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King Alcohol and his Prime Minister circa 1820

Alcoholism is often seen as a "disease of affluence," being uncommon among indigenous people until they become "civilised." Alcoholism is a life-threatening problem that often ends in death, particularly through liver or kidney disease, internal bleeding, brain deterioration, alcohol poisoning, accidents and suicide.

Alcohol dependence can be harder to break and significantly more damaging than dependence on most other addictive substances. The physical symptoms when withdrawing from alcohol are seen to be equal to those experienced during withdrawal from heroin.

Long term abusers of alcoholic beverageAlcoholic beverages are drinks containing ethanol, popularly called alcohol''. Alcoholic beverages have been widely used since the remote antiquity by many civilizations around the world, as a component of the standard diet, for hygienic reasons, for theis can suffer delirium tremensDelirium tremens (often colloquially called the DTs) is a condition almost invariably associated with complete alcohol withdrawal in an individual with a reported history of long-term alcohol consumption. Symptoms The symptoms include tremors and intense.

1 Screening

Several tools may be used to detect the habitual abuse of alcohol. The CAGE questionnaire is one such example that may be used to screen patients quickly in a doctor's office. Two "yes" responses indicate that the respondant should be investigated further. The questionnaire asts the following questions:

1. Have you ever felt you needed to cut down on your drinking?
2. Have people annoyed you by criticising your drinking?
3. Have you ever felt guilty about drinking?
4. Have you ever felt you needed a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover (eye-opener)?

2 Treatments

Treatments for alcoholism include detoxification programs run by medical institutions. These may involve stays of a number of weeks in specialized hospitalA hospital today is a centre for professional health care provided by physicians and nurses. During the Middle Ages it could serve other functions, such as almshouse for the poor, or hostel for pilgrims. The name comes from Latin hospes (host), which is a wards where drugs may be used to avoid withdrawal symptoms. " Cold turkeyCold turkey is a term describing the actions of a person who gives up his habit or addiction at a single moment, rather than through gradually easing the process through tapering off or supplemental medication. The term allegedly derives from the comparis"-style self-administered withdrawal can be life threatening for an alcoholic!

After detoxification, various forms of group therapyGroup therapy is a form of psychotherapy during which one or several therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. This may be more cost effective than individual therapy, and possibly even more effective. Quoted with permission is the re or psychotherapyPsychotherapy is a set of techniques believed to cure or to help solve behavioral and other psychological problems in humans. The common part of these techniques is direct personal contact between therapist and patient, mainly in the form of talking. can be used to deal with underlying psychological issues leading to alcohol dependence. Aversion therapies may be supported by drugs like DisulfiramDisulfiram is a drug used to support the treatment of chronic alcoholism by producing an acute sensitivity to alcohol). Trade names for disulfiram in different countries are Antabuse and Antabus the chemical name of the substance is tetraethylthiuram disu, which causes a strong and prompt hangover whenever alcohol is consumed. Naltrexone may improve compliance with abstinance planning. The standard pharmocopeia of anti-depressants, anxiolytics and other psychotropic drugs treat underlying mood disorders, neuroses and psychoses associated with alcoholic symptoms.

Another treatment program is based on nutritional therapy. Many alcoholics have insulin resistance syndrome, a metabolic disorder where the body's difficulty in processing sugars causes an unsteady supply to the blood stream. While the disorder can be treated by a hypoglycemic diet, this can affect behaviour and emotions, side-effects often seen among alcoholics in treatment. The metabolic aspects of alcoholism are often overlooked, resulting in poor treatment outcomes. See: [1]

In the 1900s the self-help group-counselling approach to treatment became increasingly successful and remains so today, with Alcoholics Anonymous possibly being the best-known example of this movement.