What is alcohol addiction?
Alcohol addiction, or alcoholism, is defined as the obsessive and unmanageable use of alcohol, regardless of its negative impact on a drinker’s fitness, profession and relationships. Individuals suffering from alcohol addiction will frequently drink to excess, leaving their bodies dependent on the substance and their lives in pieces.
Alcoholics will experience symptoms of alcohol withdrawal that include: headaches, high blood pressure, difficulty sleeping and trouble focusing. Alcoholics often continue their addiction in order to maintain a state of a false normality, avoid the effects of withdrawal, or escape from pain in their lives.
What are the effects of alcohol addiction?
Alcohol addiction can cause individuals to drink to the point of experiencing complete memory loss of hours or days and can increase the likelihood of high-risk behaviors such as drinking and driving. Long-term alcohol addiction can destroy emotions, relationships and lives.
Alcohol abuse is considered the second leading cause of dementia, connected with 10 percent of diagnosed cases. Extreme alcohol use can cause harm to brain functioning which, if not treated, can be permanent. A variety of mental health problems can also be caused by long-term alcohol use. Most individuals addicted to alcohol suffer from some form of severe psychiatric trauma marked by increased anxiety, feelings of hopelessness, alcohol-induced psychosis, panic disorders and other symptoms.
What is drug addiction?
While drug use may start as a seemingly harmless and voluntary act, in time it can develop into a compulsive and unstoppable habit. In the beginning, drug use minimizes emotional and physical pain. As prolonged drug use continues, it can develop into drug addiction, severely impacting an individual’s brain chemistry. When the brain begins to signal an intense physical need to continue the use of drugs, what once was recreational use becomes an urge that controls one’s life.
What are the effects of drug addiction?
If left untreated for long, drug addiction can result in diminished health, job loss and the estrangement of loved ones. While drugs may offer short-term relief, extended drug use only aggravates an individual’s problems since the root causes of the pain are never addressed.
Drug addiction can lead to a number of mental and physical disorders. If addiction is left untreated, unrestrained drug use will persist despite its overwhelming and often demoralizing consequences on individuals and their families. When addicts recognize their unhealthy, unhappy condition — and see the impact their drug use has had on others — many seek help.
