Alcohol
Addiction Information

When does casual consumption of alcohol turn to dependency drinking and finally to biochemically-controlled drinking? The answer is, even most alcohol addicts themselves don't know when they became addicted to alcohol. Alcohol is the most sinister of drugs, one that draws a thin, usually imperceptible line between social use and addictive use. Alcoholic addicts rely on alcohol as a key component of their personality - without a drink, they simply cannot "be themselves."

Alcohol affects people differently, depending on their size, sex, body build, and metabolism. General effects are a feeling of warmth, flushed skin, impaired judgment, decreased inhibitions, muscular in coordination, slurred speech, and memory and comprehension loss. In states of extreme intoxication, vomiting is likely to occur, possibly accompanied by incontinence, poor respiration, a fall in blood pressure, and in cases of severe alcohol poisoning, coma and death.

Physical dependence occurs in consistently heavy drinkers. Since their bodies have adapted to the presence of alcohol, they suffer withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly stop drinking. Withdrawal symptoms range from jumpiness, sleeplessness, sweating, and poor appetite, to tremors (the "shakes"), convulsions. hallucinations. and sometimes death. Alcohol abuse can take a negative toll on people's lives, fostering violence or a deterioration of personal relationships. Alcoholic behavior can interfere with school or career goals and lead to unemployment.

Psychological dependence on alcohol may occur with regular use of even relatively moderate daily amounts. It may also occur in people who consume alcohol only under certain conditions, such as before and during social occasions. This form of dependence refers to a craving for alcohol's psychological effects, although not necessarily in amounts that produce serious intoxication. For psychologically dependent drinkers, the lack of alcohol tends to make them anxious and, in some cases, panicky.

Long term alcohol abuse poses a variety of health risks, such as as liver damage and an increased risk for heart disease. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome may result from a pregnant woman's drinking alcohol; this condition causes facial abnormalities in the child, as well as growth retardation and brain damage, which often is manifested by intellectual difficulties or behavioral problems.

A good rehab program helps people end their alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction through mind/body alcohol abuse treatment programs. Effective alcohol treatment programs and alcohol abuse rehabilitation strategies give clients all the tools they need to handle an addiction that's restricting their lives and preventing them from reaching their full potential. Most alcohol rehabilitation programs have a 15-20% success rate. We can help you locate alcohol treatment program that have a 70% success rate, meaning most of its graduates are still substance-free two years out of its recovery program. By consciously controlling the direction of their life, former alcoholics thus stop alcohol use naturally, purposefully, permanently, and without fear.