Today, a very large number of men are addicted to alcohol and are close to or have already crossed the line of such a disease as alcoholism. It is very important to notice all the initial signs and begin immediate treatment of the disease. Unfortunately, patients with alcoholism in most cases do not recognize their problem, so all responsibility for the premature provision of proper assistance rests with loved ones and family members. This article describes in detail all the stages and first signs of alcoholism in men.
How does alcohol addiction occur?
The constant intake of large quantities of alcohol-containing drinks into the body has a very detrimental effect on the functioning of the human central nervous system; alcohol gradually destroys the balance of essential acids in the brain. In this way, a person's willpower is suppressed. The pleasure of drinking alcohol disappears over time, giving way to constant need and withdrawal. The main and first signs of alcoholism in men are drinking alcohol in order to relax and escape from current problems.
Alcohol replaces the metabolism of all body substances. It takes very little time for a person to become completely dependent on the presence of alcohol in the blood. Dependence and constant craving for alcoholic beverages can be explained by the following main factors:
- Genetics. Everyone knows that in the human body there is a gene that shows a person’s tendency to various kinds of addictions, including alcohol. According to statistics, people with a family history of chronic alcoholics, smokers or drug addicts are seven times more likely to become alcoholics than other people.
- Smoking addiction. Any dependence of the body on chemicals can easily give rise to another dependence. Alcoholism very often manifests itself in heavy smokers or even in people who smoke quite rarely.
- Constant stress and depression. Due to stress and depression, the body produces so-called anxiety hormones. Most often, to get rid of anxiety, people start drinking alcohol.
- Consumption of alcoholic beverages in adolescence. When the human body receives alcoholic substances for a large amount of time (even in small quantities), addiction involuntarily occurs, which later turns into severe forms of alcoholism.
A severe form of alcoholism can be caused even by such a seemingly safe drink as beer. Signs of beer alcoholism in men are manifested in the daily consumption of beer. Also, patients with beer alcoholism deny the existence of the disease as such. Beer alcoholism carries exactly the same danger as other types of addiction, so you should never neglect the existing problem.
Features of the psychology of an alcoholic
Alcoholics earn money to buy a bottle, so they are irresponsible. They do not need approval, they do not feel shame that they have lost the ability to self-criticize. A novice drinker is often an idealist and demands unrealistic goals from life. Over time, dreams are shattered and a habit of decreased willpower develops. An avid drunkard no longer overcomes difficulties due to weakening volitional qualities; he drowns difficulties in wine.
Psycho-emotional immaturity
Sometimes young people make mistakes that are forgiven by adults who understand that they are dealing with a psycho-emotionally immature person. Persons suffering from chronic alcohol addiction degrade to such a state and constantly make mistakes, being unable to appreciate their fall. An alcoholic's self-esteem is restored not by working on himself, but by a bottle of vodka.
Aggressiveness
Sober people adequately assess the framework of generally accepted norms of behavior. Alcohol intoxication blurs these boundaries and provokes the manifestation of pathological mental deviations of personality and aggressiveness. If a sober person controls the development of anger, then the alcoholic goes to the end when sorting out the relationship, which sometimes ends fatally for one of the parties.
Ethanol destroys the personality, changes the psychology of the alcoholic, and even when sober, for example, while looking for a drink, the alcoholic is capable of aggressive behavior towards a person who criticizes the drunkard’s lifestyle or stands in the way of the treasured bottle. The statistics of criminal crimes against individuals is off the charts. People rush at family members, grab a knife at meetings with drinking buddies.
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Family behavior
The phrase “an alcoholic husband means grief in the family” sounds ironic, but is the absolute truth. Only during periods of sobriety does the alcohol addict begin to feel guilty, and then the family experiences a real “honeymoon.” Unfortunately, over time, alcoholic darkness consumes the personality completely, and the family inevitably collapses. The drinker begins to achieve his goal not through dialogue, but through assault. The lack of money for wine is compensated by the sale of family property.
Attitude towards people
In order to understand the attitude of an alcohol addict towards people, it is necessary to understand that the alcoholic depends only on the bottle, and his relatives on the alcoholic himself. That is, close people become codependent on the vice of a person dear to them. These are, for example, the wives of alcoholics. For the patient, humanity is divided into drinking buddies and those “who cannot understand.” The feeling of empathy for people is lost.
How do alcoholics think?
Since the addict develops a mindset focused on obtaining alcohol, his normal human attitude towards others changes to a consumer one. A sensitive ability to manipulate is developed, which helps reduce criticism and get to the wine. Often, to justify their behavior, drinkers join the prison subculture that professes life for pleasure.
Causes of male alcoholism
Most often, men begin to abuse drinking when they face problems both in family life and at work. In such cases, the psychological factor becomes decisive in the development of addiction. The causes of male alcoholism are psychological and physiological:
- Psychological reasons give rise to physiological ones. They occur at the initial stage of disease development. Frequent stress leads a person to consume drugs or alcohol, causing physiological addiction. Alcoholics first of all need to seek psychological help in order to begin a comprehensive system of procedures to cure alcoholism.
- Physiological reasons imply changes in the body. The neurochemical system of an alcoholic very intensively produces a substance such as dopamine. It is responsible for feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. If the required amount of alcohol does not enter the alcoholic’s body, the production of dopamine decreases. Thereby causing the patient a feeling of dissatisfaction and discomfort.
Alcohol neurosis
Alcoholic neurosis is a mental disorder that occurs with regular alcohol consumption. There are such forms of alcoholic neurosis as neurasthenia and hysterical neurosis.
Neurasthenia is not very noticeable, as it manifests itself as irritability, vulnerability, and frequent headaches.
Hysterical neurosis manifests itself in a lack of self-control and anxious behavior in a calm situation and may include seizures, threats against oneself (suicide) or others.
Depressive alcoholic neurosis occurs during withdrawal syndrome (a group of disorders that occur when alcohol intake is abruptly stopped). Withdrawal syndrome or “delirium tremens” has the following symptoms: headache, irritability, hand tremors, sleep disturbance, pain in the heart, excessive sweating, frequent mood swings, etc.
The main cause of all of these mental disorders is the body’s adaptation to the conditions of the constant presence of the toxic substance ethanol in the blood. All internal organs seem to be rebuilt into this mode of functioning, even metabolism can no longer occur without ethanol. Therefore, after the intake of ethanol stops, the body experiences a deficiency and “demands” the already familiar missing component, and the alcoholic begins to get irritated and loses control.
Stages and first sign of alcoholism in men
Alcoholism is a very serious and dangerous disease that has its own stages of development. The first signs of alcoholism in a man can be noticed even at the earliest stages.
Alcohol addiction has three stages of development, each of which has a number of its own characteristics. The first stage is characterized by infrequent but systematic cases of alcohol consumption. It is very important to notice the problem already at this time. The second stage is more severe; there is already an effect on the body. The third stage of alcoholism is destructive. Alcoholic drinks destroy the liver, central nervous system, brain cells and human skin. The symptoms of each stage are discussed below.
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Now Wikipedia calls her a psychologist, but just 6 years ago she was called nothing more than an American author of books on popular psychology . There is no information that she has a psychological education or is somehow connected with medicine. Hay began to practice her ideas only in the early 70s, and before that she worked as a model and studied transcendental meditation.
Louise Hay
According to Louise's recollections, in 1978 she was diagnosed with cancer . She fought the disease with her own methods: deep introspection and affirmations - a kind of mantras aimed at instilling certain information in herself. Hay claimed that thanks to this technique she was able to completely recover, and even the lack of medical evidence did not bother anyone.
During her life, Louise wrote several dozen books, 13 of which were translated into Russian.
Symptoms of the first stage
- Rare, but almost irresistible craving for drinking alcoholic beverages.
- Lack of awareness of the seriousness of the problem.
- At the beginning of the first stage, the patient may have poor tolerance to alcohol.
- Irritability.
- Excessive depression.
- Patients with the first stage of alcoholism do not recognize the disease and in every possible way deny their addiction.
- Addiction to alcohol gradually increases, cases of consumption become more frequent and the disease gradually but rapidly moves into another stage of development. In the future, the signs of alcoholism in men become more noticeable.
Alcohol codependency
Codependency can otherwise be described as “psychological alcoholism.” This is a disorder that manifests itself in emotional, social and physical dependence on a drinking loved one. A codependent person can be easily identified: he completely devotes his life to “saving” the drunkard, forgetting about himself.
Symptoms of codependency are: fear of loved ones, pity for the alcoholic, sacrifice, fear of leaving him, solving his problems, taking responsibility for him (“we” instead of “he”), expectation of repetition, adaptation to the alcoholic’s illness, loss of one’s own significance.
As a rule, the main reason for the emergence of codependency is empathy for a loved one, a very close and dear person who has become dependent on alcohol.
However, caring for a loved one, instead of improving (as the codependent thinks), only worsens the situation: alcoholism progresses. Why? What can an alcoholic do if he doesn’t continue to drink when his problems are solved by a codependent: he cares, feels sorry, stands up for his employer and relatives, etc.?
But there is another invisible side of codependency: it gradually harms the mental and physical health of the codependent.
It was revealed that if alcoholism is diagnosed more often in men (3 times), then alcohol codependency is inherent specifically in women.
Signs of the second stage
- Alcohol tolerance improves significantly. At this stage, the patient consumes alcohol much more often, which is absorbed by the body faster and faster. Serious addiction develops.
- Sleepy state.
- The appearance of physical addiction (not only on the psychological level, as was the case in the first stage). The body gets used to the constant absorption of alcohol. When drinking alcohol, large amounts of dopamine are produced.
- The patient becomes very aggressive and can often commit uncontrollable and reckless actions, which he later does not remember.
- At the second stage, the physiological signs of alcoholism in men become stronger and eventually move into the most severe of all stages of the disease.
The third stage of alcohol addiction in men
- The liver is destroyed. There is a high likelihood of cirrhosis.
- The patient spends most of the time in an unconscious state of alcoholic intoxication.
- The most dangerous signs of alcoholism in men at the third stage of the disease are frequent cases of amnesia and exhaustion of the body.
- The third stage actually creates a chronic need for alcohol. Signs of chronic alcoholism in men include a complete absence of a gag reflex when consuming large doses of alcohol and a constant uncontrollable craving for alcohol, which is accompanied by actions that are dangerous to others.
The effect of alcohol on the body. External signs of alcoholism in men
Consuming large amounts of alcohol greatly affects not only the internal organs, but also the appearance of a person. People suffering from alcohol addiction are very easy to recognize by their external signs.
Signs of alcoholism in a man on his face:
- Swelling cheeks, forehead, neck and chin.
- Reddened skin.
- Bags under the eyes.
- A detached look.
- Loss of muscle tone.
- Blue lips.
