Human life is full of surprises and unexpected twists of fate. It is sometimes beautiful, sometimes demanding, sometimes it tests a person for strength. It gives him the opportunity to feel sorrow and despair so that he learns to appreciate happiness and joy. But not always and not all people today are able to deal with their failures on their own. Often they resort to the help of narcotic substances and alcohol in order to forget themselves and distract from worldly negativity. And at that moment something terrible comes - that which sneaks up imperceptibly, that which is not fully understood by the unfortunate victim of circumstances. This is alcoholism. How to understand that you are an alcoholic?
The concept of alcoholism
Speaking about a problem such as alcoholism - and this is nothing but a serious problem - you need to consider it in terms of the pathological state of health, in which a person wants to drink alcohol daily, nightly, hourly. This is a physical dependence on the desire to alleviate one’s experiences, if any, or immerse oneself in the mood of euphoric ecstasy that a person comes to after skipping a few glasses of a high-grade drink. This is a snake that sits in the head of a person and at a subconscious level pushes him to the next adoption of a "life-giving" dose. In the end, it is a serious illness that requires emergency intervention and immediate treatment.
Who is an alcoholic
But how to understand that a person is an alcoholic? And who is an alcoholic in general? It’s not only that unfortunate tramp without a permanent residence in tattered dirty clothes with an eternally gray swollen face, which constantly hangs around at the next “pourer”. A completely healthy, educated, intelligent person, who himself does not suspect it, can become an alcoholic.
The desire to drink and bringing the desire into action occurs simultaneously, without delaying in the minds of information that this is the first "alarm bell". Some sort of life trouble, divorce, financial insolvency, loss of a loved one - all this is accompanied by a bottle of whiskey or cognac, which over time becomes a kind of life buoy for a suffering person. He is increasingly being applied to a glass with a malevolent drink, no longer delimiting for himself the time frame and place of alcoholic abuse. He does not look at the fact that today is not Friday and not Saturday, that tomorrow you need to rush to work, to be fresh and cheerful, but not drunk at all. He is deeply convinced that such drinking parties are the so-called rehabilitation or a course of a kind of therapy, or something. And in no way does he think that he will not be able to stop in time and that he needs to stop at all, in principle. But alas, this is the deepest self-deception.
How to understand that you are an alcoholic
People very rarely come to the right conclusions in a timely manner and are even less likely to get out of the vicious circle of alcohol drinking bouts on their own. But how to understand that you are an alcoholic, not allowing the course of the disease to the point of no return? After all, it’s not even necessary to be overwhelmed by confusion or sadness on any occasion in order to “wash down” your failures in this way. This can happen in moments of joy, and with or without. This moment is especially dangerous for modern youth. Going to a nightclub on a Friday night for a party, young people are sure to use a high-grade amusement substance. A similar situation is also repeated on Saturday evening, because the weekend continues. Subsequently, an urgent need is developed to use on weekends, this is a great way to "relax" and get distracted from gray everyday life and work problems.
Young people themselves do not notice how Friday and Saturday “relaxations” become more frequent, repeating on Wednesday while watching a football match for a beer, and on Thursday about meeting with friends, and even on Sunday - because “tomorrow will begin a new hard working week” . So, people are completely unnoticed for themselves undergoing a disease called "alcoholism." They do not even ask themselves the question of how to understand that you have become an alcoholic. Although the answer to this question is quite simple: abstinence from alcohol for a couple of months or inability to abstain from a fraught potion for even a week will make it possible to find out who is who.
Symptoms of alcoholism
Indifferent people should take note of a number of factors that may indicate that their loved one fell into a trap called "alcohol addiction." How to understand that the husband is an alcoholic? How to find out that a young son is excessively addicted to alcohol? How to protect an unmarried sister who is depressed from alcoholism? How to understand that you are an alcoholic yourself? Alcohol dependence manifests itself in the following symptoms:
- the presence of a regular desire to drink, regardless of whether there is a reason for this or whether it is absent;
- whoever drinks doesn’t care what kind of alcoholic drink to drink, it’s not that he wants to enjoy the taste of real live beer or long-term quality cognac, his main goal is to indulge in the euphoria of intoxication;
- sudden mood swings from deep confusion in a sober state and to violent joy after drinking alcohol;
- the appearance of a kind of immunity to alcohol: increasing resistance to large doses and their constant increase;
- the absence of gag reflexes after drinking a large amount of alcohol;
- manifestations of withdrawal symptoms and severe hangover;
- noticeable deterioration in appearance: dry skin, dilated veins on the extremities, yellowed whites of the eyes and broken capillaries in the orbits, swelling and yellowness of the face, bruising under the eyes, hand tremor;
- deterioration of attitude to their appearance, especially in women: sloppy appearance, tiredness on the face, coarsened voice.
To a person asking himself: “How do I know if I am an alcoholic?” - you just need to look in the mirror and analyze the listed symptoms. If the symptoms converge, an affirmative verdict is available.
Causes of alcoholism
Why do people become alcoholics? This is mainly affected by negative events that occurred in the life of a drunken person on the eve of:
- divorce or separation from a loved one - it is from the mass reasons why people hit the alcoholic “marathon”;
- disability due to physical trauma - many people, becoming disabled, very difficult to endure this kind of incident in their lives, so they turn to alcohol to at least somehow be forgotten;
- loss of a loved one - even more frequent cases of people turning to binges are the result of the death or death of someone from their relatives;
- financial insolvency - it often happens that pretty well-off people who are afloat sharply become bankrupt or lose their savings due to job loss, and then another bottle of high-grade alcohol becomes their friend for a sufficiently long period;
- weak will - sometimes the cause of alcoholism becomes the most common inability of a person to resist the desire to drink, even if there are no special reasons.
The listed prerequisites for a fatal addiction explain the initial reason for a person becoming dependent in conjunction with symptomatic signs. How to understand that you are an alcoholic? It is enough to analyze the events preceding the binge and compare your behavior with the listed symptoms.
The consequences of alcohol addiction
Many people abuse alcohol, but not everyone thinks about the consequences. And they are quite unpleasant, and sometimes scary. What can alcoholism bring to?
- Deterioration of the psycho-emotional state - a person becomes irritable, emotionally excited, he is tormented by insomnia and constant lack of sleep.
- A detrimental effect on the nervous system - alcohol destroys brain cells, extending its activity to the nerve endings. A person has a tremor of hands and motor skills deteriorate.
- Negative effect on the cardiovascular system - many drunken representatives of society often have heart attacks and strokes.
- Localization of the reproductive system - women who constantly drink beer reduce their ability to become mothers, and men show initial signs of sexual dysfunction.
In addition to all this, the alcoholic begins to have problems with the gastrointestinal tract and other internal organs, since alcohol parasitizes the liver and adversely affects the lungs and respiratory system.
Manifestations of uncontrolled craving for alcohol
How to understand whether an alcoholic is a man or not? And how to recognize an alcoholic in a woman? In such people, an uncontrolled craving for alcohol is observed, according to its manifestations, a person's dependence can be detected. These manifestations include morning use of light or high-grade alcohol, periodic drinks with or without it, the constant presence in the refrigerator or home bar of a large amount of drink, the assortment of which regularly changes.
Narcologist consultation
Experts recommend that relatives watch people suspected of alcoholism until irreversible consequences. Proper attention and care can always stop a parasitic disease. If the situation is already running, narcologists advise an immediate appeal to a medical institution with a patient staying in hospital there and comprehensive treatment of his pathological passion for alcohol.
Help of relatives
Relatives and friends are the only lifeline for people who have become addicted to alcohol. How to understand that the guy is an alcoholic? How to help him get out of the web of alcohol treachery? Only patience, zeal and a great desire to help can affect the situation and cope with an unpleasant disease for a person and his environment.
How to deal with alcoholism
A comprehensive fight against alcoholism should include several of the most important aspects, namely:
- family intervention - only relatives can affect an alcoholic and help him get out of the “alcohol pit”;
- mandatory hospitalization - medical care and long-term therapy, together with the encoding, are simply necessary in especially advanced cases;
- the desire of the alcoholic himself is only one who seeks to cope with his illness, and does not try to indulge it, can overcome the pathology in himself called "alcoholism".