Alcoholism arises from social, psychological, and innate biological factors. A person’s character and personality play a role in the development of alcoholism, which determines his motivation and willpower.
The social factors in the development of alcohol dependence are:
The culture of drinking alcohol in society, the attitude of religion to the use of alcohol;
The attitude of the state to the use of alcohol, its advertising and propaganda;
Societal traditions (drinking for the New Year, celebrating a birthday);
level of education.
The most significant social factor is the alcohol microclimate in the family. It is the attitude of family members to alcohol, family traditions, upbringing. If parents drink, it is likely that the child will also abuse alcohol in the future.
Psychological factors of alcohol addiction development:
Anxiety, insecurity and low self-esteem;
Poor social adaptation;
Poor knowledge of their own emotions, inability to work through unpleasant feelings;
high suggestibility;
lack of stable hobbies: the person drinks to amuse himself or herself and get rid of boredom;
Infantilism, the domination of immature mechanisms of psychological protection;
accentuation and personality disorder;
desire to intensify emotions, to gain joy.
The psychological origin of alcoholism lies in the fact that the person is not satisfied with the present state of his life: work, family or unpleasant memories. He isolates himself from the world: he drinks and relieves his anxiety. Having had a drink, it seems to him that life has become a little easier. In other words, alcoholism is a kind of addictive behavior, when a person seeks to temporarily escape from reality by changing his mental state.
Individual-biological factors are conditioned by hereditary predisposition. Studies indicate that if the father or mother was alcoholic, the likelihood that the child will abuse alcohol in the future increases by 7-15 times.
How alcohol addiction is diagnosed
When abusing alcohol, you hear from friends and relatives that you have a problem. Addiction doctors define the following criteria for pathology:
frequent and little controlled craving leads to social disadaptation: alcohol is built into the system of values (it becomes the same physiological need as food, sleep and sex) and takes the leading position in the priorities of the person; that is, instead of work, rest in nature or spending leisure time with the family the person chooses to drink;
alcohol abuse puts the person or those around them in danger: drunk driving, drinking during pregnancy, uncontrolled behavior and possible consequences in the form of physical injury or violence;
Alcohol abuse leads to antisocial and unlawful behavior and legal liability.
Medical criteria for alcoholism:
Recommendations that will reduce your alcohol consumption:
- if you drink with friends or alone, set yourself a limit on your standard alcoholic intake (a glass of beer, wine, or a shot of vodka);
- alcoholism arises not because of alcohol, but as a result of dissatisfaction with life: find the reason and analyze it, why do you want to isolate yourself from the world?
- limit your communication with people who drink heavily, rest and have fun with those who know how to drink properly or do not drink at all;
- go to a psychologist, psychiatrist or addiction doctor, they will listen to you and help you to solve your problem; get yourself diagnosed, you may have symptomatic alcoholism;
- find a support group in your city or people who have recovered from alcoholism; they will help you cope with the problem and give you the motivation to quit drinking.
- Alcoholism is not solved alone. As soon as the first signs are detected, you should see a doctor right away and prevent alcoholism and its consequences.
