Introduction
1.
Substance
may be referred to as alcohol, drugs and narcotics. I have explained the
physical and psychological dependence to substance and discussed about the
deleterious effects of alcohol to person and family.
Physical Dependence to Substance
2.
Drug
dependence means that a person needs a drug to function normally. This means
when a person abuses substance or strong drugs a chemical reaction occurs
inside the human body causing damages to the nervous system – nervous system
breaks down – and there are lots of pain within his body that he could not tolerate,
causing physical dependence on the particular drug. Physical dependence on a
substance may not necessarily be due to addiction. There are drugs that do not
cause addiction. For example, certain blood pressure medications do not cause
addiction but they can cause physical dependence in order to get relieved from
some physical reactions such as pain, giddiness, and diarrhea and so on. (Dugdale,
D. 2012) As per Zwanger, M (2013) here some symptoms caused by physical dependence include:
a.
Ingestion
of larger amounts of drugs even for a long period.
b.
Compulsion
to take the drug with significant amount of time spent trying to obtain the
substance.
c.
Withdrawal
symptoms if the drug is stopped or the amount taken is reduced
d.
The
need for increased amounts of drug to achieve the original effects.
e.
Avoiding
of Social, recreational, occupational, or pleasurable activities.
f.
Persistent
use of substance even when evidence that is harmful to the body, mood,
thinking, or actions.
g.
Addiction
is elevated narcotic abuse that becomes a craving, with compulsive need to use the
substance and often self-destructive behavior.
Psychological Dependence to Substance
3.
Psychological
dependence is defined as dependence on a psychoactive substance for the
reinforcement it provides. Psychological dependence is classified under addiction.
(Wikipedia, 2013) Addiction is the continued repetition of a behavior despite
adverse consequences, a psychological condition, and those addicted needs a
particular drug. A person can be psychologically dependent on the most common
substances like nicotine, alcohol, opiates, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines. People
who have psychological dependence on drugs have some of these psychological
conditions as:
a.
Have depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety
disorders, and schizophrenia.
b.
Have low self-esteem, or problems with
relationships
c.
Live a stressful lifestyle, economic or
emotional
d.
Live in a culture where there is a high social
acceptance of drug use
Deleterious Effects of Alcohol
On the Individual
4.
People
consume alcohol to socialize, celebrate, and relax, but alcohol often has a
strong effect on people – and throughout history, it has been very difficult to
understand and manage alcohol’s power. The inverse relation in Western cultures
between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease has been known for over
100 years. According to many physicians alcohol has health concerns and do not
promote its consumption. Others have argued that the benefits of moderate
alcohol consumption may be outweighed by other increased risks, including those
of injuries, violence, fetal damage, liver disease, and certain forms of cancer.
5.
According
to NIAAA (2013) Here’s how alcohol can affect your body:
a.
Brain.
Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can
affect the way the brain looks and works which can change mood and behavior,
and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination.
According to some studies led by Andrew Holmes, Ph.D., in the
Laboratory of Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience at NIAAA found
profound changes in the dorsal striatum of some experimented mice, including
the expansion of neuronal dendrites, the branching projections of the nerve
cell that conduct signals. Such changes are also seen with chronic exposure to
drugs such as amphetamine1. These structural changes were associated
with changes in synaptic plasticity, the brain’s ability to change in response
to experience, and reduced activity of endocannabinoid receptors2,
which are part of a signaling system that may play a role in sensation, mood,
and memory. “These findings give important insight into how excessive
drinking affects learning and behavioral control at the neural level,” said
Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D., acting director of the National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
“The findings imply that
chronic drinking may set up a concerted set of adaptions in this key brain
region that produce a bias for striatal control over behavior.” Dr. Andrew
Holmes.
b.
Heart.
It is not a good idea to start drinking alcohol to protect you
against heart disease. We can also argue that drinking moderate amounts of
alcohol may protect healthy adults from developing coronary heart disease. But
the negative effects are greater that its benefits to human health.
Drinking for a prolong time or too much on a one occasion can
damage the heart, causing:
1)
Cardiomyopathy
– Stretching and drooping of heart muscle
2)
Arrhythmias
– Irregular heart beat
3)
Stroke
4)
High
blood pressure
[1] A potent central nervous system stimulant of the phenethylamine
class that is used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy
2 A
group of neuromodulatory lipids and their receptors that are involved in a
variety of physiological processes including appetite, pain-sensation, mood,
and memory.
c.
Liver.
Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety
of problems and liver inflammations including:
1)
Steatosis,
or fatty liver
2)
Alcoholic
hepatitis
3)
Fibrosis
4)
Cirrhosis
d.
Pancreas.
Alcohol
causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to
pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the
pancreas that prevents proper digestion.
e.
Cancer.
Drinking too much alcohol can have a risk of developing certain
cancers, including cancers of the:
1)
Mouth
2)
Esophagus
3)
Throat
4)
Liver
5)
Breast
f.
Immune System.
Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a
much easier target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to
contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink
too much. Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability
to ward off infections – even up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
6.
The
diagram below shows the potential long-term effects of ethanol to an individual:
Diagram by: en.wikipedia.org
On the Family
7.
According
to Ackerman, R. (1987) we already know that a person can have serious deleterious
effects by alcohol and so to their families. The individual is the beginning
unit of the assessment to understand family dynamics in an alcoholic home. This
is true for both alcoholic as well as the non-alcoholic members of the family.
Different members of the family get affected differently when regarding the
following factors:
a.
whether
or not a parent is recovering from alcoholism or still drinking
b.
sex
of the child and sex of the alcoholic parent
c.
age
of the child
d.
race
e.
ordinal
position
f.
socio-economic
factors of the family
g.
offsetting
factors which can be either people or institutions that have had a positive
impact on the children
8.
Other
than these factors the severity of alcoholism also disturbs the family by the
alcoholic. One is the belligerent type who is verbally abusive and looks
forward for arguments. The other effect is from someone who likes to laugh a
lot and is preoccupied with entertaining. Being around this alcoholic may be
emotionally stressful, due to inappropriate joking, or the inability to express
himself or herself seriously
9.
Giving
a thought of my personal experiences as I have observed in different cultures
the men of the families are consumers of alcohol. The ladies do not like their
men to drink, but in order to respect them as the men are their care takers
they are forced to ignore the fact their loved ones (men) are consumers of
alcohol. I have personally seen and witnessed two families where the wives do
not admire their husbands drink alcohol and they even said to me that liked
people who do not drink. When regarding these facts also we know that
psychologically also these women are affected badly.
10.
Responses
to alcoholism in the family can be divided into four phases. These are called
reactive, active, alternative and family unity phases. Ackerman, R (1987) had also
described that “many families, unfortunately, remain in the first phase and
never reach the fourth state of sobriety and family growth”.
11.
During
the reactive phase, three typical family characteristics emerge. They are
family denial, coping strategies, and social disengagement. During the active
phase the family begins to realize that the problem of alcoholism cannot be
denied away. And they become aware about alcohol and starts behaving normal.
During the third phase, the alternative phase, family members begin to withdraw
from each other, and are often forced into “choosing sides.” Parents may begin
to make threats to each other or statements to the children that they are
considering a legal separation or divorce. Separation also may occur in some
families. If a child perceives that he or she will be worse off after the
separation, then the child views the change as undesirable, and is opposed to it
or vice versa. Unfortunately, many alcoholic families never reach the family unity
phase, because of continuing alcoholism.
Conclusion
12.
We
must understand the fact that abusing any substance will lead to chronic health
problems. Regular use of substance often leads to a tolerance where the user
will require more substance to achieve the desired effects. Excessive use of substance
eventually will lead to a physical and psychological dependency. It is
understood that small amount of these substance will not cause us harm but it
is better to totally avoid any substance which may cause deleterious effects to
our body and family.
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