Alcohol Abuse (Essay Sample)

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Alcohol Abuse
The term alcohol abuse is a psychiatric diagnosis that explains the use of alcoholic beverages despite its negative consequences. Alcoholism is the term that is commonly used to refer to alcohol abuse. There are two major types of alcoholics: those who are pleasure seeking and anti-social and then those who ridden by anxiety. These second groups of people are able to avoid drinking alcohol but once they start, it becomes uncontrollable. They are unable to stop drinking.
In the United States, people start illicit use of alcohol at the average age of 12 to 13 years. Over half of all American student seniors have tested an illicit drug. Approximately, one-half of fourth through 6th grade pupils have abused alcohol. This is normally due to pressure from other students.
Alcohol abuse is the leading cause of accidents, which results into death among adolescents. This was 40 per cent of all the deaths. The parents, teachers and counselors have a great role in teaching children on the effects of abusing alcohol so that they avoid the related risks.
At the beginning of alcohol, abuse starts with occasional use over the weekends. This is the social use stage. The adolescents are able to control the amount that they take in and the time when that happens.
Drug abuse starts when they start taking the drug more frequently. These young people start maintaining their own supplies. The tendency to start using the drug when alone arises. Even at this stage, users can still control the time and amount that they come from time to time. These adolescents will rarely arrive at school or home while intoxicated. People in this stage develop some level of tolerance. They have to consume more in order to attain the same effect.
The youth is considered a special interest group because numerous news articles and TV programs continuously show that drinking is a growing epidemic. This is far from the truth because in the American society, drinking by the young people as well as the adults is continuously declining. This can be confirmed by looking at the drinking by high school students. This data has been decreasing for the period of 1980 – 2010. This is quite encouraging.
It is interesting to note that the number of adolescents aged 12-17 who have abused alcohol has reduced from 50 per cent to a low of 16%.
Addiction
In this stage, the adolescents use the drugs on a daily basis. At this stage, drugs become the main preoccupation of their lives. AT this stage, the adolescents do not have friends who do not use alcohol. Whenever confronted by friends and family members, they do not accept that abusing alcohol is a big problem for them.
School performance, family relationships and other aspects of life deteriorates. This is the time in which adolescents are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. They can also be arrested for their disorderly behavior while under the influence of alcohol.
The process from the start of using the drug to addiction is called crossing the wall.
Causes of Drug Addiction
It is quite unclear why adolescents become addicted to drugs while others are never addicted. There are many theories that are used in explaining this phenomenon. These can be social model, biological model, disease model and the psychological model.
Biological Model
This model argues that people who get addicted to alcohol are biologically different from those who do not get addicted to alcohol. This means that addiction is in the genetic make-up of people. This is a factor that makes some people more likely to get addicted than others. Studies of twins have shown that if one of the twins is alcoholic, there is 50% likelihood that the other one will be alcoholic. In the case of non-identical twins, the other has 25% of being alcoholic. This shows that having the same genetic makeup makes one vulnerable to becoming alcoholic. This shows that alcoholism cannot be explained in terms of environmental factors only.
There are some cases where children whose parents were non-alcoholic become alcoholic later on in life. This shows that genetic make-up may make it easier for one to become an alcoholic but it is not a necessary condition.
Murray et al. (1983) did a lot of work to support the genetic model in explaining heavy consumption of alcohol. This is also supported by the studies performed by Goodwin Group. This group was aiming at bringing to an end the drinking problem. The Swedish Studies have shown us that there are several steps towards alcohol abuse. It also found out that there are great differences between the behavior of women and men when it comes to alcohol abuse.
The trait of alcohol abuse is always inherited by the males in the society. The prevailing environmental factors are also associated with alcohol abuse.
Psychological Model
This model argues that there are some specific personality types and other abnormal personality traits that make it much easier for a person to become an alcoholic. This model argues that alcohol abuse is a sign that there is a psychological disorder in a person.
There are many side effects related to alcohol abuse. Some of them are teenage pregnancy and sexual molestation.
There are several myths about alcohol abuse in the world today. In the 1930s, people used to believe that alcoholism is a disease to which a particular group of people is vulnerable. These are people who experience withdrawal distress when they stop consuming alcohol.
At any particular time, 20 per cent of the U.S. population drinks alcohol. This is made up of people of all ages, social backgrounds and gender. The part of the population, which is at greatest risk, is the young male adults. This is the group of people, which is faced by the alcohol problem.
There are many factors that influence alcoholism. This includes economics, politics and culture. Heavy drinkers do not come from one group of people only. These people are highly diversified. The motives and patterns of drinking differ greatly. Their ways of living are also quite diversified in nature.
There are numerous patterns of chronic alcohol abuse. The pattern of heavy drinking is what researchers call addictions.
In the eighteen century, it was common for men and women to drink alcohol on a daily basis. Children were also taught on how to drink from an earlier age. This was done at all times throughout the day. This was done in large quantities. All special occasions were marked with the consumption of alcohol.
In the past, people had different attitudes towards drinking alcohol. It was part of their sociability. The advantage is that these people did not associate alcohol use with violence or rowdiness.
Preventing Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol has been attributed to playing important roles in promoting the well-being of people around the world for many centuries. Despite that, there are some uses of alcohol, which raise public concern. In their studies Hanson and David (18) states that the moderate use of alcohol has always been associated with great longevity and reduced occurrence of heart diseases. The abuse of alcohol consumption in the modern times has lead to some people labeling it as a "dirty drug”. Alcohol is sometimes seen as a poison, and a harmful substance that must be shunned. It has reached an extent where governmental agencies are formulating policies, which are aimed at moderating or encouraging responsible drinking. This is why the unacceptable drinking behaviors are always sanctioned socially and even legally.
Alcohol abuse is so serious to an extent that billions are used annually to treat and prevent the undesirable activities associated with alcohol.
The federal and state governments of the United States have been reported to contribute money in the tune of several billions to be used in bringing to an end alcohol abuse. This is done annually with the creation of prevention programs. A large proportion of this money goes to treatment. The prevention programs usually focus in particular groups of people such as youths, women or veterans. The treatment activities consist of detoxification, diagnosis and counseling services.
These agencies also provide useful information and education for the alcohol abuse victi...