Guy Gets Girl

For a number of years alcoholism research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong relationship between alcoholism and critical health conditions and mental health issues such as depression.

For example, in 2005, scientific 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 per year. It can be emphasized that this huge alcohol-related expense was substantially more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is appropriate to give emphasis to these facts, it is also noteworthy to emphasize the point that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.

More accurately, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.

Definitely, substance abuse research has shown that alcoholism can amplify the risk for different kinds 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 impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.

Irresponsible and Hazardous Drinking Weakens the Person’s Systems and Organs

Additionally, if alcohol addiction continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will likely be affected in a negative manner. For instance, repeated, hazardous drinking is especially injurious to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Excessive amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to redevelop. This medical circumstance leads to a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can in the long run lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a grave and potentially incurable medical problem. Excessive, long-term drinking not only can lead to critical liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be irreparable and may, in turn, result in serious disease or premature death.

The Critical Nature of Alcohol Counseling

It is important, as a result, to know how to recognize the various alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol addicted individual can be given the opportunity to get the quality alcohol counseling he or she needs.

Alcoholism and Technologically Advanced Brain Research

Fortuitously, scientific investigation is constantly uncovering innovative and important information. Recent alcoholism exploration offers an excellent example. More specifically, for roughly the past ten years, complex brain-imaging scanning devices have confirmed that continuous and long-term excessive drinking transforms the structure of the brain to a great extent, consequently resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perchance as long as the individual lives.

More precisely, medical exploration has shown that people who have been drinking in an irresponsible manner for an extensive length of time increase their risk for developing permanent and severe transformations in the brain.

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

Malnutrition, Excessive Drinking, and Mental Disorders

As a final example of various medical conditions that are to a large extent associated with alcohol addiction, consider that in accordance with medical investigation, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a condition that lessens the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

This form of organ malfunctioning is related to malnutrition and to a variety of severe neurological and mental problems including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical condition is a long-term debilitating health problem that is typified by incessant learning and memory complications.

Excessive and Hazardous Drinking Also Leads to in Friendship and Relationship Problems

In addition to acute medical problems, thoughtless drinking also leads to relationship and friendship difficulties. As an illustration, people who engage in excessive drinking typically go through divorce, sexuality problems, affairs, and marital problems.

Conclusion: The Relevance of Education

It is obvious that repetitive, excessive drinking is directly or indirectly linked to numerous acute medical problems that can and do lead to dangerous 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 irresponsible drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the professional rehab they require.

Let us look at this with a common sense perspective. Yes, alcohol treatment is important, but alcohol treatment is something that is commonly done AFTER the fact. Education, to the contrary, is something that is done BEFORE the problem manifests itself. Stated a different way, whereas alcohol treatment is “reactive,” education is “proactive.” It is asserted that both approaches are necessary when discussing alcohol problems.

Denny is a fifteen-year-old youth who has finally determined that he needs to go and see his family doctor about his careless and excessive drinking. At first, Denny thought he would be able to merely go online, look for some basic alcohol info and determine whether or not he was an alcoholic.

Not unexpectedly, he discovered quite a few websites that spelled out some of the usual alcoholism symptoms. That’s the encouraging news. The less positive news, sadly, was that Denny showed evidence of many of these alcoholism symptoms.

Examples of Alcohol Addiction Symptoms

For instance, Denny has been drinking a lot more than customary and he has started to have more passionate squabbles with the female he is dating. In much the same way, for the first time in his young life he has been going through sleeping difficulties. Likewise, Denny habitually has felt depressed and on an increasing basis he has been exhibiting less than usual attention to detail in class. Furthermore, he has felt highly stressed and more on edge on a daily basis and for the past several months he has manifested foggy thinking in class. Given that Denny has been demonstrating all of these symptoms, he was justifiably uneasy about his drinking behavior.

So Denny finally decided to place a phone call to his healthcare practitioner and schedule an appointment. To tell the truth, this was rough for Denny because his family doctor was also his parents’ family healthcare practitioner. The springboard for his worry was this: at the risk of embarrassing his family, he had to go and divulge his excessive and hazardous drinking behavior to his family healthcare practitioner.

When Denny arrived at the healthcare practitioner’s office, he overtly notified the family physician about the concern he feels about his irresponsible drinking behavior. When the healthcare practitioner asked what was triggering this trepidation, Denny declared that he had gone on the Internet and read about dependency on alcohol and especially about alcoholism symptoms. He then listed all of the alcohol addiction symptoms that he obviously thought he manifests.

A Thorough Physical Evaluation and Outpatient Alcohol Rehab

The family physician told Denny that it was prudent of him to attend to his drinking difficulties, he gave Denny an in depth physical examination, and suggested that he talk to his parents about enrolling in an out-patient alcohol rehab program that was managed by Doctor Robbins, one of his doctor acquaintances who is a drug and alcohol addiction specialist.

Moreover, when Denny articulated that he has been feeling depressed to a greater degree, the healthcare professional told Denny that alcoholism and depression many times crop up in the same individual. For that reason, the physician also suggested that Denny talk to his parents about getting therapy to tackle his depression. In fact, Denny can go to the local counseling center and make an appointment with Doctor Anderson, an eminent counseling psychologist who specializes in treating adolescents.

The Importance of Dealing With Your Drinking Problems and Getting Enthused About Making Healthy and Positive Changes in Your Life

The physician made it a point to notify Denny that he might not necessarily be dependent on alcohol, but that he was evidently drinking in an irresponsible manner. Stated differently, Denny was involving himself in teen alcohol abuse. The family healthcare practitioner then notified Denny that the reason he suggested alcohol treatment in the first place was because he wanted him to face up to his drinking problems, make sure that he prevented them from escalating, and start to live in a more healthy manner, even if it meant that he had to entirely quit drinking.

In brief, by productively treating his drinking problems, Denny would be able to get his drinking problems under control and refrain from the negative sequence of events that could doubtless result in alcohol addiction.

Denny undoubtedly did not look forward to facing his parents about his drinking issues and his depression. And he certainly did not want to face the thought of enrolling in an alcohol rehabilitation center. And last but not least, he was not thrilled about going to a counselor about his depression. Irrespective of these trepidations, nonetheless, Denny as a matter of fact experienced some psychological relief for the first time in quite a few months because he eventually quit making excuses for himself and finally made up his mind to do something productive about his abusive and unhealthy drinking. And it was clear that this decision helped to foster his self esteem and personal success and further improve upon the communication skills in his dating relationships.