Alcoholism- Stop Drinking Tips
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From weddings to boardroom conferences there is barely a social gathering that doesn’t warrant the casual drink or two, as a means of rejuvenation or social bonding. Consumption of alcohol is widely accepted, if not encouraged, by many societies all over the world. But this seemingly harmless drink, which is often a pleasant addition to a great evening of relaxation, does have a dark and vicious side to it. Enslaved by the temporary ‘high’ that alcohol grants them, many individuals begin to rely on alcohol as a means to handle stress and unwind after a long, hard day. And with every drink that he reaches out for, either as a habit he is accustomed to, or as an escape from his tensions, he draws closer and closer to falling prey to the vicious disease of alcoholism.
Alcoholism is one of the most difficult of all diseases to detect and diagnose, as the victim himself is unaware of how grave his addiction is. This is further complicated by the fact that people around him tend to overlook his addiction as a mere indulgence that can easily be dealt with, if he simply makes up his mind to put an end to it. And thus, the victim keeps deceiving himself until his addiction gets the better of him and causes terrifying consequences. Alcohol is directly responsible for a host of physical complications, which, over the course of time, also affect the individual’s social interactions and gradually but steadily, the society and even the economic growth and development of the country.
Excessive consumption of alcohol claims its stake on the victim’s body, inflicting him with a multitude of physical illnesses like heart and liver disorders. Needless to say, his performance at work is affected which, over time impairs the functioning of the organization and thus hindering the progress of the economy which the organization is a part of.
The loss on income on account of impaired performance at the workplace is further compounded by the expenditure the individual incurs on fueling his addiction which in turn affects the well-being of his family. The stress that the individual is looking to escape is aggravated by marital discord and feelings of financial insecurity, which in most cases, lead him to drink even more to block out these factors. And alcohol being a depressant itself, the individual is drawn deeper into the vicious cycle that his addiction creates, where he drinks more and more to deal with the depression that alcohol is causing him.
Conventionally, society has little patience with victims of alcohol abuse as, instead of recognizing it as the disease it is, the alcoholic viewed as a weak-spirited individual who is unable to resist, what seems to them, a mere indulgence. This plunges the victim into despair and brings about low self-esteem. Alcohol also interferes with the functioning of the brain and the nervous system, aggravating the victim’s depression until it develops into more severe conditions like schizophrenia and paranoia. Alcohol addiction also makes an individual more susceptible to other types of substance abuse, which further complicate the problems alcoholism itself is accountable for.
Children, whose parents are victims of alcohol abuse, are also more susceptible to depression, which exhibits itself in the form of uncontrollable crying, bed wetting and nightmares, when they are younger and acting-out behaviors as they grow older. This means that they may either be very rebellious, failing classes and engaging in destructive behavior, or they may be overly compliant and obsessive about their grades, extremely self-conscious and suffer from phobias. These children often isolate themselves as they have no one to confide in about their fears and often believing that they are destined to be failures, no matter how hard they try.
With the harried pace at which we live life today, in the modern world and the increasing pressures we have to deal with, both at the workplace and in our social interactions, it is not uncommon to find more and more people resorting to alcohol to alleviate their woes. But before surrendering to the bottle and all the promise it holds, first stop to think about whether the gamut of evils that this seemingly innocuous beverage causes is worth the momentary feeling of satisfaction it brings you and whether you are willing to take that risk and toe the line when the security and happiness of your family is at stake. The choice, though not difficult to make, may be a hard one to live up to but once you do take that first step, you’ll soon see the world of difference it brings about.
