For more than a few years alcoholism research has revealed the fact that there is strong linkage between alcoholism and dangerous health conditions and mental health issues such as depression.
For instance, in 2005, scientific research and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics revealed that alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency cost the United States an estimated $220 billion annually. It can be emphasized that this enormous alcohol-related cost was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is pertinent to accentuate these facts, it is also important to emphasize the point that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health problems.
More exactly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.
Certainly, substance abuse exploration has shown that alcohol addiction can boost the risk for various kinds of cancer, especially cancer of the esophagus, kidneys, throat, rectum, liver, voice box (larynx), and the colon. Abusive and recurring drinking can also result in immune system problems and impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.
Heavy and Irresponsible Drinking Enfeebles the Problem Drinker’s Systems and Organs
Furthermore, if alcohol addiction continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will probably be affected in an unsafe manner. For example, repeated, excessive drinking is particularly hurtful to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Excessive amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and eradicates the ability of liver cells to redevelop. This medical circumstance results in a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can in the long run lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a precarious and potentially fatal disease. Excessive, long-term drinking not only can result in critical liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this dangerous may be irreparable and may, in turn, lead to severe ill health or an untimely death.
The Relevance of Alcohol Treatment and Alcohol Detoxification
It is essential, therefore, to know how to identify the various alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcoholic can be given the opportunity to seek the professional alcohol rehab and the alcohol detoxification he or she requires.
Alcoholism and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration
Fortuitously, medical examination is constantly unearthing unique and significant information. Recent alcoholism research provides a good illustration. Stated another way, for approximately the last ten years, technologically advanced brain-imaging scanning instruments have verified that repetitive and chronic hazardous drinking modifies the functionality of the brain to a substantial extent, consequently resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or possibly as long as the individual exists.
More accurately, medical research has demonstrated that people who have been drinking in a hazardous manner for an extensive length of time increase their risk for developing long lasting and severe alterations in the brain.
This type of damage may be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health or directly related to severe liver disease or to the alcohol’s effects on the brain.
Mental Disorders, Malnutrition, and Abusive Drinking
As a final example of assorted medical problems that are significantly associated with alcohol addiction, consider that in accordance with medical examination, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a condition that lessens the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
This form of organ breakdown is linked to malnutrition and to a number of serious mental and neurological syndromes including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is a long-term incapacitating medical condition that is exemplified by continual learning and memory difficulties.
Abusive Drinking Also Leads to Friendship and Relationship Difficulties and Conflicts
In addition to acute medical problems, careless drinking also leads to friendship and relationship problems. For instance, people who involve themselves in abusive drinking commonly experience marital difficulties, affairs, sexuality problems, and divorce.
Conclusion: The Relevance of Education
It is obvious that continued, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly correlated with a number of dangerous medical conditions that can and do lead to dangerous diseases and premature death. Such information needs to be highlighted and presented to everyone in our society, especially to all students, so that a large number of people will be able to refrain from hazardous drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the professional therapy they require.
Let us look at this sensibly. Yes, alcohol therapy is important, but alcohol rehabilitation is something that is frequently done AFTER the fact. Education, from a different perspective, is something that is done BEFORE the problem emerges. Stated a different way, whereas alcohol counseling is “reactive,” education is “proactive.” It is affirmed that both approaches are required when discussing alcohol abuse and alcoholism.
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