What is alcoholism?

As a result of regular and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, a harmful habit arises - alcoholism. This concept should not be confused with drunkenness. Let's see what alcoholism is.

Features of alcoholism

Alcoholism is a disease characterized by physical and psychological dependence on ethyl alcohol; some experts consider it a form of substance abuse.

This pernicious habit eventually leads toThe fact that a person can no longer control the amount of drink. In addition, the alcoholic increases tolerance to ethyl alcohol (for pleasure and intoxication it is necessary to consume all large and large doses).

The physical dependence of alcoholism is manifested inchronic hangover syndrome, destruction by products of ethanol decomposition of organs and tissues, failures in memory. Alcoholism is typical for both men and women. It is believed that female alcoholism is more difficult to treat, but it is less common than male.

People with alcoholism have acommunication, values, while these changes are manifested not only after drinking alcohol, but also in sober moments. The most frequent complications of alcoholism are loss of appetite, anxiety syndrome, depression, cirrhosis of the liver, brain damage, pancreatitis, psychoses, neuroses, etc. About how you can get rid of this disease, you can read in our article How to get rid of alcohol dependence,

The word "alcoholism" is mainly used inofficial speech and documents ("The patient is in the second stage of alcoholism"). In everyday life this word is replaced by "drunkenness", although this is not exactly the same thing: alcoholism generates alcoholism, but is not yet a disease.