The Life Cycle of Alcohol Addiction
As we've discussed in other articles on this site, alcohol abuse is widespread and creates a heavy impact on society. The alcoholic doesn't just affect his own life but that of his family, close friends, and society at large. Given the ease at which alcohol is obtained, even for those under the legal drinking age, the influence of alcohol in society is probably greater than any other drug with 50% of persons age 18-20 drinking alcohol according to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Alcohol follows a life cycle of addiction as do other drugs. Knowing that such a pattern of addiction exists and recognizing the different stages, makes it possible for the cycle to be interrupted and for help to be given before true addiction sets in.
Is Alcoholism a Disease?
Alcohol addiction is often referred to as a disease. This is a theory that was begun with lack of a real understanding of the life cycle of addiction. Medically based in nature, this theory breaks down when one truly understands how addiction comes about. It also falls apart when full recovery from alcohol addiction takes place when the true factors related to addiction are confronted and the person goes on to live a drug-free life.
Alcohol addiction isn't a condition one must struggle with their entire life. There is a drug-free solution to alcohol addiction. The Narconon Alcohol Rehabilitation program has been handling alcohol addiction for over 40 years without the use of drugs to do so. The result is permanent recovery from alcohol addiction.
The Factors of Alcohol Addiction
The true factors of alcohol addiction begin with the life cycle of addiction. This life cycle of addiction begins with a person experiencing some problem, discomfort or some form of emotional or physical pain. This problem or pain does not have an immediate answer the person can recognize. It could be the loss of a loved one, a job loss, a broken bone or other physical condition.
Whatever the origin of the person's difficulty, it gives the individual a real problem. There seems to be no solution. The person finds he or she gets relief from the problem, even if only temporarily, by the use of the drug or alcohol. Let's take alcohol in this case. The person takes a few drinks and experiences relief so alcohol is now assigned a high value.
Taking the cycle of addiction one step further begins to explain how one person becomes an addict and one does not. The person has already assigned a high value to the alcohol. It is valuable as it is the thing that took his pain away, whether physical or emotional. Now the person experiences some form of peer pressure accompanied by pro-alcohol influences. Advertising is designed to target people and "push the right buttons" to get the desired response of reaching for alcohol. Despite the mal-nutritional appearance of alcoholics, beer and alcohol ads show only healthy people drinking or enjoying alcohol. This gives a false view of alcohol use and makes it appear completely acceptable and gives the would-be addict good reason to continue drinking. Accompany this with a severe problem and peer pressure and one is well on his way to addiction.
A typical example is a man under pressure due to work deadlines. He may also be having some problems at home with his wife or family. His co-workers approach him at quitting time and invite him to go to the club with them. He already knows he gets relief from alcohol and the idea of having his mind off things for a while sounds too good to pass up. He of course goes to the club. He is now out drinking and late for his dinner with his wife and family. This winds him up with more problems, making the matter worse.
So he not only feels bad before he took alcohol, his problems after are now even more severe. The only relief he had in between was when he was intoxicated. He now seeks to find additional opportunities to drink, until he winds up drinking as a routine to solve his problems. However, drinking never really solves his problems with others, it only helps him to forget about them temporarily. This is why Life Skills courses that teach problem solving are a vital part of the Narconon program. These courses give the student new and workable solutions to the actual problems they face as opposed to avoiding them by drinking.
Cravings
There is an additional factor to alcohol addiction: Cravings. Cravings are strong uncontrollable urges to use drugs or alcohol that can drive the addict to use addictive substances again. Alcohol or drug cravings are far more intense than cravings for food when one is extremely hungry. The feeling is that the person's very survival depends upon obtaining the substance again. Without proper nutrition as on the Narconon program, it truly can be a nightmare experience to come off of alcohol. However, Narconon students routinely are amazed at how easily they moved through and experienced their Narconon withdrawal program.
When one experiences cravings this can be an additional trap that keeps one drinking. This is solved with effective drug rehabilitation at Narconon. However, in the case of alcohol, there is a very real factor that almost trumps cravings. That is the next barrier to recovery: depression.
Depression
With both drugs and alcohol one can become severely depressed after taking the substance. Although there may be very real factors since one started drinking and before that would be legitimate cause for depression, there is a physical side to depression, caused by the drugs and alcohol themselves. Physically, when one takes drugs or alcohol their physical body becomes nutritionally depleted. This depletion of vitamins and nutritional substances is the physical side of depression. Taking more drugs or alcohol makes the problem worse.
Without the nutritional side of addiction addressed, the person experiences severe depression and withdrawal. This almost always leads the person back to continuing to abuse drugs or alcohol.
All of the factors of alcohol addiction are addressed on the Narconon alcohol addiction program. Narconon has a 45 year history of creating drug and alcohol-free lives. With the effective steps of the Narconon program fully done an individual can free himself from alcohol addiction and go on to live an alcohol-free life.
If you know of someone struggling with alcohol addiction call Narconon East U.S. today at 877-237-3307.