To date, alcohol dependenceis a serious problem of modern society. The number of people who are addicted is constantly growing. Alcoholism is one of the most common reasons why marriages fall apart. Even the most amicable family, where warmth and mutual understanding reigns, is doomed to collapse if one of the spouses steps on the road of alcoholism. Over time, the alcoholic will invariably turn his life and the life of his household into a nightmare, and all love will come to naught. In this case, once a pleasant person in communication and an interesting person is changing beyond recognition, from which his family members can not suffer. Life with an alcoholic is impossible, and the breakdown of the family is just a matter of time.

What is this disease?

As follows from the formulation, alcoholism isdependence on alcohol. But in order to better understand the meaning of this phrase, let's consider it in more detail. A person who is addicted to alcohol is not just like drinking, he just can not do without alcohol-containing drinks, drinking becomes an important part of his life. If a person simply likes to meet with friends and sit over a glass of beer, this does not mean that he is addicted, but if such pastime is frequent, he firmly steps on this road - the path to alcoholism. A person who suffers from addiction not only has an attraction to alcohol - alcohol takes such a stable place in his life that the system of values ​​and views on life are gradually changing. The horror is that a drunk person often does not understand that something really serious is happening to him.

What are the causes of this disease?

• Alcohol in small doses causes a pleasant feeling of relaxation and lifts the mood. Therefore, there is a desire to use this method to relax more and more often.
• Alcohol is available in our country. Alas, despite the law on the prohibition of sale to minors, often alcohol falls into the hands of adolescents who are not yet able to treat this substance with proper gravity.
• The inability of many of us to seriously assess the first alarming signals ("I drink on Saturdays - and what's wrong with that?").

By the way, alcoholism can overtake evenelderly people who did not even think about drinking. For example, the grandmother has heart problems and insomnia, so she drinks drops like Valocordina daily. It would seem that such? But the medicine is for alcohol! So the sleeping grandmothers are not that rare. This is a vivid example of how a person provokes the emergence of a terrible disease solely due to lack of awareness in this matter.

How does dependence develop?

The first stage of alcoholism is psychologicaldependence In other words, first drinking is a habit. A person begins to drink, for example, when meeting with friends or in the evening after a hard day's work. It seems to him that nothing terrible is happening, he just wants to relax. But gradually the habit becomes so strong that a person can no longer do without it. For example, when meeting friends, he automatically begins to want to drink, even if he was not going to do it today. He just got used to the fact that he always drinks in the company. And if in this situation, for some reason, he will not be able to drink, he will not even know what to do with him at this company. A person simply forgets how to communicate with people without drinking. At this stage it is not too late to go back. And to make it is not as difficult as it seems. At this stage, it is important to realize that what is happening is wrong, it should not be so. If there is awareness, then the next step will be breaking the stereotype (friends-beer), fighting the habit with the help of some volitional efforts. If a person manages to make the first steps, then over time the craving for alcohol will come to naught. But often it happens that a person simply does not understand the seriousness of the situation ("I'm drinking with my friends - but what's wrong with that?"). In this case, people drink more and drink and already becomes a part of everyday life. And then it will only get worse. The second stage of alcoholism is physiological. At this stage serious problems start, caused not only by psychological reasons. Gradually, the body becomes so used to the constant intake of alcohol that it can not do without it. Here at this stage there are drinking bouts. The mechanism is this. The person meets friends, drinks. But after several years of hobby for alcohol there is such a feature as the lack of a stop signal: a person stops controlling the dose. He drinks and can not stop, even if he is already drunk. As you can guess, such situations are fraught with the emergence of serious incidents. The next day there is a hangover. If a healthy person who has touched down the day before, the next day the idea of ​​alcohol is extremely disgusting, then the alcoholic has a reverse situation: he really wants to drink. A person becomes so bad that he needs a dose of alcohol - only she can relieve his condition. At that moment a person does not quite correctly reflect the reality, the consciousness is distorted. He has only one thought - the desire to drink. And it becomes unimportant what it takes to work, and that it is a shame to the household members, and that the fumes smell for a mile.

• He just can not help but drink

Such a condition can be compared to a feeling of hungerin a healthy person. For example, you did not have time to have breakfast and went to work hungry. What will happen in your head in the evening? That's right, it will be extremely difficult for you to concentrate on something, and even important things will lose their significance a little, because thoughts of a warm soup, fried cutlets, cheese sandwiches ... will be in your head ... Food is necessary for any person, and, left hungry, he can not help thinking about her. The same happens with a person suffering from alcohol dependence. Alcohol for him is no less important than food. If not more. From here and there are conflicts with others. To blame an alcoholic in yesterday's drunken behavior makes little sense. you can fight in hysterics, not understanding why he is not ashamed. It's just that he is not up to it right now. he wants a drink. As a rule, a person in this state is extremely difficult to resist the temptation, and he drinks. Which, by the way, helps to reduce feelings of guilt after yesterday. But there is no dose control again. The person gets drunk again, and then everything in a circle: again a hangover, again alcohol. At this stage in many patients there is a psychosis - alcoholic delirium, in the common people there is a white fever. Alcohol delirium (white fever) A person can not drink constantly. Periodically, there are days when he can not drink, for example, for health reasons or when money runs out. But the body is used to it. Thus, on the background of alcohol withdrawal, the brain can fail. In this case, the person loses sleep and hallucinations occur, mainly in the evening. The most common images are the silhouettes of people, as well as any "swarming trifle": insects, mice, snakes. In such cases, the case often ends up being hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic. Symptoms of white fever are very amenable to treatment and, due to the effects of medicinal preparations, go through a couple of days. The third stage of alcohol dependence is degradation. This stage comes after many years of alcohol "experience". The intellect of a person decreases, social ties are lost, the person "drops." Probably, each of us saw drunk people who sleep on the street in the mud. Many of them are not just vagrants, but just people suffering from the final stage of alcoholism. They look nightmarish, the behavior leaves much to be desired ... Nothing interesting happens in their life, where the self-esteem of such a person is not very clear ...

What happens to an alcohol-dependent person?

• People often want to drink, which is not always connected with holidays and joyful events. This becomes his need for an outfit with food and sleep.
• Gradually there is a so-called increasetolerance, i.e. increase in the volume of the drink. For example, if a person used to drink a bottle of beer and began to get drunk while drinking the second, then he starts to drink peacefully 4-5 bottles and stay reasonably sober.
• If a healthy person drinks superfluous, then vomiting becomes a natural reaction of the body to intoxication. The alcoholic gag reflex disappears with time.
• During the drinking, the stop signal disappears: a person does not feel when he "has enough" and continues to drink while he can.
• The next day, a hangover and a need to drink again to relieve the condition.
• Over time, the interests of a person narrow down, and the circle of communication decreases. He simply ceases to be interesting that is not associated with drinking.
• Because of the constant poisoning of the bodycells of the brain are destroyed. Over time, the person's way of thinking becomes more and more primitive, attention and memory worsen. The central nervous system itself suffers: there is a tremor of hands, a violation of coordination of movements.
• Once a friendly person is changing character: he becomes deceitful, aggressive and irritable, and at the same time his sense of self-worth increases, so he constantly demands admiration from others.

Why is this disease difficult to cure?

Of course, to force the body to wean fromregularly entering the substance is very difficult. But the reason is not only psychological. And it's not just the habits that were described above. Alcohol addiction helps to reduce the criticism of a person to their disease. Criticism to disease and behavior is a person's ability to understand that what happens is terrible, wrong. Then a protective psychological mechanism works. Who likes to admit to being an alcoholic? Accordingly, if a person used to agree that he drinks too often, over time he begins to feel that he does not drink so much and is not that drunk. In words, a person can agree that he is sick, but to believe in it himself, and even more so to find the strength to radically change the habitual way of life is very difficult, and with this one cope. Thus, the problem of alcohol dependence is often seen not by the person himself, but by his close people who suffer because of what is happening. Remember: if you do not want to help yourself, then no one can do it for you! Do not ruin yourself and your loved ones, stop on time! After all, family is more important than a bottle!

Comments

comments