alcoholism
Alcohol abuse is a significant problem among young people and a solution needs to be found. This page evaluates prevention programs and identifies effective and ineffective ways to reduce drinking problems among young people, especially high school, college, and university students. The best preventive measures are often the easiest and most economical and can be easily implemented by parents and educators.
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing. It is medically considered a disease, specifically an addictive illness. In psychiatry several other terms have been used, specifically "alcohol abuse", "alcohol dependence," and "alcohol use disorder" which have slightly different definitions.[1] Alcohol misuse has the potential to damage almost every organ in the body, including the brain. The cumulative toxic effects of chronic alcohol abuse can cause both medical and psychiatric problems.[2]
The American Medical Association considers alcoholism as a disease[3][4]:452 and supports a classification that includes both physical and mental components.[5]:33 The biological mechanisms that cause alcoholism are not well understood. Social environment, stress,[6] mental health, family history, age, ethnic group, and gender all influence the risk for the condition.[7][8] Significant alcohol intake produces changes in the brain's structure and chemistry, though some alterations occur with minimal use of alcohol over a short term period, such as tolerance and physical dependence. These changes maintain the person with alcoholism's compulsive inability to stop drinking and result in alcohol withdrawal syndrome if the person stops.[9] Identifying alcoholism may be difficult for those affected because of the social stigma associated with the disease that causes people with
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing. It is medically considered a disease, specifically an addictive illness. In psychiatry several other terms have been used, specifically "alcohol abuse", "alcohol dependence," and "alcohol use disorder" which have slightly different definitions.[1] Alcohol misuse has the potential to damage almost every organ in the body, including the brain. The cumulative toxic effects of chronic alcohol abuse can cause both medical and psychiatric problems.[2]
The American Medical Association considers alcoholism as a disease[3][4]:452 and supports a classification that includes both physical and mental components.[5]:33 The biological mechanisms that cause alcoholism are not well understood. Social environment, stress,[6] mental health, family history, age, ethnic group, and gender all influence the risk for the condition.[7][8] Significant alcohol intake produces changes in the brain's structure and chemistry, though some alterations occur with minimal use of alcohol over a short term period, such as tolerance and physical dependence. These changes maintain the person with alcoholism's compulsive inability to stop drinking and result in alcohol withdrawal syndrome if the person stops.[9] Identifying alcoholism may be difficult for those affected because of the social stigma associated with the disease that causes people with