SELF-HELP PREVENTION: ALCOHOLISM
Alcoholism is a complex and ill-defined condition in which a person is addicted to alcohol either physically, psychologically or socially. It is almost impossible to know exactly how many people are affected by alcoholism, if only because the boundary between heavy social drinking and true alcoholism is so difficult to define. Alcohol certainly affects the lives of millions of people in one way or another, whether financially, medically, socially or legally.
Over the past twenty years the consumption of alcohol has gone up throughout the western world and it is estimated that between 4 and 9 per cent of the total dietary energy of the British population comes from alcohol. A figure of 1.6 billion pounds per year has been put on the consequences of this level of consumption in terms of costs to industry, to the National Health Service, and arising as a result of drink-related offences. It does not include any valuation of family stress or the extra burden put on services such as the probation and social services.
That alcohol in all but the smallest of amounts is bad for you is beyond doubt. It causes: cirrhosis of the liver (which kills far more people a year than do illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin); gastric troubles; heart disease; acute and chronic muscle disorders; nervous-system problems; nerve disease; metabolic disorders; blood disturbances; altered drug metabolism; and an increased susceptibility to infections. People who drink have more accidents at home, at work and on the road; alcohol is often involved in suicide; it makes people fat; it makes them aggressive, anti-social, more likely to indulge in domestic violence and less efficient at work; heavy drinkers are more likely to be sexually impotent; and so on-the list is almost endless.
Despite all this, alcohol is the most widely used social drug. It is used as a sedative, a stimulant, a medicine, a social lubricant, a religious symbol and an indicator of the transition from work to play. It will undoubtedly continue to be used widely, but given the vast costs to society and to individuals some sort of preventive strategy is essential if the situation is not to go from bad to worse.
Prevention can be divided into three different levels. The first would be a primary preventive programme aimed at youngsters who have not yet started drinking seriously. Preventive measures would help them to realize the many pressures that influence their choice, and enable them to make a sensible decision about whether to drink. For those who do choose to drink education would help them to drink safely and moderately without harming themselves or others. Such a programme would be a major nationwide task because it would have to take into account very complex factors, such as the different personality, social skills, social environment and so on of different individuals. A self-confident, well-balanced person is less likely to come to harm in the hands of alcohol but we do not have, and cannot realistically expect, a nation of such individuals.
Secondary prevention is aimed at those who have already started drinking but who have, as yet, no obvious problems as a result. Preventive action here would encourage such people to see that they are likely to be drinking too much and would help them to cut down to a safer level. It could also tackle the considerable social and financial pressures on people to drink more. Such secondary prevention would promote light drinking and discourage excessive drinking.
Tertiary prevention would be aimed at true alcoholics to enable them to recognize their condition and to get help to prevent further deterioration and early death.
This kind of strategy generally has to be formulated and carried out by health authorities on behalf of the individual, but here are some things that the individual can do to prevent alcoholism or simply cut down on his or her drinking.
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