What factors are associated with alcohol addiction
What diseases increase the risk of developing the disease
What impaired consciousness occurs with sudden withdrawal
What are the precautions during treatment?
Let's find out↓↓↓
Alcohol addiction, also known as alcohol dependence syndrome, is a combination of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological symptoms. While alcohol addicts know that drinking alcohol can have undesirable consequences, it can be difficult to control.
Long-term use of alcohol can lead to an increase in individual tolerance, resulting in physical and psychological dependence. Physical dependence can lead to withdrawal symptoms after the addict abruptly stops or reduces drinking, while psychological dependence leads to the addict's strong craving for alcohol after stopping drinking, which is one of the main reasons for the relapse of alcoholics.
Alcohol abuse not only causes physical harm, but also endangers public safety and causes a variety of accidents, including traffic accidents, self-harm, violent assault and falls. The mortality rate from alcohol abuse is higher than that from diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS and diabetes.
Alcohol consumption can cause a variety of malignancies, and there is a causal relationship with oral cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, hypopharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer (squamous cell carcinoma), colon cancer, rectal cancer, laryngeal cancer, liver cancer, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and breast cancer.
Alcohol can cause a variety of cardiovascular diseases, including cerebral hemorrhage, hypertensive heart disease, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, myocardial ischemia/myocardial infarction, etc.
Alcohol has been linked to a variety of common digestive disorders, including gastritis, cirrhosis, pancreatitis, and more.
In addition, long-term heavy alcohol consumption can also increase the risk of diabetes and epilepsy.
Alcohol addiction can cause a total impairment of various mental activities, including impaired consciousness, hallucinations, cognitive decline, anxiety, depression, insomnia, personality disorders, and other symptoms.
Acute alcohol withdrawal can cause delirium tremens, which is a disorder of consciousness caused by alcohol withdrawal and is also the most severe form of withdrawal syndrome, which is manifested by disorientation, visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, delusions, delusions, diurnal reversal, irritability, etc.
In addition to various mental disorders caused by acute withdrawal, alcohol addicts also experience various mental disorders during the non-withdrawal period, such as alcohol-induced hallucinations caused by chronic drinking, alcohol-induced jealousy (believing that one's spouse is unfaithful to oneself), Kirsakov syndrome (limited cognitive decline), alcoholic dementia (significant and comprehensive decline in cognitive function), alcohol-induced personality disorders, patients become selfish, apathetic, withdrawn, have no sense of family affection and family responsibility, are emotionally unstable, irritable, hyperalert, and behave violently. Suspicion is strong, etc.
In addition, studies have found that alcohol-related mental disorders such as panic disorder, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress-related disorder, depression, dysthymia, mania, and attention deficit disorder in alcohol addicts have significant comorbidities.
On the one hand, about 53.6% of alcohol addicts are diagnosed with anxiety disorders, about 34% of alcohol addicts are diagnosed with affective disorders, and on the other hand, about 34% of men are depressed, 15% of women are depressed, and about 20% of people with schizophrenia have alcohol-related mental disorders.
Alcohol addiction is a common mental disorder and a recurrent encephalopathy, rather than a bad habit or moral problem. If you suspect you have alcohol addiction, you can seek treatment at an institution with an addiction specialist. Addiction specialties in mainland China are mainly set up in psychiatric departments of psychiatric hospitals or general hospitals.
Alcohol addiction treatment is divided into two phases, the first of which is the acute withdrawal phase of alcohol. The main task of this stage is to treat withdrawal symptoms that occur after stopping drinking, including various physical symptoms (high blood pressure, tachycardia, hand tremors, sweating, liver dysfunction, vitamin deficiency, anemia, electrolyte imbalances, malnutrition, etc.) and psychiatric symptoms (hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, depression, irritability, alcohol craving, etc.), and this stage generally takes 2~4 weeks. The second stage is the relapse prevention phase, in which the main task is to reduce the risk of re-drinking, including medication, physical therapy, psychotherapy, social support, etc.
Treatment of acute withdrawal from alcohol addiction must be carried out in a professional medical institution and is not recommended to be carried out in an outpatient clinic or at home. Because of the sudden cessation or reduction of alcohol consumption, withdrawal symptoms can occur, and severe withdrawal symptoms include malignant arrhythmia, epilepsy, delirium tremens, etc., which may endanger the patient's life. Among them, the mortality rate of delirium tremens is as high as 40% in patients with no medical intervention, and less than 5% with appropriate medical intervention.
In order to quickly screen people with alcohol addiction, some foreign scholars have designed the following four simple and easy-to-understand questions. Two of the following questions answered in the affirmative were suspected of having alcohol addiction.
Do you ever feel like you should quit drinking?
Do you feel upset when someone blames you for your drinking?
Do you feel guilty or blame yourself for your drinking problems?
Do you drink alcohol as soon as you open your eyes to avoid physical discomfort?
If there are relatives and friends around you who are alcoholics, you can persuade them to quit drinking as soon as possible on the basis of giving them sufficient psychological support, and do not simply and rudely accuse the other party, otherwise it will increase their resistance and the result will backfire.
Most people with alcohol addiction don't admit that they have an addiction and don't think that drinking alcohol is affecting them, so we need to be patient enough to accompany them to make changes. If there is a high level of suspicion that you or your loved ones have alcohol addiction, it is advisable to encourage them to seek professional help from an alcohol rehabilitation facility.
Source: Healthy China
Forward: Wei Shujing
Review: Hao Lin