HW4: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Discussion

          What are the effects of alcohol in social relationship?

Definition and types of alcoholism.

Alcoholism is a term used to describe the compulsive or uncontrollable consumption of alcoholic beverages. It is considered a disease and an addictive illness. In psychiatry, different terms are used to describe alcoholism, terms such as "alcohol abuse" and "alcohol dependent" although it has a slight difference with the meaning of alcoholism. In medicine they prefer to call it "alcohol dependence syndrome" rather than alcoholism.

The American Medical Association supports that alcoholism can be classified in to two types which includes the physical and mental components. The association also stated that the biological cause of alcoholism is still not clear up to date.

It is difficult for an alcoholic person to classify himself as afflicted because of the social stigma that causes people with drinking problem to avoid observing the signs because they are afraid of social discrimination. This leads to a growing number of alcohol dependents compared to the past years.

Alcoholism can be classified in five types; young adult, young anti-social, functional, intermediate familial and chronic severe.

 Young adult is composed of people with the age of 24 and is believed started drinking at the age of 20. This is considered as the largest subtype composing 32% of all the alcoholics. 

Young anti-social composes 21% of drink dependent; they are at the average of 26 years of age and are more likely to smoke marijuana and tobacco. 

Functional are those people who are married and have a job. These people seem to live a normal life although they drink regularly. Functional class is at the middle age and composes 19% of drinkers. 

Intermediate familial commonly have relatives who are also alcohol dependent, this may serve as a big factor why they engage in drinking. These people are at the average age of 27 and compose 19% of alcoholics. 

The last type of alcohol dependents is the chronic severe, these people commonly have problems with their family and could also be taking illegal drugs. It composes 9% of drinkers.

Factors influencing the society to accept an alcohol dependent people.

A. Misbehavior

People are more likely to misbehave when they are drunk. Alcohol, if taken too much, can affect the brain which causes the person to relax and loosen a little bit. The person, without him knowing, may start to act differently and do weird things.

Under the influence of alcohol, people may also start to become more aggressive. They no longer care about their surroundings, the people around them and themselves. This causes a big problem because not everyone can understand what is the reason why drunk people acts weird.

Drunken people may also have the tendency to be less sensitive with their acts and their words. Because the alcohol makes the person relax and unconscious, he no longer has control of what he is doing nor saying. This causes him to release all his feelings which he cannot say or do when he is in a normal condition. 

Drinking too much alcohol may also make people sexually aggressive. They show   much feelings and emotion towards other people around them. They become more affectionate and lose their self-control in public. These leads to sexual harassment, which may be verbal or physical and sometimes leads to rape.

B. Appearance

 Drinking alcohol makes people fat. Our body can increase weight if we take excess 146 calories in our diet, that excess amount of calories could be found in beers. Most heavy drinkers have a beer belly or a fat belly because all of the calories brought by drinking will be stacked in our stomachs. Drinking beer moderately won't cause a person to have a beer but binge drinking or drinking to get drunk will most likely result to a bigger waistline.

An alcohol dependent will most likely look older than a normal person although they may be at the same age; the reason behind this is that alcohol can make our skin dry. Drinking may also lead to less sleeping hours. We all know that sleeping plays a vital role in our health; this lets our body to recharge and to relax. Without proper sleep a person will be unlikely to rejuvenate properly.

C. Bad Odor


Poor hygiene is one of the problems that alcohol dependents suffer. Because they are too busy of drinking, they seem to forget that they also need to be clean. They become dirty, haggard and smelly.

Alcohol may also lead to bad breathe. The smell of alcohol will stay in the mouth of the drinker which is not a pleasant odor. And because they are already drunk, they can no longer wash their teeth or even gargle before sleeping. This may develop to a strong foul odor the next morning. 

D. Mental Health

Many people thinks that alcohol is a stimulant but actually it is not. Alcohol works by depressing the human brain. The first doze of alcohol may improve your mood but drink too much and it will go the opposite way. 

Mental Health Foundation conducted a survey and discovered that most people say that they drink to be happy, to add confidence and to be less anxious. This study shows a different interpretation of the effects of alcohol. Those people who drink heavily are more likely to suffer from mental illness.

E. Anxiety and Depression 

Alcohol can alter the chemistry of our brain and relieve negative thoughts and feelings. That is the reason why people use drinking to cope with their problems. Over a long period of time, drinking would just result to a bigger problem. Such case would need great amount of alcohol just to experience the same reduction in anxiety.

Depression on the other hand, depletes levels of serotonin - a chemical in our brain that helps regulate our emotions - through drinking. “In the long term a heavy drinker will need more and more alcohol to cope with their feelings,” says Simon Lawton-Smith, head of policy at the Mental Health Foundation.