Stopping drinking has just become easier

Published July 30th, 2008

by Ed Philips

The overuse or abuse of alcohol (alcoholism) or other drugs is called substance abuse. It is common and costly. It can cause or worsen many medical problems and destroy families and lives. Alcohol abuse causes over 100,000 deaths in the United States and Canada each year. It is the drug most commonly abused by children ages 12 to 17. Alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in teenagers. People who drink alcohol are more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behavior, have poor grades or job performance, use tobacco products, and experiment with illegal drugs. Alcohol and drug use may be an unconscious attempt at self-treatment for another problem, such as depression. You have an alcohol problem if your use of alcohol interferes with your health or daily living. You develop alcoholism if you physically or emotionally depend on alcohol to get you through your day.

Is alcohol causing a problem in my life? Have your family or friends ever complained about your drinking? Have you been late to or absent from work because of hangovers? Have you ever driven after drinking? Have you had trouble with the law after drinking? Have you gotten into a fight after drinking? Do you drink even when you don’t feel well? Has your doctor told you that you have health problems related to drinking? Have you ever tried to quit drinking? Have you ever had a blackout while drinking? Do you sometimes have a drink in the morning to stop your hands from trembling or to ease a hangover? Do you end up drinking more than you meant to drink? Have you stopped doing things you used to do because you would rather drink? Do you drink more than you used to drink? If you said yes to any of these questions, drinking may be a problem for you.

students may choose to engage in activities like funneling and binge drinking or drinking games like beer pong and flip cups. Making decisions about alcohol can be crucial in a student’s first year. According to a 2002 college task force report to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, some first-year students are among those who drink the most in college.

Financially these costs are estimated at more than 100 billion dollars per year. The financial costs are also high for those 1 out of 10 people who do seek help for their alcohol problem. Besides the above costs there are many others that are associated with alcohol abuse and addition. There are alcohol related automobile tickets and/or accidents. Blackouts can be a serious consequence of drinking. Depression often becomes a problem and relationships are damaged or completely ruined. People often start drinking at parties or socially from time to time and then may progress to serious and problematic drinking. There are people who are more at risk when it comes to alcoholism than others. Families who have members who are prone to having problems with alcohol should be especially careful when it comes to drinking.

What can the alcoholic do? What can the enabler do? It would be stupid for me to sit here and tell you to quit drinking; easier said than done right? Yep, if you’re an alcoholic, I know what you’re going through. What I can do though, is tell you what I did. If what I did sounds acceptable to you than give it a try. First of all the enabler needs to get help by going to Alanon. Your getting help for your self will be helping the alcoholic in more ways than you’ll ever know, believe me. In Alanon you will learn to not let the escapades of the alcoholic bother you. You will also learn to NOT rescue the alcoholic anymore! This aspect is so very important. Angie Lewis offers spiritual enlightenment tips for couples in marriage, and is the author of new release book JOURNEY ON THE ROADS LESS TRAVELED. This unique book is about love, life, marriage, addiction, temptation, and understanding the power of spiritual awareness for your marriage.

The jovial phase of being drunk. The frontal lobes house the functions that control, among other things, your inhibitions, self-control, willpower, ability to judge and attention span. Suppress it, and your self-confidence increases, you start getting jovial, you become more and more generous, and start talking more. This is why alcohol is seen as a good social lubricant. This effect can already be detected with blood alcohol levels as low as 0,01g/100ml - in other words, while you are within the legal limit of 0,05g/100ml. The problem is that even at this level, which is perfectly legal, your loss of judgement ability and your changed personality already increase your risk of dying an unnatural death, for example as a result of being in a fight. Maybe you are better able to control yourself and your behaviour in this phase as a result of good self-control, or education, and the onslaught of the alcohol might pass by relatively unobtrusively. Maybe not.

Craving alcohol is a complicated process that involves several different factors. We are usually first introduced to alcohol at a young age (in our teens). Since no-one under the age of 21 (in the US) is allowed to purchase alcohol, it becomes “cool” and desirable for young adults under 21 to give drinking a try. Later on people grab a bottle of booze to feel better, gain more confidence in a social setting or to forget about their problems. Since the alcohol makes them feel better, at least temporarily, they start to crave it.

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