Alcoholism: Part 1 of 4

The topic of alcoholism may seem old hat, a topic that is common knowledge and easily spotted. It's protrayed in media:

Celebrities can make it look glamorous:

But the truth is that alcoholism is a terrible disease of addiction that wreaks havoc on entire family systems for multiple generations- even after the last drink has been drunk.

"Alcoholism" is the common umbrella term for what we in the biz call alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence. The two terms are different in that abuse is the misuse of alcohol in ways that negatively impact life and dependence means that there is physiological tolerance with an uncontrollable drive to continue use despite the negative impacts on life.

Risk of developing alcoholism is increased with certain age, gender, social environment, stressors and genetic predispositions.  If you are a relative of someone with alcoholism, you could have the genetic marker that  responds addictively to alcohol.  And just because you have the genetic marker does not mean you will automatically become an alcoholic if you drink occasionally.

The brain becomes addicted to alcohol (or any substance) when physiological changes occur due to the substance you put into your body. Alcohol hurts more than the brain, it effects every organ in your body, because alcohol is a toxin.

Healthy liver:

Liver with severe cirrhosis:  (ummm, gag)

As soon as alcohol enters your blood stream your body goes to work processing it and ridding the bloodstream of the chemical ethanol. A person becomes intoxicated when the level of ethanol in the blood is higher than the body can clean up, annnnnd drunk occurs.

Most of us have either felt the effects of ethanol in our blood stream, or at least seen someone in that state.  And, it can be all fun and games in small doses. But when drinking becomes a habit and it interferes in a person's ability to function, take care of themselves, be in a relationship, or hold a job- its now called alcohol abuse. (P.S. binge drinking is alcohol abuse too.)

And then... well, its not so glamorous anymore.

While people do call me Dr. Mazzio while I'm at work, I'm not actually a doctor of the liver. I'm what one client calls me, "the Feelings Doctor" and that's what we are really here to talk about. feelings.

People who are suffering in alcoholism use the mind numbing substance as the ultimate escape hatch.

People want to feel good about themselves, to function well and experience love from others.
When, for whatever reasons, this does not happen a person finds ways to avoid the resulting negative feelings.  The escape may be the temporary elation from drunkenness, or the slow empty numbing that alcohol can bring.

Restated simply: We often turn to drugs and alcohol when we don't want to deal with emotional pain.

Alcoholism is really difficult to treat and recover from because its a damn good band-aid.  There are negative effects, which usually is what ends up forcing people to seek treatment (AKA hitting rock bottom), but all in all, alcoholics don't have to feel their emotional pain when they hang out with their best friend- ethanol. Convincing someone that its actually a good thing to face their demons, and feel their emotional pain is hard. And totally counterintuitive to someone who is suffering. Life is so painful for substance abusers that, while they choose to remain on earth, they choose to not live fully.

When you think about all that-  what emotion does that prompt in you? Does it increase your empathy for people who suffer in alcoholism? it should. Alcoholics or any other substance abuser is not inherently "evil" "bad" or "worthless." They are broken and they need help.

Addiction usually feels like hell for the suffering person. It's easy to focus on the most obvious problem: the alcoholic. But like I mentioned earlier, this disease always occurs within a family system. That means the rest of the people (family and friends) around him or her suffer too.

Even though the surrounding people might not be drinking, they definitely are suffering.



Next up, effects of alcoholism on children and adult children of alcoholics.