Author: Gary Jackson

Why Is Alcohol Addictive Physical & Psychological Reasons

Alcohol addiction, also known as alcoholism, is a disease that affects people of all walks of life. 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. Alcohol can damage the organs, disrupt communication between brain cells, and weaken your immune system. It affects mental health, increases the risk for certain cancers, and can cause addiction. It also increases the risk of injury and death due to impaired judgment.

Medical Professionals

  1. In order for treatment to work, the person with an alcohol addiction must want to get sober.
  2. However, even a mild disorder can escalate and lead to serious problems, so early treatment is important.
  3. Mental health disorders, stress, and trauma can also contribute to alcohol and drug abuse.
  4. Alcohol use disorder can cause serious and lasting damage to your liver.

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. Once you’re well enough to leave, you’ll need to continue to receive treatment on an outpatient basis. As these changes occur, people tend to require increasingly more significant amounts of alcohol to become intoxicated. Many people addicted to alcohol also turn to 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). There are also other support groups that don’t follow the 12-step model, such as SMART Recovery and Sober Recovery.

Alcohol typically inhibits the Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in the brain. CRF is a neurochemical that plays a significant role in how the brain deals with stress. Drinking inhibits CRF and makes you feel more relaxed and less stressed.

How Bad is Alcohol for Your Body?

It’s important to not enable destructive behaviors and to maintain appropriate boundaries if the person with the alcohol addiction is still drinking. This can mean cutting off financial assistance or making it difficult for them to fulfill the addiction. These complications are reasons why it’s important to treat alcohol addiction early.

Psychological Factors Contributing to Alcohol Addiction

This makes you want to drink more often, even if it causes harm. 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. Drinking alcohol increases the production of several chemicals in the brain, like dopamine and endorphins. These chemicals produce pleasurable feelings and act as natural painkillers. The pleasurable sensations often lead individuals to continue drinking once they’ve started.

Impact on your health

Download your free Rehab Clinics Group alcohol & drug addiction treatment centre information brochure. Alcohol can be both physically and psychologically addictive. This is not a debate, discussion or theory; it is a fact, and it is estimated that approximately 3 million people a year die from alcohol use worldwide. Many people treat alcohol as a reward at the end of the day or after an achievement. Alcohol manufacturers bombard the public with video, digital, and print advertisements.

If you’re worried that someone you know has an alcohol addiction, it’s best to approach them in a supportive way. This could push them away and make them more resistant to your help. Binge drinking is behavior that raises blood alcohol levels to 0.08%. That usually means four or more drinks within two hours for women and five or more drinks within two hours for men. The bottom line is that alcohol is potentially addictive, can cause intoxication, and contributes to health problems and preventable deaths. If you already drink at low levels and continue to drink, risks for these issues appear to be low.

And drinking raises the risk of problems in the digestive system. Their crucial work saves lives every day.Let Mayo Clinic researchers know they’re appreciated with a quick message. For more information about alcohol and cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute’s webpage “Alcohol and Cancer Risk” (last accessed June 6, 2024). Asana Lodge is the UK’s first residential centre which is based purely on scientific, evidence based treatments. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and AlcoholScreening.org offer more comprehensive self-tests.

They show drinking as a socially acceptable, fun, and relaxing pastime. People drink because their friends, coworkers, and family are too. Alcohol negatively impacts the brain areas that control balance, memory, speech, and judgment. This results in a higher likelihood of injuries and other adverse outcomes.

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. Alcohol use disorder can cause serious and lasting damage to your liver. Your liver is responsible for removing toxins from your blood. When you drink too much, your liver has a harder time filtering the alcohol and other toxins from your bloodstream.

Your susceptibility to alcoholism is typically determined by a combination of genetic, mental health and environmental factors. There are several factors that play a role in determining who becomes addicted to alcohol, including genetics and environmental influences. There is a definite link between genetics and alcoholism, and children of alcoholics are at higher risk of developing alcohol addiction.