Alcohol dependence (alcoholism) consists of four symptoms:
WHAT IS ALCOHOLISM OR ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE?
- Craving: a strong need, or compulsion, to drink.
- Loss of control: the inability to limit one’s drinking on any given occasion.
- Physical dependence: withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness and anxiety, occur when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking.
Serious dependence can lead to life-threatening withdrawal symptoms including convulsions, starting eight to twelve hours after the last drink. The delirium tremens (D.T.’s) begins three to four days later where the person becomes extremely agitated, shakes, hallucinates and loses touch with reality.
- Tolerance: the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol in order to get high.
An increasingly heavy drinker often says he could stop whenever he chooses—he just never “chooses” to do so. Alcoholism is not a destination, but a progression, a long road of deterioration in which life continuously worsens.
“When I went to quit drinking, I realised that alcohol had taken to my body in such a way that I couldn’t stop. I would shake like I was going to break, I would start to sweat, I couldn’t think until I had another drink. I couldn’t function without it.
“I spent the next 8 years in and out of detox and hospitals, trying to figure out what happened to me, how was it possible I couldn’t quit. It was the worst and longest nightmare.” —Jan
REFERENCES
- “Facts About Alcohol,” U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
- “Alcohol and Underage Drinking,” School of Public Health at John Hopkins University
- “Results from the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings,” SAMHSA
- “2007 Traffic Safety Annual Assessment—Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities,” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, August 2008
- “Alcohol and Crime,” U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics
- “Alcohol-related assault: findings from the British Crime Survey,” UK Home Office Online Report
- “Statistics on Alcohol: England, 2007,” National Health Service (UK)
- “Alcohol in Europe: A Public Health Perspective,” Institute of Alcohol Studies (UK)
- “Alcohol Use Disorders: Alcohol Liver Diseases and Alcohol Dependency,” Warren Kaplan, Ph.D., JD, MPH, 7 Oct 2004
- “Alcohol and the Brain,” University of Washington
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General
- Encyclopedia Britannica
- “Alcohol Intoxification,” www.emedicinehealth.com
- “Alcohol Alert,” U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, April 2006
- Mothers Against Drunk Driving
- "Teen Drivers: Fact Sheet," Centers for Disease Control