According to the World Health Organization (WHO), alcoholism is the fifth most important risk factor for premature death and disability:
* Reduces life expectancy by 12 years.
* It is responsible for at least 200,000 deaths annually.
* Is involved in half of all deaths from motor vehicle accidents.
* It is the fourth leading cause of suicides.
* It is related to more than 65% of the murders.
Y * is considered the main health problem in developed countries.

Diseases associated with alcohol addiction
The cerebrum and cerebellum are the primary organs affected by alcohol. The first damage usually cause hallucinations, dementia and delirium tremens, which can be fatal. The damage in the second, meanwhile, tend to cause loss of coordination, vertical and memory.

The liver, for its part, is the organ most affected is responsible for metabolizing the alcohol in 90%. Fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis, are among the ailments caused by harmful habit.

But not just the brain and liver are affected by alcoholism: the stomach, pancreas, kidneys, heart, and to the testes and ovaries, may also be harmed.
Why drink alcohol?
According to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the use of substances by family members or friends, sexual abuse, drug use at early ages, as well as violence at home or school, are some of the causes that could lead a person alcoholism.

Psychological and social factors implicated in the causes of this addiction. Among the former are: the need to relieve anxiety, conflict in interpersonal relationships, depression and low self-esteem. Among the latter: the easy availability of alcohol, peer pressure, social acceptance and stressful lifestyle.

The very source adds that are at risk for alcoholism, men who eat 15 or more drinks a week, women who consumed 12 or more drinks on the same period and anyone who drinks five or more drinks per occasion at least Once in the proper period. (A drink is defined as a bottle of 12-ounce beer, a glass of wine or 5-ounce shot of liquor 1 1 / 2 ounces).

As binge drinking poses serious health risks
Alcohol dependence reduces life expectancy, is linked to half of all deaths in traffic accidents and is one of the causes of suicide.

Miguel is an inveterate alcoholic. At 60 years, has nothing good to tell of his life because of his addiction to alcohol lost family, jobs and prestige. Their only child abandonment can not forgive. Her relatives do to one side. His friends … Miguel has no friends, except for loneliness. Never sought help from a doctor. Never felt sick. But, suffering from alcoholism.

Alcoholism is a chronic disease
More than just a vice, alcoholism is a chronic progressive disease caused by intoxication with ethyl alcohol on a regular and prolonged. Such wasteful consumption often interferes with physical and mental health of those affected and their family responsibilities, work or social.

While noting primarily male, an increasing prevalence in females and between young people in general, reporting a high incidence worldwide.

Role of genetics in children of alcoholics
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, United States, studies have shown that genetic factors are closely linked to the likelihood of alcoholism. In fact, today it is known that children of alcoholics are four times more likely to develop this disease than the rest of the population.

However, this genetic predisposition is not the only factor. Own investigations have found that more than half of these descendants do not become alcoholics ever.

This is the case of the son of Miguel, who is not only alcohol, but almost completely abstinent. Knowing firsthand the effects of the disease, does not want for him or his family anything that has to do with the disastrous attacks of evil. In a drink on special occasions to do so without measure every day, there is a long way that he is not ready to go.

Generally, alcohol addictions begin safely. There are people for whom life becomes boring and not find a way to cheer for a natural way. Likewise, those who suffer from antisocial personality disorder are more likely to move from being simply drinkers become alcoholics. That is, take refuge in drink as a way to escape reality.

And although most people achieve a better life through intellectual stimulation, to converse with others, reading, listening to music or go to the movies or the theater, unfortunately, a certain percentage are looking to improve their lives, wrongly through alcohol or other drugs.

In general in our society it is customary to identify alcohol with fun and thought that a party is not fun if you do not drink much, an idea that the media is responsible for promoting a continuous parade of pleasure provided by the alcohol. And so, the success of any event is inconceivable without wine. However, we must never forget that alcohol is a drug and is toxic until proven otherwise.

However, the good news is that the human body is better able to enjoy life without taking any type of drug. We have an almost unlimited range of activities that can have fun and be happy, but healthy.

The symptoms of alcohol withdrawal (abstinence syndrome) occur because once in the brain, alcohol affects chemicals called neurotransmitters that control the flow of information between brain cells called neurons, linked by synapses, and this neuroadaptation pathological causes alcohol, end, changing behavior, thinking and feelings of people.

With chronic alcohol consumption, these neurotransmitters are affected and the brain undergoes a change in its structure and functions, so that only “normal” with the presence of alcohol. The person whose brain is accustomed to alcohol needs to rise to increasing consumption (tolerance) for the purposes of the first times you had, with the result that abruptly stop drinking, brain disorders caused crop for consumption and that were hidden by the apparent “normalcy.” These disorders, which cause withdrawal symptoms diminish or disappear only when he turns to drink alcohol. For this reason it is difficult for an addict to stop drinking alcohol, when you know you will find a cure for his withdrawal due to alcohol consumption.

The Three Stages Of Alcoholism

Every alcoholic drink in their own way, but all people with an alcohol problem have something in common:

• They can not control your drinking.
• At first, develop tolerance to alcohol. So, when taking endure much, compared with the other people who drink.
• Consequently, increasingly need to take to achieve the same effects as before.
• But this is temporary, it lasts forever.

Later, the opposite happens: the drinker needs very little alcohol, sometimes a single drink to get drunk. It becomes then, of those who can not tolerate anything. Although each alcoholic follows its own path toward the disease, one can say generally that all alcoholic goes through three stages.

First Stage

It usually takes about 10 years, but we must not take this as if it were a rule.

This stage covers the following:

• repeated promises to leave the alcohol that lead to failure, anxiety, guilt and consequently more drink.
• more frequent alcohol intake.
• Increased tolerance. The drinker ever take any more.
• Increased irritability, personality changes. Blackouts occur (forget what happened when you drink).

Second Stage

It creates a vicious circle: the person drinker goes from an uncontrollable desire to take the anguish and guilt for having done so and hence the isolation and frustration, which leads again into the drink and start the cycle again .

• The patient denied having a drinking problem or hide the fact, while for others it’s obvious her alcoholism.
• Take from the morning alone.
• Has permanent and visible signs of defects of alcohol, even at work.
• The drink becomes a necessity for him everyday.

Third Stage

Start utter ruin. The intoxicated person practically live and adds difficulties with family, friends and work, which leads her to suffer financial difficulties.

• You will fall in the desert. Avoid her friends and family, and these in turn try to get away from it.
• Live for drinking and hardly eats. Sometimes partial receive medical help to combat his anxiety and weakness.
• personality changes radically, their own friends and relatives do not know.
• You suffer serious disorders such as destruction, weakness and hallucinations.

When someone reaches this stage, is at a point where there are only two paths:

If you continue along the path of alcohol, expect the final collapse: disability, dying and death.

The other path is definitely quit drinking and begin a slow return to health. You can not combine the two paths. No way to keep drinking and cured to make. The only way to control alcoholism, is to achieve total abstinence.

When treating alcoholism must ask a series of goals to achieve, and the end of all therapy program seeks to motivate the patient to continue his treatment and once made, remain abstinent, if possible, throughout life.

Must be made to the patient that if you take too much alcohol, decrease this amount will improve their lives and health, and how to improve it?, For improving disturbance of the nervous system or gastrointestinal tract, caused by alcohol intake , sleeping better in both time and quality and ultimately improve your relationship with family, friends or in the
workplace.

To achieve complete recovery of the alcoholic patient will have to raise a number of objectives in the short, medium and long term and to undertake and complete up gradually, so we’ll use all available therapeutic options, both pharmacological and level psychological or psychosocial.

Have to perform two main steps:
* Stop drinking at the moment, which leads to a withdrawal syndrome in patients with alcohol dependence, which must be correctly treated. This phase is known as detoxification.
* Stop drinking for the rest of our lives, applying medication therapy or psychological support. Phase is known as detoxification.

The whole therapeutic process is based on three points:
* Drug Therapy
* Psychotherapy
* Self-Help Groups

The costs of alcoholism

Alcoholism is a progressive disease that can progress camouflaged for 10 or 15 years. It is easy to recognize in advanced stages, is far more difficult to be detected in intermediate states. Many people arrive at work the morning after the night before. To get euphoric have to have a drink before leaving the house, which only lasts until you get to work.

The entire day is experiencing withdrawal symptoms only do routine work and still all that can be camouflaged. Is the spirit away from its function and is in constant danger of accidents. Remorse assail him, nervous and anxious, ready to explode at any time in the smallest setback.

Inpatient treatment versus outpatient treatment.

People with symptoms of mild to moderate lifting are usually treated as outpatients and are assigned to support groups, guidance, or both. Inpatient treatment, which could take place in a general or psychiatric hospital or in a center dedicated to alcohol and substance abuse, is recommended for patients with delirium tremens. The usual system there is made by physical examination and psychiatric, detoxification, treatment with psychotherapy or behavioral therapy and an introduction to Alcoholics Anonymous. Due to the high cost of inpatient care, people are now questioning its advantages over outpatient care. One study compared to alcoholics who were hospitalized or employees who were treated as outpatients with compulsory attendance at AA meetings or who were allowed to choose their own choice, including no treatment at all. After two years, all experienced fewer problems at work, but among those in the hospital group had significantly fewer rehospitalizations and remained abstinent over time people in the other two groups. Another study looking at treatment programs for substance and alcohol found that 75% of hospitalized patients completed therapy compared with only 18% of outpatients. Other studies, however, revealed no difference in outcomes between those programs and outpatient hospitalization. Studies have attempted to discover the features that can make people more likely to get out of hospital programs or clinics. One study found that people who leave outpatient treatment are more likely to be women, young, unskilled and be people with more than one type of addiction. Another reported that leaving treatment hospital against medical advice tend to have jobs, have a college education and have had a history of leaving treatment.

Psychotherapy and behavioral therapy.

Two different forms of psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy and psychotherapy group interaction, have been beneficial to persons with alcoholism. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), founded in 1935, is an excellent example of interaction in group psychotherapy and remains the most-known for helping people with alcoholism. It offers a strong support network which uses group meetings available seven days a week at locations throughout the world. A system of friends (buddy system), a group understanding of alcoholism and forgiveness of relapses are AA’s standard methods to increase self-esteem and alleviate feelings of isolation. The approximation of the AA 12 steps to recovery include a spiritual component that can deter people who lack religious convictions. Prayer and Meditation, however, have been known to be of great value in the process of healing many diseases, even in people without particular religious beliefs. Associated programs for members, Al-Anon and Alateen, offer help to family members and friends. The cognitive-behavioral therapy use a structured approach to teaching. People with alcoholism are given instructions and are assigned tasks with the intention of improving their ability to cope with basic living situations, to control behavior and to change the way they think about drinking. For example, they may ask patients to write a history of alcohol-related experiences and describe what they consider to be risky situations. Then they were assigned activities to help them cope when exposed to the “signs”-places or experiences that trigger the desire to drink. Also be assigned tasks to patients that are designed to replace the drink. An interesting example of such a program successful was one in which patients were recruited on a softball team (softball), which gave them the opportunity to practice skills to address, develop supportive relationships and engage in healthy alternative activities. A study aimed to determine whether individuals can do better in a therapy under another. Alcoholics researchers categorized as being either Type A or Type B. Type A individuals became alcoholics at a later age, had symptoms or less severe psychiatric problems and better prospects than those of Type B. People in the group of type A responded well to psychotherapy group interaction, focusing on the emotions of the individual and the relationship with the group. They did so well with behavioral therapy. Type B people became alcoholics at an early age, had a high family risk for alcoholism, more severe symptoms and worse prospects. This group was very bad interaction with group therapy, but tended to do better with behavioral therapy. This difference in response to both treatments lasted two years later still.

Alcoholism can develop insidiously, often no clear line between problem drinking and alcoholism. Sometimes people experience long-term depression or anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, personal or work stress that lead to alcohol for relief, but often no extraordinary event has occurred that could explain the problem of drinking alcohol. People who are alcoholics have little or no control over the amount they drink or the duration or frequency of drinking alcohol. They are occupied with drinking, deny their own addiction and continue to drink even if they are aware of the dangers. Over time, some people become tolerant to the effects of drinking and require more to become intoxicated, creating the illusion that they can “hold their liquor.” They have memory lapses (black-outs) after frequent discomfort the next day (raw) that cause them to lose the day. Can you drink alone and start at the beginning of the day. Periodically stop drinking or change from hard liquor to beer or wine, but hardly the last time these periods. Severe alcoholics often have a history of accidents, marital instability and work and health problems related to alcohol. The Episodic violent and abusive incidents against spouses and children and a history of unexplained or frequent accidents are often signs of drug abuse or alcohol.

The family members can not always rely on a physician to make an initial diagnosis, although the signs of alcoholism are seen during a physical examination. Although 15% to 30% of patients who are hospitalized suffer from alcoholism or alcohol dependence, doctors often fail to examine the problem. Doctors may not recognize symptoms or may not want to confront the patients. It is particularly difficult to diagnose alcoholism in the elderly, where symptoms of confusion, memory loss, or the fall can be attributed to the aging process. Although alcoholism is identified, patients often do not receive treatment for addiction. In one study, 23% of patients in a hospital were found to have an alcohol problem, but only 7.4%, were given a diagnosis that could have led to a treatment.

Testing selective review.

Many selective examination papers are available to diagnose alcoholism, usually in the form of standardized questionnaires that the patient can take on their own or in the form of an interview conducted by the physician. Because people with alcoholism often deny their problem or lie about it, the tests are designed to elicit responses related to the problems associated with drinking rather than the quantity of liquor consumed or specific drinking habits. The quickest test takes only a minute, is called the CAGE test, an acronym for the following questions: © attempts to reduce (Cut) drinking, (A) discomfort (Annoyance) with criticisms about drinking, (G) fault (Guilt) about drinking, and (E) use alcohol as an eye opener (Eye-opener). In one study, 75% of people who responded “yes” to two or more of the questions were correctly identified as alcoholics. To screen pregnant women for alcohol-related problem, doctors can use the CAGE test but substitute a “T” for “G”, with “T” represents tolerance, the woman will be asked how many drinks can tolerate before you feel the effects. A response of more than two drinks indicates a potential health problem for both mother and baby. Other short selective review tests are the Test of Selective Review Michigan Alcoholism (MAST, Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test), Test Alcoholism Test Selective self-administered (SAAST, Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test) and the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADES, The Alcohol Dependence Scale) [see table]. Longer tests are used to measure the consequences of drinking and level of self-knowledge of the patient. Adolescents may require different types of evidence from those given to adults. In general, these tests are exactly the same, and although no evidence of selective review provides a perfect diagnosis, are beneficial in several ways. Selective review tests often discover behavior which patients themselves are aware and can help to promote self-knowledge. They are useful in determining the severity of the condition and type of treatments that can be extremely useful.

Lab tests and other tests.

Tests for alcohol levels in the blood are not useful for diagnosing alcoholism because they only reflect a moment and not the long-term use. A blood test environment corpuscular volume (MCV, mean corpuscular volume) is sometimes used to measure the size of erythrocytes, which increase with the use of alcohol. Other blood tests may show elevated liver enzymes that are associated with alcohol abuse. A physical examination and other tests should be performed to find medical problem. Sometimes the results of these tests can help convince a patient to seek treatment, particularly if they reveal serious problems, such as a computerized tomography scan (CT) showing brain atrophy, reporting a blood test for liver damage, or levels of low testosterone indicate a risk for impotence.

Getting the patient to seek treatment.

Once a diagnosis is made, the next major step is getting the patient to seek treatment. This often requires a collaborative effort of physicians, family members, friends and employers. The group meetings between the patient and friends and family members who have been affected by the alcoholic behavior have been very useful. This intervention approach should be compassionate but direct and honest report for each person to describe specifically how they have been individually hurt by alcoholism. Even children can participate in this process, depending on their level of maturity and ability to handle the situation. Family and friends should express their affection for the patient and their commitment and full support for recovery, but should be strongly and consistently demand that the patient seek treatment. The patient and family should fully understand that alcoholism is a disease and that the answers to this disease, need, desire, fear of withdrawal symptoms, are not personal failures as well as pain or discomfort are symptoms of other diseases . They must also understand that treatment is difficult and sometimes painful, as well as treatments for other life-threatening diseases such as cancer, are painful, but this is the only hope for a cure. Employers can be particularly effective. Their approach should also be compassionate but strong, threatening the employee with job loss if he or she seeks help. Some large companies provide access to treatment programs for low or no cost for their workers.

It is often deceived by the frequency of drinking, by the admission of guilt, remorse, by reason of his feelings and his desire to be corrected.

He is convinced that a reprimand is sufficient to make change. This conduct is harmful: it is not to condemn the drinker or sermon, but is contrary to normal treatment, effective and appropriate.

The drinker is found his game and tries to defend itself with weapons used and other times, like denying that you have a problem with drinking, protesting against such accusations skirts.

Current use excuses and bragging about his ability to hold the drink and work.

The control is better placed than anyone to encourage the patient to consult a specialist.

You should not try to convince a closed person, which will be limited to a discussion, to be angry and upset, as an excuse to quickly end the interview.

Take a firm and unchanging, repeating to convince his reasons against the excuses of the drinker. We recommend visiting the specialist, you will make it easier to attend, will closely follow developments and try to reinstate your job