When Excessive And Hazardous Drinking Leads To Serious Health Problems, Relationship And Friendship Issues And Conflicts, And Grief And Loss Issues

For more than a few years alcohol addiction research has revealed the fact that there is strong correlation between alcohol dependency and serious health conditions and mental health issues such as depression.

As an illustration, in 2005, medical investigation and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics demonstrated the fact that that alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It may be noted that this substantial alcohol-related expenditure was significantly more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is appropriate to accentuate these facts, it is also noteworthy to point out that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.

More correctly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcoholism are also highly correlated with obesity and with cancer.

Without a doubt, substance abuse exploration has demonstrated the fact that alcohol dependency can boost the risk for various forms of cancer, especially cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Excessive and repetitive drinking can also result in immune system difficulties and deformity to the fetus during pregnancy.

Abusive Drinking Deteriorates the Problem Drinker’s Systems and Organs

Additionally, if alcohol dependency continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will probably be affected in a negative manner. For example, repeated, abusive drinking is particularly injurious to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and eradicates the ability of liver cells to regenerate. This medical condition leads to a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can ultimately lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a grave and potentially fatal disease. Heavy, long-term drinking not only can lead to serious liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this critical may be irreversible and may, in turn, result in severe illness or premature death.

The Importance of Alcohol Treatment

It is vital, consequently, to know how to identify the different alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol dependent person can be given the opportunity to seek the professional alcohol rehab he or she needs.

Alcohol Addiction and Sophisticated Brain Research

Fortunately, medical research is persistently generating original and significant information. Recent alcoholism research supplies a high-quality example. Stated differently, for roughly the past ten years, complex brain-imaging scanning devices have demonstrated that continuous and chronic abusive drinking changes the structure of the brain to a substantial extent, thusly resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or maybe as long as the individual lives.

More specifically, medical exploration has demonstrated that people who have been drinking in a hazardous manner for a considerable length of time increase their risk for developing lasting and severe modifications in the brain.

This type of damage may be directly related to severe liver disease, to the alcohol’s effects on the brain, or might be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health.

Malnutrition, Abusive Drinking, and Mental Disorders

As a final illustration of different medical conditions that are substantially associated with alcohol addiction, take into consideration the fact that in accordance with medical exploration, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a health problem that reduces the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

This form of organ failure is correlated with malnutrition and to a variety of critical neurological and mental disorders including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is an enduring incapacitating medical condition that is epitomized by repetitive learning and memory complications.

Excessive and Irresponsible Drinking Also Results in Relationship and Friendship Issues and Conflicts and Grief and Loss Issues

In addition to critical medical problems, hazardous drinking also results in friendship and relationship problems. As an illustration, people who engage in heavy drinking typically go through divorce, marital difficulties, sexuality problems, and affairs, and they commonly go through grief and loss difficulties.

Conclusion: The Significance of Education

It is plain to see that repetitive, excessive drinking is directly or indirectly associated with a variety of dangerous medical conditions that can and do lead to serious illness and premature death. Such information needs to be emphasized and presented to everyone in our society, especially to all students, so that most individuals will be able to refrain from excessive drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the professional therapy they need.

Let us look at this with a common sense perspective. Yes, alcohol rehab is significant, but alcohol rehab is something that is usually done AFTER the fact. Education, then again, is something that is done BEFORE the problem materializes. Stated another way, whereas alcohol treatment is “reactive,” education is “proactive.” It is stated that both approaches are required when discussing alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.