Alcohol - A Love-Hate Relationship
By Samantha James
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Any person who has an alcohol addiction will inevitably develop a love-hate relationship with alcohol.
No one grows up
thinking "I want to be an alcoholic someday". Some people get snatched up right away by addiction because
something in their brain goes off with that first drink or two and constant use in short order becomes the
norm, while others it takes years to cross a line somewhere unknown that takes them from normal, social
drinking, into the alcoholic zone.
This can be hard to picture, but once you cross this "line" drinking is no longer a matter of choice. The
substance is running you and all of a sudden you are constantly, literally driven to take that next drink.
That makes for a full fledged relationship. Alcohol can be your friend, your refuge when you just can't face the
world, it can help you sleep, it can give you courage that you would not otherwise have, it can make you more
confident, and at the same time it is a brutal, cruel taskmaster.
Little by little it takes away pieces of your life. Friends start disappearing and not returning your calls, you
go downhill financially, your family is in an uproar because of your self-destructive habit, and you lose your
self-respect because you have started to compromise standards that used to mean everything to you.
And you are confused - how did things ever get this far out of control? Your intentions were nothing but good,
and still, you picked up that drink again.
| Research has shown conclusively that familial transmission of alcoholism risk is
at least in part genetic and not just the result of family environment. The task of current
science is to identify what a person inherits that increases vulnerability to alcoholism and
how inherited factors interact with the environment to cause disease. |
As this relationship continues it gets harder and harder
to quit, because all the while the habit itself is forming a well worn groove in behavior.
So the addiction is constantly gaining strength. It is the easiest and most natural thing in the world to slip
backwards again and have yet another drink.
The devastation caused by this process is the very reason why anyone with a drinking problem who is attempting
to get well deserves credit for having the courage to make the effort to escape from the powerful, all encompassing
grasp of alcohol.
| According to a report published by the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University, the entertainment industry has glamorized alcohol and
rarely shows its ill effects. |
Do you suspect you have a problem with alcohol? Here is a recovery method
that can help right away.
|
http://geocities.com/HowIStoppedDrinking
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Samantha_James
| Drinking too soon or too much can affect your mood and your thinking, can hurt
others, get you in legal trouble, and damage your relationships, can harm your body now and when
you grow up, and can get you hooked. |

| Many states have passed Habitual Violator laws, which provide felony penalties for
three DUI convictions. These offenders lose many of their civil rights -- like being able to vote
or own a weapon -- as well as their driver's license permanently or for many, many years. |
| Why is underage drinking problematic? Research studies show that whatever
it is that leads teens to start drinking, once they begin they face a variety of possible and
likely health risks. Even though most of the serious health hazards and difficulties related to
abusive and excessive drinking do not happen as frequently to teenagers as they do to adults,
research demonstrates that adolescents who drink irresponsibly and excessively increase the
likelihood of facing a number of potential medical problems and health issues such as long-term
memory and thinking deterioration and liver damage. |
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