ALCOHOLISM - SELF DESTRUCTION

What is alcoholism? Alcoholism is the highest level of alcohol abuse which leads to the inability to manage drinking habits.

Alcoholism, when tested in the laboratory is called an alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Many resort to alcohol for so many reasons and when you ask 'why do you drink alcohol'? they tell you something to justify it. This justification makes them sink deeply into the usage of alcohol not knowing they are gradually sinking beneath the 6th room of the surface of the earth.

Some alcohol users will say, we only take a little and that is it, little did they know that many started with a little and became alcoholics.

Alcohol use disorder can be categorized into three:

- mild,

- moderate

- severe.

Each of these alcohol use disorders has various symptoms that can be harmful to the health and can spiral out of control If left untreated.

Causes of Alcoholism are much such that you can't point at a cause for an individual who is an alcoholic because these causes interact differently in every individual.

We have internal and external factors that lead to the development of alcoholism.

Internal factors include the following:

- Personality

- personal choice

- Genetics

- psychological conditions

- Drinking History

External Factors include the following:

- Family

- Social and Cultural Norms

- Age

- Education

- Religion

- Job Status

- Environment

These two factors are major players that determine the danger and reaction of alcoholism among individuals.

There are also what we call genetic factors and DNA. Genetic factors deal with human traits while DNA involves the physical character and the physical character is the genes passed on to us by our parents.

If genetically an individual becomes an alcoholic, that individual has a high risk of developing Alcohol use disorder, while individuals who inherit it depend on social and environmental factors before developing alcohol use disorder. All things being equal, those who inherited this gene and are susceptible to alcoholism drink responsibly or at some point in their lives never tasted alcohol.

Research shows that genes are responsible for about half of the risk of AUD. Therefore, genes alone do not determine whether someone will develop AUD.

Although the gene is 50 % responsible for the determination of alcohol abuse disorder according to research because genes play a 50% role in the development of AUD means environmental interactions and genes also play the remaining part in those with an alcohol disorder

Genes therefore do not fault the sense that there are hundreds of genes in a person's DNA that might increase the risk of developing alcohol use disorder. Identifying genes is cumbersome because each plays little role. Having said this, studies have also revealed that certain combinations of genes have a strong relationship to alcoholism.

Some genes like mental illness, depression and schizophrenia which are passed down through family history can also determine if an individual will develop AUD.