Facts About Alcoholism

The Disease Is Widespread

Alcoholism affects nearly fourteen million Americans, including me. This is roughly one in every thirteen adults.

Several million more engage in risky drinking patterns that may eventually lead to problems. Approximately 53 percent of Americans say that at least one of their close relatives has a drinking problem.

What Is Alcoholism?

Craving: A strong need, or compulsion, to drink.

Loss of control: The frequent inability to stop drinking once a person has begun.

Physical dependence: The occurrence of withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety, when use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking. Most often, these symptoms are relieved by drinking still more or by taking another type of drug.

Tolerance: The need for increasing amounts in order to get “high.” The disease has little to do with what is consumed or how long one drinks. It has everything to do with an uncontrollable need for alcohol.

What Is Alcohol Abuse?

This type of drinking is accompanied by one or more of the following situations within a 12-month period:

Failure to fulfill major work, school, or home responsibilities;

Drinking in situations that are physically dangerous, such as while driving a car or operating machinery;

Recurring legal problems, such as being arrested for driving under the influence or for physically hurting someone while drunk;

Continued drinking despite having ongoing relationship problems that are caused or worsened by the effects of alcohol.

While alcohol abuse is basically different from alcoholism, it is important to note that many effects are identical.

Is There A Cure?

That means that even if a person has been sober for a long time and has regained health, this individual remains susceptible to relapse and must continue to avoid all alcoholic beverages.

“Cutting down” on drinking doesn't work. Quitting drinking entirely is necessary for a successful recovery.

Even individuals who are determined to stay sober may suffer one or several “slips,” or relapses, before achieving long-term sobriety. Relapses are very common and do not mean that a person has failed or cannot eventually recover.

Every day that someone in recovery stays sober is extremely valuable, both to the individual and to the family. If a relapse occurs, it is imperative to try again and again until recovery occurs. Even then, it is a one day at a time program.

What Kind of Help Works The Best?

The nature of treatment depends on the severity of a person's disease and may include:

Detoxification (the process of safely getting alcohol out of one's system);

Taking doctor-prescribed medications, such as disulfiram (Antabuse®) or naltrexone (ReVia™) to help prevent a return to drinking;

Individual and/or group counseling. Some types of counseling teach people in recovery to identify situations and feelings that trigger the urge to drink and to find new ways to cope. These treatments may be provided in a hospital or residential treatment setting or on an outpatient basis.

The involvement of family members is also very important. Some programs, therefore, include marital counseling and family therapy.

Other programs link up individuals with community resources, such as legal assistance, job training, child care, and parenting classes.

What About AA?

AA describes itself as "a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking".

AA is generally recognized as an effective mutual help program for those in recovery. Some respond more positively than others to AA's style and message. Sometimes AA works best in combination with other elements of treatment, including counseling and medical care. My experience with AA is that the program does work if you give it a chance.

The Big Book (AA's basic text, written in the 1930's) says that "the real alcoholic...begins to lose all control of liquor consumption once he starts to drink." It goes on to say that "the elimination of our drinking is but a beginning....the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body."

But there is hope! Bill W., the co-founder of AA who wrote much of the Big Book, affirms that "we have recovered from a hopeless condition of mind and body...Most of us sense that real tolerance of other people's shortcomings and viewpoints and a resepct for their opinions are attitudes which make us more useful to others."

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