Alcholism
Abstract
One out of very thirteen adults is considered to be an alcoholic or they suffer from a drinking problem. Today, fourteen million Americans suffer from this disease which is caused by a combination of physiological, psychological, social, and genetic factors. Alcoholism is a developmental disease that progresses slowly over a period if time and is based solely on both the physical and emotional dependency of alcohol. In many cases it leads to brain and liver damage and/or early death.
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a wide-ranging and complex disease that heavily plagues our society in the United States. Alcoholism can be defined as being addicted to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from the physical dependency of alcohol (dictionary.com). Drinking is defined as the consumption of a liquid, and/or the act of drinking alcoholic beverages especially to excess. It is estimated that over three million teenagers between the ages of fourteen and seventeen in the United States today are problem drinkers. Accidents and suicides that are associated with alcohol problems are especially prominent in the teen years. Every year alcohol is responsible for one half of all murders, accidental deaths, and suicides. One third of all drowning, boating, and aviation deaths, one half of all crimes; and nearly one half of all fatal automobile accidents are due to the irresponsible consumption of alcohol. To some, alcohol is considered to be a potent nonprescription drug sold to anyone over the legal drinking age of twenty-one.
Alcoholism is an outrageous public health problem. Due to the physical dependency of alcohol, and affects the brain, alcoholism is a very difficult illness to be cured of. What ultimately triggers the onset of alcoholism in the brain is debatable. "The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences estimates that alcoholism and alcohol abuse in the United States cost society from...
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