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How Alcohol Addiction Develops |
By:
David B Smith |
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Alcoholism is a chronic disease that has the stength to wreck the career, family and physical health of the addict over a course of time. Thankfully though the beginning of full blown alcoholism is easy to detect and can be treated.
The progress of the disease can ordinarily be tracked over three stages - an early, middle and later stage - and the sooner the addicted person or his or her family can identify 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 manage with a momentary problem that is causing anxiety. When he drinks it dulls the pain and he feels well, and so drinking becomes the regular mechanism through which he deals with his issues.
Gradually this grows into a fixed habit, but even close family members can easily miss this development. The drinker, for most of the time, seems normal during this stage, and indeed may come across as more confident and able.
If challenged about his level of alcohol consumption, the early-stage addict tends to rationalise his drinking in a way that can be totally convincing to those nearest to him, at least for the short term. Over time though, the loss of control of the tongue and posture indicate 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 full blown physical dependency on the drug. The need to get through alcohol little by little increases, and if the individual had laboured to contain his drinking in the early stage, now that resistance completely gives way.
As the alcohol intake increases, so the patient's physical ability to process that alchol is simultaneously reduced. As a result the middle-stage alcoholic can get drunk very qucikly, even on small amounts of alcohol. By this stage it should be apparent to one and all, and even to the alcoholic himself, that he has a problem, though he might feel at this stage that he has already lost the battle.
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 sees the problem. When they confront the drinker, he will no longer be indifferent, but may become aggressively defensive or even violent.
Physical health systematically degenerates during this final stage, eventually ending in death if the disease is not treated. The alcoholic's immunity levels decrease along with his hunger, and so he becomes increasingly susceptible to a variety of regular diseases. Furthermore, specific conditions caused directly by the alcohol consumption conmence 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 understanding 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 clarify where that 'rock bottom' point is set, and some people just never seem to reach it.
For more information on alcoholism and alcohol addiction treatment programs, visit http://www.alcoholismaddictiontreatment.org/the-stages-of-alcoholism.php
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| Phrase |
# Count |
% Density (approx) |
stage
| 13
| 2.26
| alcohol
| 10
| 1.74
| alcoholic
| 6
| 1.04
| the alcoholic
| 5
| 0.87
| alcoholism
| 5
| 0.87
| problem
| 5
| 0.87
| disease
| 5
| 0.87
| drinking
| 5
| 0.87
| stage of
| 4
| 0.70
| of alcohol
| 4
| 0.70
| alcoholism is
| 4
| 0.70
| family
| 4
| 0.70
| dependency
| 4
| 0.70
| the early stage
| 3
| 0.52
| final stage
| 3
| 0.52
| middle stage
| 3
| 0.52
| early stage
| 3
| 0.52
| alcohol dependency
| 3
| 0.52
| the early
| 3
| 0.52
| stage of alcohol dependency
| 2
| 0.35
| in the early stage
| 2
| 0.35
| the final stage of
| 2
| 0.35
| stage of alcoholism is
| 2
| 0.35
| the final stage
| 2
| 0.35
| stage of alcoholism
| 2
| 0.35
| stage of alcohol
| 2
| 0.35
| alcohol dependency the
| 2
| 0.35
| of alcohol dependency
| 2
| 0.35
| final stage of
| 2
| 0.35
| the middle stage
| 2
| 0.35
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