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#569029. Understanding Alcoholism
Alcoholism, Alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction. Alcoholism is generally defined as the consistent and excessive consumption of and/or preoccupation with alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with an individual's normal personal, family, social, or work life. Alcoholism can potentially result in psychological and physiological conditions, as well as, ultimately, death. Alcoholism is one of the world's most costly drug use problems. With the exception of nicotine addiction, alcoholism is more costly to most countries than all other drug use problems combined.
While alcohol abuse is a prerequisite for what is defined as alcoholism, the biological mechanism of alcoholism is uncertain. For most people, alcohol consumption poses little or no danger of addiction. Other factors generally contribute for alcohol use to develop into alcoholism. These factors may include a person's social environment, emotional health and genetic predisposition.
Alcohol dependence
For most adults, moderate alcohol use is not harmful. However, nearly 17.6 million adults in the United States are alcoholics or have alcohol problems. Alcoholism is a disease with four main features:
* Craving - a strong need to drink
* Loss of control - not being able to stop drinking once you've begun
* Physical dependence – withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating or shakiness after stopping drinking
* Tolerance - the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol in order to get “high”
Alcoholism carries many serious dangers. Heavy drinking can increase the risk of certain cancers. It can cause damage to the liver, brain and other organs. It can cause birth defects. It increases the risk of death from car crashes and other injuries as well as the risk of homicide and suicide.
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