Critical Issues and Assessment of Alcohol Addiction (Essay Sample)

Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
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Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
Alcoholism and drug abuse are major issues that affect the ability of the affected persons to attain daily living functions. In many cases, the people who have been impacted by alcoholism and drug abuse seek the assistance of mental health counselors to assist and offer guidance on the best measures that the affected persons can implement to abandon the unhealthy behaviors. A critical issue that often arises in the course of the engagement, which requires the attention of a counselor, is addiction, especially alcohol addiction. Addiction, if not properly managed, has the potential to affect the health of an individual severely. The current paper provides a conceptualization of alcohol addiction and reviews the literature on different aspects of the problem, including assessment, counseling implications, and evidence-based interventions.
Definition of the Critical Issue
Alcohol addiction remains one of the most significant problems associated with alcoholism. It represents the eventual impact of excessive and consistent alcohol consumption. In exploring the problem, there is a need to consider what may be considered alcohol addition, as not all cases are classifiable. According to DSM V, alcohol addiction is defined as a dysfunctional pattern of consuming alcohol contributing to clinical indications over a period of one year and is characterized by consumption of large amounts for extended periods, uncontrolled desire, time investment, recurrent usage, and persistence in consumption despite the deficiencies experienced by a user (Ciubară et al., 2015). According to Grant and Chamberlain (2016), under the DSM-V classification, alcohol addiction is considered a major disorder due to the association of excessive and prolonged usage on the brain’s reward circuitry. The definition of alcohol addiction is a prerequisite in determining the most effective approaches to dealing with the issue.
Alcohol addiction, as a critical problem, is of interest to counseling psychologists. According to Martin et al. (2016), as a form of substance abuse addiction, alcohol addiction threatens the users’ lives and may contribute to premature death. Counseling psychologists have a mandate to address the health care needs of the clients. In dealing with the cases, counselors play a central role in assisting the affected persons to recover from the problem. The problem, therefore, is of interest to counseling psychologists based on the need to aid the realization of the desired goals.
Literature Review Regarding the Issue
Multiple studies have been conducted on alcohol addiction, especially its prevalence, effects on health, and interventions applied to address the issue. Different authors contend that alcohol addiction, also called alcohol use disorder, is a major health issue in the United States and other parts of the world. Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), Rombouts et al. (2019) indicate that in 2016, up to 5.3% of the deaths across the world were related to alcohol consumption. In the United States, one in four of 70% of the population was involved in binge drinking, as Witkiewitz, Litten, and Leggio (2019) reported. Alcohol use disorder is considered a major predisposition to premature deaths in the population and accounts for a significant proportion of the disability-adjusted life years (Rombouts et al., 2019). Rombouts et al. (2019) further indicate that alcohol use disorder s associated with an array of physical health problems, including liver cirrhosis, cardiovascular diseases, and some types of cancers. Of interest to counselors are the mental health implications of an alcohol use disorder, including depression, anxiety, and dementia.