Author: Gary Jackson

Alcohol use disorder Symptoms and causes

Most people can enjoy the occasional glass of wine with dinner or beer out with friends. But for other people, one drink becomes two drinks, which becomes four drinks — they are unable to stop drinking. Find out how a personalized stress management toolkit can help you avoid relapse and stay on track with sobriety.

Health Challenges

Experts have tried to pinpoint factors like genetics, sex, race, or socioeconomics that may predispose someone to alcohol addiction. Psychological, genetic, and behavioral factors can all contribute to having the disease. Using alcohol during adolescence (from preteens to mid-20s) may affect brain development, making it more likely that they will be diagnosed with AUD later in life. However, most people with AUD—no matter their age or the severity of their alcohol problems—can benefit from treatment with behavioral health therapies, medications, or both. Behavioral treatments—also known as alcohol counseling, or talk therapy, and provided by licensed therapists—are aimed at changing drinking behavior. The body responds to the continual introduction of alcohol by coming to rely on it.

What Increases the Risk for Alcohol Use Disorder?

As anyone who has had even a glass of wine can attest, alcohol can have a noticeable influence on mood. Drinking releases endorphins which can lead people to feel happy, energized, and excited. But alcohol is also classified as a depressant and can cause fatigue, restlessness, and depression. It may shift from stimulant to sedative in line with whether blood alcohol content is rising or falling. Given the power of alcohol on the brain, people who drink heavily may come to rely on it to regulate their mood. The later stages of addiction can yield physical changes, but behavioral signs can help detect it early on.

Alcohol and the Brain: In the Long Run

If you feel that you sometimes drink too much alcohol, or your drinking is causing problems, or if your family is concerned about your drinking, talk with your health care provider. Other ways to get help include talking with a mental health professional or seeking help from a support group such as Alcoholics Anonymous or a similar type of self-help group. Mutual-support groups provide peer support for stopping or reducing drinking. Group meetings are available in most communities at low or no cost, and at convenient times and locations—including an increasing presence online.

This means they can be especially helpful to individuals at risk for relapse to drinking. Combined with medications and behavioral treatment provided by health care professionals, mutual-support groups can offer a valuable added layer of support. Long-term drinking can leave permanent damage, causing the brain to shrink and leading to ­deficiencies in the fibers that carry information between brain cells. Many alcoholics develop a condition called Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which is caused by a deficiency of thiamine (a B vitamin). This deficiency occurs because alcohol interferes with the way the body absorbs B vitamins.

This is of particular concern when you’re taking certain medications that also depress the brain’s function. You may need to seek treatment at an inpatient facility if your addiction to alcohol is severe. These facilities will provide you with 24-hour care as you withdraw from alcohol and recover from your addiction.

What are the symptoms of alcoholism?

They’ll do a physical exam and ask you questions about your drinking habits. Although the exact cause of alcohol use disorder is unknown, there are certain factors that may increase your risk for developing this disease. Alcoholism has been known by a variety of terms, including alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. Ultimately, sobriety is the responsibility of the person who has the alcohol addiction. It’s important to not enable destructive behaviors and to maintain appropriate boundaries if the person with the alcohol addiction is still drinking.

  1. Cognitive behavioral therapy is another path, available in person or online.
  2. It can help someone handle withdrawal symptoms and emotional challenges.
  3. GABA causes the sluggish movements and slurred speech that often occur in alcoholics.
  4. Moderation management or moderation treatment can be an effective approach, in which people learn responsible drinking habits through a structured program.

How Does Addiction Develop in the Brain?

People with alcohol use disorder will continue to drink even when drinking causes negative consequences, like losing a job or destroying relationships with people they love. They may know that their alcohol use negatively affects their lives, but it’s often not enough to make them stop drinking. Alcoholism, referred to as alcohol use disorder, occurs when someone drinks so much that their body eventually becomes dependent on or addicted to alcohol.

Unhealthy alcohol use includes any alcohol use that puts your health or safety at risk or causes other alcohol-related problems. It also includes binge drinking — a pattern of drinking where a male has five or more drinks within two hours or a female has at least four drinks within two hours. You can prevent alcohol use disorder by limiting your alcohol intake. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, women shouldn’t drink more than one drink per day, and men shouldn’t drink more than two drinks per day. Some people may drink alcohol to the point that it causes problems, but they’re not physically dependent on alcohol. As a loved one of someone with an alcohol addiction, try to be encouraging and provide emotional support.

Symptoms of withdrawal include disorientation, hallucinations, delirium tremens (DTs), nausea, sweating and seizures. A person with a blood alcohol concentration between 0.35 and 0.50 percent can fall into a coma. People have died after drinking too much at once, as well as after consuming large amounts of alcohol steadily over a long period of time.