Alcoholism
While there are many definitions of alcoholism, the most common is a dependency on alcohol that results in increased usage and negative consequences due to its misuse. Alcoholism can range from mild (high-functioning alcoholic) to end-state (severe dysfunction including liver failure and brain damage).
Posted under The Family
Single Fathers: How Substance Abuse Perpetuates the Stereotype of Deadbeat Dads
By LeAnne Bagnall
Too often, the media relays images of today’s American father in a rather dishonorable, scornful, and offensive light, which may seem out of tune with a customarily prideful and patriotically minded nation. In the news, we hear of irresponsible dads who are absent from the picture, unwilling to support their families, and who choose to carouse in their drunken revelry instead of behaving like a good father should.
Posted under Cultural Perspectives
Alcoholism in Mongolia: A National Crisis
By Colin Gilbert
After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Mongolia was left on shaky ground. When the Russians left, the country’s economic infrastructure quickly deteriorated and countless Mongolians were left jobless. One commodity that did survive the collapse, though, was liquor. Cheap vodka and other alcoholic beverages were available at every corner, and the masses of people left in poverty turned to it in an effort to cope with their plight.
Sadly, not much has changed in Mongolia since it became an independent country. There is a shop selling cheap liquor on almost every corner, and the number of people addicted to alcohol is astronomical. The U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2006 that 22 percent of men and 5 percent of women in Mongolia are alcoholics. The rate of alcohol dependency is three times higher than that of Europe. Furthermore, about one in five Mongolian men binge drink every week.
Posted under Alcoholism
Hiding Alcoholism: The High-Functioning Alcoholic
By Leslie Thompson
Alcoholism is a debilitating disease that affects almost 18 million Americans. Unlike other types of addictions where symptoms are obvious because of physical signs or ailments, alcoholism is an illness that can go undetected. Recently Diane Schuler—the Long Island mother who drove the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway, killing herself along with seven other people—was found to be under the influence of alcohol and marijuana.
Her family insists she wasn’t a drinker, but she had a large amount of undigested alcohol in her stomach at the time of the accident, along with traces of the active ingredient of marijuana. Was she harboring a secret addiction? We may never know the truth of what happened that day, but it has become apparent that more and more men and women are successfully hiding their addiction from family and friends.
Posted under The Family
Effects of Alcohol Abuse on the Family
Alcohol abuse is a serious enough problem for the individual who has it. But the effects of alcohol abuse extend beyond the individual to the entire family, often with extremely damaging consequences.
Posted under Celebrity Addiction
Celebrity Families: Inheriting Addiction
Three generations of the Douglas family—Kirk, Michael, and Cameron—starred in 2003′s “It Runs in the Family,” a movie whose title suggests that acting, in this case at least, can be inherited. But the Douglas family also seems to pass along something else: addiction. ABC News discusses drug and alcohol addiction among celebrity families in the article “When Fame and Addiction Run in the Family.”
Posted under Celebrity Addiction
Jason Bateman: Childhood Stardom Led to Substance Abuse
Jason Bateman, former child star who regained notoriety in 2003 with his TV role as Michael Bluth on “Arrested Development” and will soon be gracing the big screen in Mike Judge’s new film “Extract,” recently gave an in-depth interview to Details magazine about his upbringing, struggles with substance abuse, and renewed rise to fame.
After he landing his first regular role on “Little House on the Prairie” in 1981 at age 11, he spent the next decade on the sets of “Silver Spoons,” “It’s Your Move,” “Valerie/Valerie’s Family/The Hogan Family,” and several TV movies in between.
“It was like ‘Risky Business’ for 10 years,” Bateman says of the 90s. “My parents were out of town, they left me a bunch of money, the car, and the house, and I didn’t know when they were coming home. I’d worked so hard that by the time I was 20, I wanted to play hard. And I did that really well.”
Posted under Science & Research
Combating the Global Spread of Alcohol Dependency
A new study shows that one in 25 deaths around the world is caused by alcohol consumption, suggesting that booze is now as damaging to global health as tobacco was a decade ago.
According to a new study in the British medical journal the Lancet, as of 2004, 3.8 percent of deaths worldwide were the result of alcohol consumption. Alcohol-related causes of death include accidents, violence, poisoning, mouth and throat cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, suicide, stroke, and more.
Posted under Massachusetts
Massachusetts Alcohol Addiction: Judicial Attitudes toward Alcoholics
In Part I, Massachusetts (MA) Drug Addiction: judicial attitudes toward drug abuse offenders, I discussed how the Massachusetts judicial system handles criminal drug abusers. However, Massachusetts also has a high number of alcoholics. A recent Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) study found that Massachusetts is among the top ten states for binge alcohol drinking (five or more drinks on one day in a month). It is estimated that 25% of Massachusetts residents binge drink. Although there are no conclusive explanations as to why Massachusetts has such a high rate of alcoholism, perhaps some insight can be gained by an examination of the number of college students who reside in the state compared to states with lower rates of alcoholism. Whatever the reason, Massachusetts residents clearly have a problem controlling their alcohol intake. Continue Reading
Posted under Baby Boomers
Alcoholism and Older Adults
By Jill Gonzalez
Alcohol problems are largely underreported across all age groups, but adults over the age of 55 are probably the largest group to be underreported.
In a study conducted on adults aged 60 to 94 years of age, approximately 62% of them reported drinking alcohol on a regular (if not daily) basis, with 13% of them admitting to being heavy alcohol users. To put this into perspective, heavy drinking (as defined in this study) referred to the consumption of at least two alcoholic beverages per day.
Posted under Alcoholism, Types of Addiction
Low Resistance to Alcohol Leads to Greater Risk of Alcoholism
Most of us know someone who often boasted that he or she could drink everyone under the table—and usually did. But being able to drink copious amounts of alcohol without becoming blindingly drunk will do much more harm than good in the long run, as a new study shows that young men who have a high tolerance for alcohol face a greater risk for alcoholism later in life than those who readily feel alcohol’s effects.
The Addiction Primer
Everything you need to know to help a loved one struggling with addiction, from the writers and editors of Everything Addiction.
