Introduction to alcoholism

Alcoholism doesn't only represent a source of social, familial work problem. It mainly affects health and is a chronic disease that breaks the health equilibrium and turns into a usual activity. The person affected by this problem becomes most of the time addicted, but there are also other factors to take into consideration for that stage: the hereditary, social and psychological factors.

Alcohol problems don't necessary involve alcoholism. "Alcohol abuse" is a previous stage of that affection, but is easier to deal with and solve, because it doesn't imply a total loss of self-control.

But either for alcohol abuse or alcoholism, there are ways to get help or to help yourself: therapy groups, treatments that make a person understand that he or she is not alone, and that he/she must give up this self-destructing activity.

Only in the US, as the National Council of alcoholism and Drug Dependence states, alcohol is abused by more than millions of citizens, and yearly, at least 100.000 Americans die because of it, in car accidents or because of diseases related to it.

Factors of risk

Dependence of alcohol appears in case of frequent drinking - in case of men over 15 drinks each week, and in that of women, more than 12. Drinking represents itself a danger that can generate alcoholism, but there are also a series of other factors: