For a number of years alcohol dependency exploration has revealed the fact that there is strong correlation between alcoholism and life-threatening health conditions and mental health issues such as depression.
For instance, in 2005, medical examination and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics demonstrated the fact that that alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency cost the United States an estimated $220 billion per year. It can be emphasized that this enormous alcohol-related cash disbursement was significantly more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is important to call attention to these facts, it is also important to point to the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health problems.
That is to say, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.
Definitely, substance abuse research has revealed that alcoholism can augment the risk for various types of cancer, particularly cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Abusive and repetitive drinking can also result in immune system difficulties and impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.
Heavy and Excessive Drinking Breaks Down the Drinker’s Organs and Systems
Additionally, if alcohol dependency continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in a harmful manner. For example, long-term, abusive drinking is especially detrimental to the liver due to the fact that 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 condition results in a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can ultimately lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a grave and possibly lethal disease. Heavy, long-term drinking not only can lead to serious liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be unalterable and may, in turn, result in serious disease or an early death.
The Importance of Alcohol Rehab
It is imperative, consequently, to know how to recognize the various alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol dependent individual can be given the opportunity to seek the professional alcohol rehab he or she requires.
Alcohol Dependency and Sophisticated Brain Exploration
Fortunately, medical investigation is continuously finding unique and important information. Recent alcoholism exploration provides a high-quality example. More specifically, for approximately the last ten years, sophisticated brain-imaging scanning instruments have shown that repetitive and long-term abusive drinking transforms the constitution of the brain to a great extent, thusly resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perchance as long as the individual exists.
Stated another way, medical research has revealed that individuals who have been drinking abusively for a substantial length of time increase their risk for developing long-term and serious modifications in the brain.
This type of damage may be directly related to the alcohol’s effects on the brain, to severe liver disease, or might be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health.
Mental Disorders, Malnutrition, and Hazardous Drinking
As a final illustration of diverse health problems that are significantly correlated to alcoholism, consider that in accordance with medical research, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a health problem that reduces the absorption of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins.
This form of organ breakdown is associated with malnutrition and to a variety of serious neurological and mental problems including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical problem is an enduring debilitating health problem that is typified by recurring memory and learning problems.
Hazardous and Excessive Drinking Also Leads to Friendship and Relationship Conflicts and Issues and Grief and Loss Issues
In addition to serious medical problems, abusive drinking also results in friendship and relationship difficulties. As an illustration, people who engage in hazardous drinking frequently go through affairs, divorce, sexuality problems, and marital problems, and they many times go through grief and loss issues.
Conclusion: The Importance of Education
It is obvious that continued, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly related to a number of acute medical problems that can and do result in dangerous ailments and premature death. Such information needs to be stressed and presented to everyone in our society, especially to all students, so that most people will be able to refrain from abusive drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the quality rehabilitation they need.
Let us look at this with a common sense perspective. Yes, alcohol rehab is important, but alcohol rehab is something that is frequently done AFTER the fact. Education, then again, is something that is done BEFORE the problem emerges. Stated differently, whereas alcohol therapy is “reactive,” education is “proactive.” It is stressed that both approaches are necessary when discussing alcohol problems.
