Alchohol addiction

Alcohol has commonly been identified as one of the prime causes of ill health, violence, sexual immorality, accidents, child neglect, broken homes and job loss. While some individuals have no difficulty controlling or stopping their drinking, others become addicted to the substance. With heavy and regular use, alcohol often brings about the problem of alcohol dependence. This involves increased tolerance leading to heavier drinking to achieve the same effect, withdrawal symptoms when unable to drink the accustomed amount and the individual’s awareness of a need to control his/her drinking but with an inability to do so (Edwards, 1986). The effects of withdrawal symptoms on a heavy drinker can be significant since the body has become accustomed to the substance. The individual may feel anxious, depressed, unable to sleep, delirious and may experience both visual and tactile hallucinations (Davison et al, 2001).

In spite of continuous reminders about the harmful effects of drinking, individuals continue to become engaged in this health-impairing behaviour. Biological, psychological and psychosocial factors all combine to initiate and maintain drinking among individuals.

Peer influence is an important factor in the initiation of drinking. Drinking not only becomes a way of expressing solidarity with peers but also a mean of asserting one’s identity among friends (Marks & al, 2002). Alcohol is also commonly associated with beliefs about loosening of inhibitions, such as anxiety, in enabling the individual to relax. Anxiety disorders seem to precede substance abuse and individuals use alcohol to alleviate such feelings. Moreover, alcohol has been linked to the suppression of other unpleasant emotions such as tension, stress and anger and is commonly consumed at social get-togethers (Marks & al, 2002).

Psychological theory defines alcoholism as a condition found in individuals with a certain personality type, such as sensation-seekers, who are bound to become alcoholics after an exceedingly stressful experience, for instance, death of someone close, financial difficulties, illness, marital separation, redundancy, parental discord, low academic achievement, among other personal difficulties. According to Freud, the alcoholic is fixated at the oral stage of psychosexual development and drinks to regress to a stage where he/she feels secure as in infancy, and in which fantasy and reality are one and same, whereby he/she does not have to confront his/her problems.

Moreover, according to psychoanalysis, alcoholism is an unconscious self-destructive impulse, which has its origins in anger and rage primarily directed at the individual’s parents and later repressed because such feelings cause guilt. This anger is, therefore, redirected through self-inflicted punishment by drinking. Freud also underlined that individuals drank to gain attention, avoid things they do not wish to do and evade responsibility for their actions.

Alcoholism is also a learned behaviour under social control. The reason why some individuals become problem drinkers lie in their personal learning histories of learning to drink, their social environments and in the physiological variables that makes alcohol more positively reinforcing to them (Marks & al, 2002). Children may observe their parents’ or caregivers’ patterns of drinking and imitate this behaviour at a later stage. Based on operant conditioning, drinking alcohol also provides positive reinforcement such as enhanced feelings of relaxation, that occur soon after drinking and which may lead to a strong habit despite the considerable negative reinforcement such as hangover, loss of employment, marital separation, which occur much later (Marks & al, 2002).

Drinking, smoking, drug-taking are addictions that have ‘irrational’ features whereby the amount of satisfaction gained from the addiction seems much less than the suffering. This is the case since the satisfying effects of addictive behaviours occur rapidly while unpleasant consequences occur after a delay and may overwhelm the brain’s ability for rational calculation (Marks & al, 2002). Behavioural theorists regard heavy drinking as a habit that can be unlearnt and have taken the stance that moderate drinking can be a feasible objective.

On the other hand, genetic theorists argue that some individuals have a predisposition. However, this is not to imply that it is inevitable that they will do so. The risks are greater for some people more than others since both hereditary and environmental factors come into play.

This school of thought, therefore, suggests that certain individuals are born alcoholics who would lose all voluntary control over their drinking and turn into alcoholics as soon as they take their first drink. This is based on research focusing on the offspring of alcoholics and on the biological and neurological abnormalities they inherit that leads to pathological drinking.

Associations such as Alcoholics Anonymous aim to help those individuals by showing them how to achieve total abstinence (Marks & al, 2002). Indeed, in line with this theory, lifelong abstinence is considered the only target for the alcoholic. This theory has sparked controversy as it has been judged appealing to those who are in denial and who want to avoid responsibility for succumbing to alcoholism, claiming that it is beyond their volitional control and that they are victims of their biological makeup (Rose & al, 1984).

Alcoholism is a problem with major medical, psychological, social and public health implications. Consequently, a great deal of research has gone into the design of preventive and rehabilitative measures. Preventive actions such as high levels of taxation on alcoholic drinks, restrictions on access, limiting opening hours for bars, drink-driving laws with severe penalties are important to implement along with health education messages in schools, the workplace and the home, which would target society as a whole.

Alcohol prevention programs may teach adolescents and adults to develop their assertiveness and refuse offers of alcohol or other harmful substances while alcohol treatment programs can teach the problem drinker the coping skills to stop drinking and assist them with family, employment, financial and health problems. Interventions are both biological and psychological but the first step is to admit that he/she has a drinking problem. While drinking may provide a feeling of escapism and numb pain temporarily, it does not help in the long term. As illustrated by a health education slogan: “If you drink because you have a problem, then you will end up with two problems.”

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