to the point of drunkenness. More then 50 percent of Americans report that someone in their family has an alcohol problem.

Consuming to much alcohol has its disadvantages towards a person’s health. Heavy drinking can result in cancers in the liver, throat, and larynx. It can also produce liver cirrhosis, immune system problems, brain damage, and harm to the fetus during pregnancy. Alcoholism can lead to car accidents, job injuries, homicides and suicides. Alcohol related problems cost Americans $185 billion dollars a year.

Alcoholism is a disease that has four symptoms; craving, loss of control, physical dependence, and tolerance. Craving is the need or compulsion to drink. Loss of control is the inability to limit one’s drinking on any given occasion. Physical dependence is withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety, occur when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking. And finally tolerance is the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol in order to be intoxicated or drunk. People don’t understand why alcoholics just can’t stop drinking with will power, what NIAAA has said that alcoholism has nothing to do with will power if it did more people would be able to stop on their own with out assistance. The truth is alcoholism has nothing to do with will power, its genetics some people are born with basically a window of opportunity to become alcoholics. Not saying everyone with this gene defect will become one but it also has to deal with their environment, peer pressure, life style, accessibility to alcohol and stresses in life.

Alcohol abuse differs from alcoholics because they are not depend on the substance but can become depended on alcohol if they are not careful. Alcohol abuse is defined as a pattern of drinking that result in one or more of the following situations with in a 12 month period. One, failure to fulfill a major work, school, or home responsibility. Two, drinking in situations that are physically dangerous, such as while driving a car or operating machinery. Three, having recurring alcohol-related legal problems, such as being arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or physically hurting someone while drunk. Finally, drinking despite having ongoing relationship problems that are caused by drinking. Even though alcohol abuse is different from alcoholism they still can develop the same health problems and risks of alcoholics.

Drinking results in a lot of problems on college campuses through out the United States. Each year 1,400 college student between the ages of 18-24 die in alcohol related accidents (Higson et al. 2002). 500,000 students are injured in alcohol related accidents, and 600,000 are assaulted by a student under the influence (Higson et al 2002). In cases involving with sexual acts more then 70,000 are victims of sexual assault or date rape. Because of alcohol more than 400,000 students have unprotected sex and more than 100,000 students admitted that they have been too intoxicated to know if they consented to sex (Higson et al. 2002). More then 25% of college students admitted that they have failed, missed classes, fell behind, done poorly on test and papers because of alcohol. Health problems and suicides attempts occurred in more then 150,000 students each year (Engs et al., 1996; Presley et al., 1996a, 1996b; Wechsler et al. 2002). 2.1 million Students in 2002 were caught drunk driving. And finally about 31% of college students met the met the criteria for diagnosis of alcohol abuse and 6% were diagnosed with alcohol dependence according to Knight et al.2002.

Some of the signs of a problem can be stated in four easy little questions. Have you