Morgan Baumann's Blog: Alcoholic Definition: Are You Developing The Habit?

Are you finding yourself being dependent on an alcoholic beverage? A lot of people are dealing with this disease right now and almost all of them could not seem to control their obsession. Without a doubt, if you cannot control how much and how often you consume alcohol, you are one of them. Remember, heavy drinking can lead to serious problems in school, at work and at home.

There is still an underlying stigma to the term “alcoholism.”

Many people still cannot accept alcoholism as a disease. In fact, they insist that you can freely stop drinking if you want to. What they don’t know about is that it is not easily done that way.

Alcoholism can have very serious impacts on your health. You may have known that alcohol can also cause several issues with your relationships and many of them face extreme burdens financially. If you are already spending too much on alcohol and neglecting your responsibilities, you may have a problem with alcohol.

The common signs and symptoms are:

Neglecting responsibilities in school, at work, or at home and your drinking is to be blame.
You use alcohol when you’re driving or operating a machine.
You are drinking alcohol along with prescribed medications despite your doctor’s warning.
You are having legal problems because of drinking.

Do you remember how your problem started out? What lead you to your first occasional drink?

Alcoholism is the result of combined factors including society, environment, and genetic. The more factors you exhibit, the more you are at risk of developing alcoholism. While some of these factors are beyond your control, there is still a lot you can do with them.

Stressful environments: Not everyone turns to alcohol for stress relief, but a lot do. When you have a stressful job, for instance, you can turn to heavy drinking more than one who loves his job. This is often seen in occupations that encounter extreme stress in their day-to-day lives. To lower your risk factor, take the time to distress using healthy ways like exercising, taking a nap, or reading a good book.

Drinking at an early age: The Mayo Clinic suggests that young people who start drinking at this time are more likely to develop a problem with alcohol when they get older. Drinking can be a comfortable habit through the years and the system’s levels of tolerance can increase over time.

Mental health problems or depression: Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other mental health issues increase your risk of developing alcoholism. It is easy to drink a lot when you are anxious or depressed.

Family history: If your parent or relative is an alcoholic, your risk of developing the disease is increased, thanks to genetics.

A lot of factors can determine your risk for alcoholism. It is crucial, therefore, that you understand your risk so that you can do what is necessary to lower them as much as you can.

You simply can’t change years and years of drinking habits in one day.

Your recovery will be more of a gradual process. The first obstacle you have to overcome is denial. You have to admit your problem, stop making excuses, and start getting treatment. If you are still struggling with making a decision on whether or not to come out and admit your problem and get treatment, think of all the consequences of your habits. Once you have decided, establish specific, clear, and realistic goals to stop your drinking problem. The more concise your goals, the more achievable they are.

Overcoming addiction can be a long and difficult process. There will be times when you will feel it is impossible, but it is not. If you are willing to stop drinking and you think you are ready, you can get support from loved ones so you can recover from it.