Alcohol abuse facts and prevention

How can I prevent alcohol abuse?

Returning to drink is a major problem for recovering alcoholics and preventing this can be difficult, but it can be supported by continued therapy, positive motivation, and strong social support. Other ways to prevent relapse include changing routines, accepting a new sense of values, and avoiding activities or people associated with the drinking habit. For example, 90 per cent of alcoholics smoke. Alcoholics who stop smoking as well as drinking are more likely to achieve long-term abstinence, to say nothing of the other health benefits.

A self-screening test for alcoholism

No single symptom defines alcoholism, but honest answers to the following questions will help you decide if you are at risk:

• Has a friend or relative ever suggested that you drink too much?
• Is it hard to stop drinking after you have had one or two drinks?
• Have you ever been unable to remember what you did during a drinking episode?
• Do you ever feel bad about how much you drink?
• Do you get into arguments or physical fights when you have been drinking?
• Have you ever been arrested or hospitalised because of drinking?
• Have you ever thought about getting help to control or stop your drinking?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, you may have an alcohol problem. For your own good, it is time to discuss the situation openly with a doctor or counsellor.

Understanding alcohol abuse - the basics

Consumed in moderate amounts, alcoholic beverages are relaxing and in some cases may even have beneficial effects on heart health. Consumed in excess, alcohol is poisonous to human systems and is considered a drug.
Drinkaware.co.uk says alcohol dependence affects 4% of people aged 16-65 in England.

More than 8,700 people in the UK die each year as a result of alcohol abuse. The British Crime Survey from the Home Office showed that aggressors were believed to be drunk in more than a million violent attacks in 2007 to 2008, 37% of domestic violence cases also involve alcohol.

Statistics compiled by the charity Alcohol Concern show alcohol is a factor in one in five fatal accidents at work and one in seven traffic deaths. One in six people attending hospital accident and emergency (A&E) departments for treatment had alcohol related injuries or problems.

The immediate physical effects of drinking alcohol include mild mood changes, vision, balance and speech problems, loss of coordination, and collapse, any of which can be signals of acute alcohol intoxication, or drunkenness. These effects usually wear off in a matter of hours after a person stops drinking. The UK legal drink-driving limit is 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. Larger amounts of blood alcohol can impair brain function, cause liver damage and eventually cause unconsciousness. An extreme overdose or alcohol poisoning can be fatal.

Chronic alcoholism is a progressive, potentially fatal disease. It is characterised by an incessant craving for, increased tolerance of, physical dependence upon, and loss of control over drinking alcohol. The physical dependence on alcohol may or may not be obvious to other people. While some chronic alcoholics get very drunk, others exercise enough control to give the appearance of coping with everyday affairs in a near normal way. However, alcoholism can lead to a number of physical ailments, including hypoglycaemia, high blood pressure, brain and heart damage, end-stage liver damage, enlarged blood vessels in the skin, chronic gastritis and recurrent pancreatitis.

Alcoholism can also lead to impotence in men, damage to the foetus in pregnant women, and an elevated risk of cancer of the larynx, oesophagus, liver, breast, stomach, pancreas and upper gastrointestinal tract. Because alcoholics seldom have adequate diets, they are likely to have nutritional deficiencies. Heavy drinkers typically have impaired liver function, and at least one in five develops cirrhosis.

The alcoholic's continual craving for alcohol makes abstinence, an important goal of treatment, extremely difficult. The condition is also complicated by denial: Alcoholics employ a range of psychological manoeuvres to blame their problems on something other than drink, creating significant barriers to recovery. Historically, alcoholic behaviour was blamed on a character flaw or weakness of will; many authorities now consider chronic alcoholism a disease that can afflict anyone.

Virtually every culture has warned against overuse of alcohol, and some have prohibited it outright, rarely with lasting success. While laws and educational campaigns are designed to prevent alcohol abuse, commercial and social pressure continues to put people at risk. Alcoholism is particularly insidious among young people and the elderly, in part because the symptoms are not easily recognised until the affected person becomes truly alcohol dependent.