Alcoholism: stages, types, formation of addiction

People drink alcohol in different ways - some more, some less, in different conditions and for different reasons. In what case are we talking about alcoholism? Why are some people contemptuously called “drunks,” while others are considered “the life of the party”? What is alcoholism, and what types does it happen? More on this later in the article.

• Alcoholism
• What is alcoholism? Definition
• Etiology of alcoholism
• Alcoholism in psychiatry
• The concept of "alcoholic"
• Alcoholism syndromes
• Diseases caused by alcoholism
• Risk factors
• Faces of alcoholics (photo)
• Types of alcoholism
• Social alcoholism
• Chronic alcoholism
• Adult alcoholism
• Household alcoholism
• Vodka alcoholism
• Female alcoholism
• Teenage alcoholism
• Beer alcoholism
• Genetic alcoholism
• Stages of alcoholism
• initial stage
• Middle stage
• Severe stage
• Symptoms of alcoholism
• Consequences of drinking alcohol
• Alcohol addiction
• What is alcohol addiction
• How is alcoholism diagnosed?
• Causes of alcohol addiction
• Mental dependence on alcohol
• Physical dependence on alcohol
• Diagnosis of alcoholism
• Stages of treatment for patients with alcoholism
• Prevention of alcohol use

Alcoholism

According to statistics, Russians, on average, drink 14-200 liters of alcoholic beverages per year. These figures include both children and older people, so if they are not taken into account, the rate of alcohol consumed becomes much higher.

In addition, according to the same statistics, about 50,000 users die from surrogates. And huge amounts of money are spent on treatment, rehabilitation and recovery from injuries sustained while drunk.

However, the topic of alcohol addiction is not only a Russian social problem, but also a foreign one. It is noteworthy that experts have long noticed: the higher the wealth and standard of living of the population, the greater the prevalence of alcoholism.

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What is alcoholism? Definition

The term “alcoholism” means a pathological condition of the body, which is accompanied by an irresistible physical and mental craving for drinking alcoholic beverages. At the same time, a person has problems controlling the amount of drinking and behavior, withdrawal syndrome develops, gradual degradation of personality and destruction of the body occurs. It is believed that this is an irreversible and progressive condition, which can only be stopped by complete and conscious abstinence from alcohol.

Etiology of alcoholism

The origin of alcoholism is based on social relationships. Family, relatives, and work teams are of great importance. It can be:

• family troubles, scandals, loneliness of a person in the family, the presence of a drinking loved one;
• the tradition of “washing” a purchase, transaction, holidays;
• drinking “friends”;
• the need to relax, to “rest” after a working week or shift.

The prerequisite is a hereditary factor - if there are close relatives who drink, the likelihood of abuse increases.

Alcoholism in psychiatry

In psychiatry, the concept of “alcoholism” is a disease characterized by an irresistible physical and mental attraction to alcoholic beverages. Addiction (an annoying desire to drink) is accompanied by a hangover syndrome, progressive personality changes, and the development of alcoholic psychoses. The latter include mental disorders that develop mainly in the second and third stages of the disease.

Sources

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• Exterkate M., de Kok NAW., Andringa RLH., Wolbert NHJ., Minnaard AJ., Driessen AJM. A promiscuous archaeal cardiolipin synthase enables construction of diverse natural and unnatural phospholipids. // J Biol Chem - 2021 - Vol - NNULL - p.100691; PMID:33894204
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• Drew D., North RA., Nagarathinam K., Tanabe M. Structures and General Transport Mechanisms by the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS). // Chem Rev - 2021 - Vol - NNULL - p.; PMID:33886296
• Wang H., Liang J., Yue Q., Li L., Shi Y., Chen G., Li YZ., Bian X., Zhang Y., Zhao G., Ding X. Engineering the acyltransferase domain of epothilone polyketide synthase to alter the substrate specificity. // Microb Cell Fact - 2021 - Vol20 - N1 - p.86; PMID:33882930
• Wang L., Maranas CD. Computationally Prospecting Potential Pathways from Lignin Monomers and Dimers toward Aromatic Compounds. // ACS Synth Biol - 2021 - Vol - NNULL - p.; PMID:33877818
• Simeon S., Ghislat G., Ballester P. Characterizing the relationship between the chemical structures of drugs and their activities on primary cultures of pediatric solid tumors. // Curr Med Chem - 2021 - Vol - NNULL - p.; PMID:33874867
• Seo H., Lee JW., Giannone RJ., Dunlap NJ., Trinh CT. Engineering promiscuity of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase for microbial designer ester biosynthesis. // Metab Eng - 2021 - Vol - NNULL - p.; PMID:33872779
• Chen X., Chen J., Feng J., Wang Y., Li S., Xiao Y., Diao Y., Zhang L., Chen W. Tandem UGT71B5s Catalyze Lignan Glycosylation in Isatis indigotica With Substrates Promiscuity. // Front Plant Sci - 2021 - Vol12 - NNULL - p.637695; PMID:33868336
• Porokhin V., Amin SA., Nicks TB., Gopinarayanan VE., Nair NU., Hassoun S. Analysis of metabolic network disruption in engineered microbial hosts due to enzyme promiscuity. // Metab Eng Commun - 2021 - Vol12 - NNULL - p.e00170; PMID:33850714

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The concept of "alcoholic"

An alcoholic is a person whose way and meaning of life becomes the use of alcoholic beverages. Unlike a drunkard, he does not stop when a hangover appears, but looks for a new dose that can alleviate his condition. As a rule, an alcoholic (especially at the last stage) does not care what to do with a hangover - any alcohol-containing liquids are used. Due to psychological degradation, he cannot and/or does not want to cope with the addiction on his own, so he needs outside help.

Alcoholism syndromes

Dependence on alcoholic beverages is accompanied by certain conditions, each of which has not only a name, but also a medical code.

• 10.3, 10.4 Alcohol withdrawal syndrome with or without delirium (hallucinations, delusions).
  Pathological changes in the psyche and body, accompanied by weakness, headache, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms of intoxication. It develops not during consumption, but after stopping or reducing long-term intake of alcohol-containing drinks due to the accumulation of toxic metabolic products.
• 10.2 Dependency syndrome.
  The emergence of a painful desire to take alcohol by any possible means. Loss of control over the amount of drinking, one’s own behavior and emotions.
• 10.6 Amnestic syndrome.
  Decreased memory for events of various dates (most often recent ones).

Diseases caused by alcoholism

Alcoholism affects all human organ systems, but the nervous and digestive systems suffer first. Among the diseases caused by alcohol abuse, we can note, for example, the following:

• gastritis, ulcer, erosion of the gastric mucosa;
• atrophy of the mucous membrane of the digestive tract and, as a result, vitamin deficiency, metabolic disorders;
• cirrhosis of the liver;
• acute pancreatitis (mortality reaches 70%);
• cerebral edema;
• nephropathy, renal failure;
• cardiomyopathy;
• strokes.

People suffering from alcoholism have an increased risk of developing cancer.

Risk factors

Risk factors include a wide variety of circumstances and situations that cause changes in a person’s mental state, forcing them to take alcohol-containing drinks. It can be:

• lack of values, life goals;
• low self-esteem, uncertainty;
• low stress resistance;
• state of protest (in the family, at work, in society);
• a familiar environment, for example, a childhood spent among drinkers;
• laziness, reluctance to do something (study, work, etc.);
• early sexual intercourse.

Most often, the development of alcohol dependence is caused by several factors simultaneously.

Faces of alcoholics (photo)

A drinking person experiences not only internal, but also external changes, especially noticeable on the face. The most typical symptom is swelling of the eyelids and wings of the nose. Swollen red eyes, enlarged pores, and a yellow-bluish-red skin tone become more noticeable the longer a person abuses ethyl alcohol. The facial muscles gradually atrophy - losing tone, lips and cheekbones begin to sag. Enlarged pores become a “gateway” for infection, which ultimately leads to the appearance of rashes and pimples.

Worsening economic indicators as a result of alcohol abuse

Psychiatrists and researchers in the United States established back in the 70s of the 20th century that among the causes of diseases known to medicine, alcoholism ranks 4th. Temporary disability of persons suffering from this disease is 4 times higher than that of absolute abstainers and light drinkers.

Based on this fact, tens of millions of working days are lost annually in the Russian Federation, and economic losses amount to billions of rubles.

The structure of loss due to alcohol abuse is as follows:

1. 33% is allocated to cases of permanent and temporary disability.
2. 19% is paid for insurance claims.
3. 16% belongs to the loss of state property due to the fault of drinkers.
4. 9% are losses from fires.
5. 7% take away the costs of treating alcoholics.

The state's budgetary losses due to alcoholism of its members are calculated in direct proportion to the severity of the disease. The more advanced the alcohol addiction, the more damage the country’s economy suffers from a particular drinker.

In percentage terms, these data look like this:

• About 10-12% of the budget funds allocated to eliminate the consequences of drunkenness are spent on people with stage I.
• At II and III, respectively, 88-90%.

Sales of alcoholic beverages, according to available analytical findings from BusinesStat, amounted to 1.67 billion liters in 2010. And these are only official sales, excluding surrogates. Although the annual WHO report in Russia for 2021 notes a significant decrease in alcoholism over the past 15 years by 43%.

The Research Institute of Psychiatry of the Ministry of Health provides information that 40% of the adult male population of the Russian Federation abuses alcohol, and about 2 million alcoholics are officially registered. The figures are among the highest in the world. The average resident consumed about 20 liters of alcohol over 12 months. (Currently around 13)

On this basis, campaigns to combat alcohol addiction began in 2010.

The following measures have been taken:

• Ban on advertising in the media and the Internet.
• Limiting the sale of alcohol at night.
• Increase in excise taxes.

The measures had a partial effect. Thanks to them, consumption of alcohol-containing products throughout the country fell by 20%.

Types of alcoholism

Usually an alcoholic is presented as a degenerate, unkempt person who is constantly drunk. However, there are several types of alcoholism, and many drinkers do not even know they have the disease.

Social alcoholism

Periodic gatherings with a friend over a bottle of wine for a “heart-to-heart conversation”, “relaxation” after a working day with like-minded people in the garage, regular “celebration” of the end of the work week with colleagues - these and other situations that are repeated regularly are a sign of social alcoholism. It is important that neither the drinkers themselves nor those around them consider such moments to be something out of the ordinary. A habit gradually forms: a person loses the ability to spend time with loved ones without drinking. Moreover, social alcoholics rarely drink alone; as a rule, they are looking for someone for company, and they themselves offer a reason and alcohol (or do not refuse such offers).

Chronic alcoholism

In this case, we are talking about alcohol dependence that has already developed and is carefully fixed in the subconscious. Not only mental changes are observed, but also somatic disorders. When leaving the binge, delirium tremens (delirium) and/or encephalopathy are possible, characterized by visual and auditory hallucinations, delirium, and panic. An alcoholic constantly needs another dose of alcohol. His interests disappear, his judgment changes, his intelligence decreases.

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Adult alcoholism

Stress in the family, at work, problems with children or the loss of a loved one gives rise to the need for “forgetting” and/or “relaxation”, and this is most easily accomplished with the help of alcoholic beverages. Adult alcoholism develops unnoticed, but begins quite consciously, unlike teenage alcoholism (out of curiosity or for company). An adult can go to work and maintain a presentable appearance for a long time. But if you don’t stop in time, the consequences of degradation are inevitable: you will be fired from your job, your appearance will speak for itself.

Household alcoholism

It is based on traditions, habits, attitudes accepted in a particular society, in the family. For example, celebrating holidays, meetings, drinking after a hard day at work, in honor of the next match and for any other reason. Typically, a household alcoholic does not abuse unless there is a reason. He does not have a painful dependence on alcohol.

Vodka alcoholism

This type of alcoholism is characterized by the consumption of strong alcoholic beverages. The difference from beer and wine is faster psychological degradation: a person loses interest in life, atypical traits appear in his character, for example, aggressiveness, and indifference to loved ones appears. It should be noted that vodka alcoholics recognize their addiction more quickly than in the case of wine or beer, which means they are more amenable to treatment.

Female alcoholism

Alcohol addiction in women is often associated with troubles in their personal lives and family. Unlike men, women often drink alone, preferring that no one knows about it. Drinking alcohol while carrying a child is especially dangerous - he may develop congenital alcoholism, or congenital alcohol syndrome - developmental defects, mental retardation, and a tendency to drink alcohol in the future. Due to the psychological characteristics of women, treatment requires a longer time.

Teenage alcoholism

The physical and mental state of a teenager has not yet reached full maturity, so drinking alcoholic beverages quickly leads to the development of addiction. If in an adult an addiction turns into a disease after about 6-10 years, then in adolescence 2-3 years are enough. Changes occurring in the body become noticeable faster and more clearly. Teenage alcoholism causes severe psychosomatic, neurological and cognitive disorders.

Beer alcoholism

The attitude towards beer as a harmless light drink is wrong. Of course, unlike vodka, beer does not lead to personality degradation, and the drinker retains his interests and views. However, gradually the only interest remains - to drink beer, and the physical condition worsens:

• obesity develops;
• muscles atrophy;
• blood pressure increases;
• swelling occurs (of the face, limbs);
• The capillaries on the face expand and it becomes red.

In addition, beer alcoholism can easily turn into wine and/or vodka alcoholism and become chronic.

Genetic alcoholism

The gene responsible for the guaranteed development of alcoholism has not been discovered. The disease is not inherited, but there is a genetic predisposition, proven by numerous experiments. That is, if a person had drunkards in his family line, under certain conditions he can also become an alcoholic. The problem of finding the gene responsible for the development of alcohol dependence has been studied for a long time, but scientists have not yet been able to solve it.

Stages of alcoholism

Addiction develops in four stages. The first degree of alcoholism is prodromal - there is no dependence, a person drinks alcohol on holidays, after work, and can give up alcohol at any time.

initial stage

The next stage is the preclinical, or early stage. Sometimes cases arise when the amount of drinking is uncontrollable. The body's resistance to ethanol increases. Physical dependence, mental and somatic disorders are not yet expressed. A novice alcoholic can stop abuse at any time.

Middle stage

Physical dependence occurs and amnesia occurs. Drinking becomes regular, personality changes occur, and scandals often occur in the family and at work. The help of a doctor is required, but under certain circumstances it is possible to quit drinking on your own.

Severe stage

At this stage, tolerance to alcohol decreases; a small dose is enough to intoxicate. The need for ethanol overshadows everything else. Signs of damage to the nervous system, psyche, and internal organs are clearly expressed. Alcohol becomes a necessity for the body. The ability to work and intelligence decreases. You cannot do without medical help.

Causes

Experts agree that ethanol addiction occurs as a result of the simultaneous influence of several factors:

1. Environment. Even an avid teetotaler finds it difficult to restrain himself when every meeting with friends is accompanied by drinking alcohol.
2. Family traditions. If parents or relatives often drink in front of a growing child, he considers such behavior quite normal.
3. Personal characteristics. Stress is an inevitable part of modern life, and everyone copes with it in their own way. These include classes in a fitness club, cycling, skiing, skydiving, etc. But for some it is easier to escape from problems and reality with the help of alcohol. Over time, this method of dealing with internal tension and bad mood develops into a stable habit.
4. Genetic predisposition. Features of the synthesis of neurotransmitters and enzymatic metabolism contribute to the rapid growth of tolerance to ethanol, the progression of alcoholism and the development of concomitant diseases.

Symptoms of alcoholism

The symptoms of alcoholism depend on the stage of the disease. It may appear in the form of:

• intoxication after a small dose;
• memory lapses;
• looking for reasons to drink;
• lack of gag reflex;
• the need to relieve a hangover with another dose of alcohol;
• insomnia.

External signs (bags under the eyes, changes in skin color, tremors of the limbs and others) develop later, around the end of the second stage.

Consequences of drinking alcohol

Long-term intoxication of the body with ethanol leads to pathological destruction of all organ systems. Alcoholics experience:

• delirium tremens, hallucinations, delirium;
• epilepsy, depression;
• cirrhosis of the liver, stomach ulcer, duodenal ulcer, gastritis;
• cardiomyopathy, hypertension;
• tuberculosis.

Encephalopathy often develops: headaches, dizziness, deterioration of memory and thought processes. Immunity decreases. Domestic injuries occur that can result in disability or death.

Alcohol addiction

Alcohol addiction is divided into mental and physical. The first develops earlier and requires psychotherapeutic treatment methods. Treatment for physical addiction occurs with the help of medications.

What is alcohol addiction

Alcohol addiction is an irresistible mental and physical craving for drinking alcohol. Drinking is uncontrolled and comes before other needs. In this case, a person can abuse periodically (waiting and anticipating this moment) or constantly without a break.

How is alcoholism diagnosed?

Diagnosis is not difficult, especially at stages 2 and 3 of the disease. The diagnosis is made based on medical history and external signs. An examination of internal organs is carried out only to assess the degree of somatic disorders.

Causes of alcohol addiction

Each drinker has his own reasons why he began to abuse. Among the main factors are:

• family problems;
• stress at work;
• loss of a loved one;
• unfavorable social environment;
• financial difficulties.

Establishing the cause is important for subsequent treatment and rehabilitation - only by eradicating it can a positive result be achieved.

Mental dependence on alcohol

After drinking alcohol, blood vessels dilate, blood pressure decreases, and the person feels relaxed. Anxiety decreases, problems seem less important and complex. The state of euphoria is firmly deposited in the subconscious.

Physical dependence on alcohol

With frequent abuse, ethyl alcohol metabolites are included in the body's metabolic processes. Gradually they become part of the metabolism, and without their presence it fails. This requires taking another dose of alcohol.

Professional

The usual environment for drinking alcohol is work, where, due to existing social traditions, refusal to drink is perceived negatively. In most cases, the problem is solved either by positioning oneself more firmly in the team, or by changing jobs. Sometimes such patients do not even need coding, since after leaving the negative social environment they themselves refuse to continue drinking.

Stages of treatment for patients with alcoholism

Treatment for alcohol addiction is carried out consistently.

• Relieving withdrawal symptoms, detoxification.
• Drug treatment, cleansing the body of toxic metabolites, eliminating physical cravings for alcohol.
• Rehabilitation – psychotherapeutic influence, work with the subconscious.
• Resocialization is the restoration of the ability to live in society.

Treatment can be carried out on an outpatient or inpatient basis. How alcoholism is treated depends on the stage, length of use, physical and mental state.

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Content:

1. Causes
2. How it manifests itself
3. Symptoms
4. Diagnostics
5. Treatment

Alcoholism - a disease or promiscuity?
Disputes about this have not subsided for many years. The answer to this question is ambiguous, because often addiction begins with periodic abuse and gradually develops into a real problem. Often, alcoholics themselves cannot decide whether they have the disease or not. Narcologists are categorical: alcoholism is a chronic disease characterized by gradually increasing changes against the background of addiction to alcohol.

Prevention of alcohol use

The main prevention is abstinence from alcohol. This is especially true for people who have similar cases among their relatives. In adolescence, you need to promote a healthy lifestyle and show its benefits by example. It is also important to promptly consult a specialist at the first symptoms of the disease.

If you discover signs of alcohol addiction in yourself or a loved one, do not delay the process, sign up for a consultation and receive complete information on alcoholism. The doctors at our drug treatment center will help solve your problem.

Literature:

1. Drunkenness is a threat to the nation and posterity / V.V. Dezortsev. Alcoholism and vision / R. G. Kudoyarov. - Ufa, 2000. - 119 p.
2. Bad habit or disease?: (On the dangers of alcoholism) / Zenevich, Georgy Viktorovich. / Popular science honey. literature. — 2nd ed. — Leningrad: Medicine. Leningr. department, 1971. - 48 p.
3. Bad habits and their prevention [Electronic resource]: textbook / comp. Gorskaya I.Yu., comp. Gubareva N.V. - Omsk: Publishing house SibGUFK, 2010. - 212 p.

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