Study Relates AA Membership to Lower Murder Rate

Noting the relationship between drinking and violent crime, a new study suggests that increased membership in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) could actually lower the murder rate in a community, Reuters reported Sept. 25.

Researchers from the University of Toronto and Dalhousie University studied AA membership in Ontario between 1968 and 1991 and noted that as more problem drinkers joined the group, the murder rate in the province dropped. Authors Robert Mann and Mark Asbridge calculated that for every increase of one AA member per 100,000 residents, the Ontario murder rate fell 0.3 to 0.5 percent.

"Our study showed that total and male homicide rates in Ontario were strongly related to average levels of alcohol consumption," the University of Toronto's Mann said. "These observations confirm previous research showing that alcohol is a leading contributor to violence, as well as violence-related mortality."

The findings applied to men only. "Males drink more often, more heavily and consume more beer and spirits than females," said Asbridge, of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "Moreover, the nature of the link between alcohol consumption and violence is more readily a male experience, for example, drinking heavily in bar settings leads to aggression and violence."

The study was published in the October 2006 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Alcoholism vs. Alcohol Abuse

Alcoholism is a disease involving uncontrollable physical dependence and emotional reliance on alcohol. The sufferer is unable to stay away from drink even when faced with dire consequences in all areas of his life - marriage, work, financial health. It is a chronic disease and often progresses to the point, if untreated, it becomes fatal.

The term "alcohol abuse" is used to describe a state less severe than true alcoholism. As an alcohol abuser, you may drink to excess and suffer social and health consequences, but never completely lose your control over the substance as you would in full-fledged alcoholism.

Just because it's not as bad as alcoholism, abuse is by no means a safe way to use alcohol. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence says 18 million Americans abuse alcohol. Alcohol plays a part in almost half of all traffic fatalities in the United States. The loved ones of these victims put very little stock in the difference between an alcohol abuser and an alcoholic when the driver at fault drank more than he should have.

Although it's not always easy to diagnose the true alcoholic, there are indications that can be recognized. Not everyone suffering from alcoholism suffers all these symptoms. In addition, because they tend to be secretive about it, it will be difficult to discover in another. Here's what to watch for:

1. Keeping drinking secret from friends and family; drinking alone a lot; hiding the alcohol in unusual places.

2. Being unable to stop drinking once started.

3. Experience full or partial "blackouts," where your memory of events while drinking isn't complete.

4. Becoming annoyed when a regular drinking ritual, like having a drink after dinner, is interrupted.

5. Leaving behind former hobbies and pleasurable activities.

6. Drinking becomes a compulsion or a need.

7. The more time without a drink, the more signs irritability are shown.

8. Gulping strong drinks to achieve the drunk feeling as fast as possible.

9. Tolerance levels are reached making it necessary to drink even larger amounts to achieve the needed feeling.

10. Relationships, work, financial troubles increase, sometimes involving legal actions.

11. When no alcohol has been consumed for a while for whatever reason, experiencing symptoms of physical withdrawal - shaking, sweating, and nausea.

If you haven't reached the stage of true alcoholism, but are instead an alcohol abuser you may suffer some of the same symptoms, with the exception of the compulsion to drink and the withdrawal symptoms when not drinking. Alcoholism is also more suspected when a tolerance to alcohol has been built up and when an inability to stop drinking is observed.

Have you ever wondered if your own alcohol consumption has crossed the line into either alcohol abuse or alcoholism? Ask yourself the following:

- What's the first thing you think of when you get up in the morning? If having a drink ranks in the top 1 or 2, there could be problem.

- Do you feel guilty enough to hide how much you drink from those who care about you? From your boss?

- Do you often think about how you should cut back on the amount of drinking you do? Have you made failed New Years' Resolutions to stop?

- Do you get annoyed when others mention or, heaven forbid, criticize your special relationship to alcohol?

A yes answer to any of these questions could indicate at least alcohol abuse and possibly even alcoholism. Seek help!

Michael Russell

Drug Addiction-It's treatable

Drug Addiction and Alcoholism; A Treatable Illness

Drug addiction and alcohol addiction are comparable to chronic illnesses like diabetes, asthma, and hypertension, and should be treated as such,according to an article published in a year 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Authors Thomas McLellan, Ph.D., and Herbert D. Kleber, M.D., conducted a literature review of those illnesses, revealing that there are underlying similarities between drug addiction, alcohol addiction and chronic diseases. Yet, say the researchers, drug addiction is typically treated as if it is an acute condition. Altering perceptions to think of drug addiction as a chronic illness may change the way it is treated and insured.

The researchers found that drug addiction and alcoholism shares many of the characteristics of other chronic illnesses. In the area of genetic heritability, for example, studies of monozygotic and dizygotic twins have found heritability estimates of .25 to .50 for hypertension; .80 for type 2 and .30 for type 1 diabetes; and .36 to .70 for asthma. Heritability estimates for the drug addictions are similar, ranging from .34 for heroin dependence, .55 for alcoholism, .52 for marijuana dependence, and .61 for dependence on cigarettes.

Typically, both medical professionals and the general public view drug abuse as voluntary activities. That people choose to use drugs seems to set drug addiction and alcohol adidiction apart from other chronic illnesses. Yet, there are many chronic illnesses in which voluntary choice affects initiation and maintenance of disease. Salt sensitivity, obesity, stress level, and physical inactivity, all within voluntary control, are important factors in the development of hypertension.

Drug addiction and alcoholism also resembles other chronic illnesses in regard to treatment response. The course that an drug addiction takes if left untreated is an important issue in this regard. Studies comparing treated and untreated populations of addicts have typically shown that untreated, addictions do not remit.

Painkiller Patches Abused by Addicts

Addicts in Canada have figured out how to get around the new safety features of narcotic pain patches so they can use the drugs to get high, the National Post reported May 5.

Researcher Benedikt Fischer of the B.C. Center for Addictions Research and colleagues said that misuse of fentanyl pain patches, sold under the brand name Duragesic, has been linked to dozens of overdose deaths. To help prevent misuse, drug maker Ortho-McNeil replaced the fentanyl gel in the patches to storing the drug in a plastic matrix. But some users have learned that they can add vinegar and water to the patch and then soak or heat it to draw the drug out of the matrix in liquid form.

"This is bad news in many ways and ... I don't think anybody has a clear idea what to do about it," said Fischer.

The study found that more than half of the 25 street addicts studied in Toronto had injected fentanyl within the past three months.

The research was published March 31, 2008 in the journal Drug and Alcohol Revi

Understanding Alcoholics Anonymous

Understanding Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholism can be defined as the person’s uncontrollable urge to drink alcohol. Alcoholics feel that they cannot live without drinking booze. For normal people, water is a vital drink to live; where as for alcoholics, liquor, booze, beer, (whatever name you call it) is their “h20 in life.” Alcoholism is made up of four elements:

A strong craving for a drink
Physical Dependence wherein withdrawal symptoms are demonstrated: anxiety, shakiness, nausea, and sweating once drinking has stopped for quite a period of time
The inability of the person to stop himself/herself from drinking once the said person has started
Alcohol Tolerance wherein the person feels that drinking is needed to be able to feel better or to be “happy.”

There is still hope for alcoholism to be eradicated little by little. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was developed for this purpose. It is a society that holds informal meetings among alcoholics for them to have all the help they can get in order to attain sobriety as well as help other people like themselves become sober. Here, the members share their experiences as well as give hope to one another and strengthen themselves from the temptations of drinking through their so called twelve step program.

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith who were both alcoholics who found sobriety through spirituality. Alcoholics Anonymous became known through word of mouth. As soon as the count of members reached a hundred, the twelve-step program was included in a book that was published, speaking about the program and the main stages of the treatment and they are: admitting that one has become powerless, moral inventory, and recognizing that there is a higher power where people should ask help from.

An AA survey made in the year 2004 covering more than 7500 members based in the United States and Canada showed that the average sobriety rate for members is eight years and most of the members who became sober received counseling and spiritual therapies from the outside and that these outside treatments helped them stay sober.

A newly developed network for alcoholics that is similar to Alcoholics Anonymous is the Sober Sources Network which was established just last year (2007). It is a network that gives support to alcoholic people and those with harmful addictions. It was a response to the forums developed (The Sober Village and the Sober Teens Online) discussing and giving information to the said topics.

The Sober Sources Network was formed through the observation that there are only a number of websites that give complete information and resources that are extremely useful to people wanting help for their addictions.

It is good that Alcoholism can be treated even though at a slow rate through Alcoholics Anonymous. It is also amazing that the Sober Sources Network has been designed to give quick and easy online support to alcoholics and drug addicts who wouldn’t really know where to ask help from especially because of the fact that alcoholism and substance abuse is a delicate subject. Sober forums are also there not only to give support to the alcoholics but also to give vital information and support to parents, family members and friends who are affected when a loved one is under the power of alcoholism.

Copyright 2008 C.King, M.Ed., Sober Sources Network- may be reproduced with proper acknowledgments.

VR Environments Therapeautic For Addicts

Article Date: 29 Apr 2008

Patients in therapy to overcome addictions have a new arena to test their coping skills - the virtual world. A new study by University of Houston Associate Professor Patrick Bordnick found that a virtual reality (VR) environment can provide the climate necessary to spark an alcohol craving so that patients can practice how to say "no" in a realistic and safe setting.

"As a therapist, I can tell you to pretend my office is a bar, and I can ask you to close your eyes and imagine the environment, but you'll know that it's not real," Bordnick said. "In this virtual environment you are at a bar or at a party or in a real-life situation. What we found was that participants had real-life responses."

Bordnick, of the UH Graduate College of Social Work, investigates VR as a tool for assessing and treating addictions. He studied 40 alcohol-dependent people who were not receiving treatment (32 men and eight women). Wearing a VR helmet, each was guided through 18 minutes of virtual social environments that included drinking. The participant's drink of choice was included in each scene. Using a game pad, each rated his or her cravings and attention to the alcohol details in each room. Each then was interviewed following the experience.

"What we found was that the VR environments were real enough that their cravings were intensified. So, now we can develop coping skills, practice them in those very realistic environments until those skills are working tools for them to use in real life," Bordnick said.

His VR environments, developed with a company called Virtually Better, feature different scenarios that an addict may find challenging: a bar with imbibing patrons, a house party with guests drinking and smoking, a convenient store with cigarettes and alcoholic beverages within reach, a designated smoking section outside of a building or a room with an arguing couple. The environments use actors in each scene as opposed to computer-generated characters. In addition, the study added another layer of realism. A device sprayed the air with scents the participant may encounter in the various scenarios - cigarette smoke, alcoholic beverages, pizza or aromas associated with the outdoors.

"This study shows us the value of using virtual reality as a tool for assessing and treating addictions. Future studies should explore the importance of environmental settings and other cues on cravings and relapse," Bordnick said.

His study is available online in the journal Addictive Behaviors.

Need online support now? Get support now!

Bordnick also has VR environments to help soldiers from Iraq, those with a fear of flying, fear of public speaking and fear of heights.


He is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institutes for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

For more information on the UH Graduate College of Social Work, visit http://www.sw.uh.edu/main/home.php.

Source: Marisa Ramirez
University of Houston

Treatment

Residential treatment centers usually offer a multi-faceted approach in assisting clients in their recovery from active addiction. The therapeutic and structured environments found in residential treatment centers can facilitate the important first stages of detoxification and withdrawal, setting the stage for a cleared mind to be able to absorb new ideas and concepts in healthy living, relapse prevention, behavioral changes, etc...

Depending upon your insurance coverage, many of the centers in the mid and high range may become affordable. You can contact the customer service department at your insurance company and check your covered benefits. In-network benefits can be as high as 80 - 100%, out of network benefits are often 50%.
Although each residential treatment center operates under different philosophies, certain general approaches are likely to be found in most. Among those are:

* Detoxification
* Drug and alcohol education
* Relapse prevention
* Family program
* Individual and group counseling
* Twelve-step recovery
* Anger Management
* Dual Diagnosis Education
* Self Harm Reduction
* Community Re-Integration

When people drink themselves silly.

The urge to binge mindlessly, though it can strike at any time, seems to stir in the collective unconscious during the last weeks of winter. Maybe it’s the television images from places like Fort Lauderdale and Cabo San Lucas, of communications majors’ face planting outside bars or on beaches.

Or perhaps it’s a simple a case of seasonal affective disorder in reverse. Not SAD at all, but anticipation of warmth and eagerness for a little disorder.

Either way, researchers have had a hard time understanding binge behavior. Until recently, their definition of binge drinking — five drinks or more in 24 hours — was so loose that it invited debate and ridicule from some scholars. And investigators who ventured into the field, into the spray of warm backwash and press of wet T-shirts, often returned with findings like this one from a 2006 study: “Spring break trips are a risk factor for escalated alcohol use.”

Or this, from a 1998 analysis: “The men’s reported levels of alcohol consumption, binge drinking and intoxication were significantly higher than the women’s.”

In fact, the dynamics of bingeing may have more to do with personal and cultural expectations than with the number of upside-down margaritas consumed. In their classic 1969 book, “Drunken Comportment,” recently out in paperback, the social scientists Craig MacAndrew and Robert B. Edgerton wrote that the disconnect between the conventional wisdom on drunken behavior and the available evidence “is even now so scandalous as to exceed the limits of reasonable toleration.”

They detailed the vast differences in the way people from diverse cultures behave after excessive alcohol. In contrast to nearby tribes, for example, the Yuruna Indians in the Xingu region of Brazil would become exceptionally reserved when rendered sideways by large helpings of moonshine. The Camba of eastern Bolivia would drink excessively twice a month. Sitting in a circle, they would toast one another, more lavishly with each pop.

In a Japanese island village, Takashima, people knew a drinking occasion had gone completely off the dials if villagers began to sing or, wilder still, to dance. Aggression, sexual or otherwise, was unheard of during these sessions.

Western cultures are more likely to excuse binge drinking as a needed mental vacation. “An awful lot of cultures have institutionalized bingeing as a kind of time out like Mardi Gras or New Year’s Eve, a culturally recognized period where a certain amount of acting out is acceptable,” said Dwight Heath, emeritus professor of anthropology at Brown.

Not to say that would-be bingers, when ordering that first tray of Irish car bombs for the table, think about discharging a cultural tradition. They have their own reasons. And those, too, shape subsequent drunken behavior.

In a series of studies in the 1970s and ’80s, psychologists at the University of Washington put more than 300 students into a study room outfitted like a bar with mirrors, music and a stretch of polished pine. The researchers served alcoholic drinks, most often icy vodka tonics, to some of the students and nonalcoholic ones, usually icy tonic water, to others. The drinks looked and tasted the same, and the students typically drank five in an hour or two.

The studies found that people who thought they were drinking alcohol behaved exactly as aggressively, or as affectionately, or as merrily as they expected to when drunk. “No significant difference between those who got alcohol and those who didn’t,” Alan Marlatt, the senior author, said. “Their behavior was totally determined by their expectations of how they would behave.”

In a repeat of the session performed for a coming documentary, one participant insisted that she could not have been drinking because alcohol always made her flush.

“We told her that, yes, in fact she was drinking it,” Dr. Marlatt said. “She immediately flushed.”

Somewhere between personal preferences and social custom, moreover, the peer group asserts itself. In a recent study, public health researchers in New Zealand conducted extensive interviews with teenage girls in one of two cliques at a high school. Both groups associated drinking with uninhibited behavior — and that is what they exhibited. But one group considered being uninhibited to include making out, and the other considered it to include far more.

In their discussion, Dr. MacAndrew and Dr. Edgerton acknowledged that Western societies, and certainly the United States, send multiple signals on bingeing. At times, the signals cross, as when movies show spring-break binging as sunburned, sexy fun, while health pronouncements make it look like an orgy of near-criminal behavior.

At other times, cultural expectations and personal preferences reinforce each other. The hope that a wild session might “reveal new things about myself” or “allow me to act completely out of character” is widely echoed in literature, pop culture and drinking lore. If the research is a guide, those hopes should be self-fulfilling at some level.

Unless, that is, the binge goes beyond any reasonable definition of excess. Then the amount of tequila consumed matters very much — and poison is poison in any culture.
http://www.nytimes.com

Talking To Veterns when in Despair

CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — Nancy Nosewicz was busy fielding calls at the new national veterans hot line on a recent afternoon when someone from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Topeka, Kan., phoned. He had a 55-year-old Army veteran from the Northwest on the line who had called to complain about his benefits, but now the guy, drunk and crying, was talking about not wanting to live. Could Ms. Nosewicz pick up?

n a slurred voice, heavy from weeping, the veteran, named Robert, told her that he was homeless and wanted to “just lay down in the river and never get up.”

Ms. Nosewicz, a social worker, listened. Then in a voice firm and comforting like a big sister, she said: “We don’t want you to either. Today we’re not thinking about the alcohol or the housing, Robert. Today it’s about keeping you safe.”

She gave an assistant Robert’s phone number to find his address and alert local police to stand by. The chain of care resembled a relay race, with one runner trying not let go of the baton until the next runner had it in hand.

The veterans hot line is part of a specialized effort by the Department of Veterans Affairs to reduce suicide by enabling counselors, for the first time, to instantly check a veteran’s medical records and then combine emergency response with local follow-up services. It comes after years of criticism that the department has been neglecting tens of thousands of wounded service men and women who have returned from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Monday, a class action suit brought by veterans groups opened in San Francisco charging a “systemwide breakdown,” citing long delays in receiving disability benefits and flaws in the way discharged soldiers at risk for suicide had been treated. Kerri J. Childress, a department spokeswoman, said Monday that there were an average of 18 suicides a day among America’s 25 million veterans and that more than a fifth were committed by men and women being treated by Veterans Affairs.

Up and running since August, the hot line tries to respond to at least some of those in crisis. Over eight months, it has received more than 37,200 calls and made more than 720 rescues — sending out, from a narrow office here in upstate New York, emergency responders all over the country to find someone on a bridge, with a gun in his hand, with a stomach full of pills.

Paul Sullivan, the director of Veterans for Common Sense, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit, said of the department: “I’m pleased they’re responding. However, much more needs to be done so vets aren’t turned away from health care and don’t have to wait for benefits.”

Mr. Sullivan says suicidal patients have not been able to get care promptly; he cited the case of Jonathan Schulze, who was turned away twice from a Veterans Affairs hospital before he killed himself in January 2007.

“More than 600,000 veterans are waiting, on average, more than six months for disability benefits,” said Mr. Sullivan, who worked at the department monitoring benefits.

Experts agree that veterans are more likely, perhaps twice as much, to commit suicide as people who have never served in the military. Meanwhile, a study released last week by the RAND Corporation estimates that roughly one in five veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan has symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, which heightens the risk of suicide.

Yet whatever larger failings may exist, the staff of social workers, addiction specialists and nurses who keep the hot line running — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — can count at least some victories by the end of each shift.

Unique about this hot line, said Janet Kemp, the national suicide prevention coordinator with the department, is that now the counselors have medical information at their fingertips, which they use to connect vets with counseling near their homes. The model evolved from a new research program on suicide prevention paid for by the department.

“For years people thought that asking questions about suicide put the thought in people’s mind, but now we know that’s not true,” said Dr. Kemp, who travels throughout the country training V.A. staff.

The department is spending about $3 million to start and operate the hot line during its first year, said a spokesman, Daniel Ryan, and another $2.9 million on a mental health research center at the sprawling red-brick V.A. Medical Center in Canandaigua. Referring to the hot line’s relay model, Kerry Knox, the director of the new research center, said, “You don’t want them to fall through the cracks.”

With Robert, for example — whose last name was not provided for confidentiality — Ms. Nosewicz gradually nudged him to agree to be taken to a hospital and to give his name and Social Security number so she could check his file and put him in contact with the department’s suicide prevention coordinator in his area.

Meanwhile, Denise Slocum, a health assistant, relayed questions from the local police dispatcher. “The police are asking if you’re near an elementary school,” asked Ms. Nosewicz, who then nodded her head at Ms. Slocum.

“No, no, no — no handcuffs,” Ms. Nosewicz reassured Robert. “You’re going to go to the hospital.”

“Do you have a tissue to blow your nose? Then use your sleeve.”

“When they come in, you put them on the phone with me, and I’ll tell them to treat you with respect.”

Twenty minutes later, Ms. Slocum called the police again to confirm that Robert had been taken to a hospital. Ms. Nosewicz alerted the prevention coordinator. One is at each of the department’s 156 health centers.

Robert’s name was added to a board near the doorway so that the staff could follow up to ensure a local counselor actually met with him.

Of course, sometimes a crack is unavoidable.

“He’s going to do it. He’s really going to do it,” said Terri Rose, a counselor who was working the noon-to-midnight shift. She was wiping her red-rimmed eyes. A caller from Texas, who said he was 65 and a helicopter gunner in Vietnam, said he had a suicide pact with his friend, but the friend had gone off and killed himself. Now he, too, was ready to die, saying he had even found a coffin for $150, said Ms. Rose, who is an Air Force veteran herself. The veteran hung up and had stopped answering her calls.

Sometimes veterans have a lot of trouble asking for help, said Jacalyn O’Loughlin, a counselor. “They keep saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ ” Ms. O’Loughlin said. “Especially marines. They feel they’re weak if they reach out.”

Mr. Ryan said about half the calls to the hot line — 1-800-273-TALK (8255) — were from veterans, split fairly evenly between Vietnam and Iraq. Family members and friends also frequently call. About 30 percent of the veterans are women.

A couple of months ago, Ms. O’Loughlin said, a distraught woman called from Oregon who was driving to the woods and then threatened to “walk and walk and walk and never come back.” Ms. O’Loughlin rang the tiny silver bell on her desk to signal the health technician. The health tech checked the area code and phoned the closest Veterans Affairs health center.

“And lo and behold, that suicide prevention coordinator knew her just by her first name,” Ms. O’Loughlin said. The tech called the police and the coordinator called the woman’s husband, getting the car’s make and model. Ms. O’Loughlin kept her on the line; when she hung up, Ms. O’Loughlin called her back. “This went on for hours,” she said. “I could hear her getting out of the car. I could hear the rustling from the leaves.”

Meanwhile, the police and her husband were driving up and down roads. They spotted the car, dashed through the trees and found her. She had a bottle of pills in her hand but had not yet swallowed them.

Sometimes, the victories are smaller but no less satisfying. That morning, Ms. Nosewicz spoke to a veteran whose house was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina; he had been relocated to a different state.

“He called crying because he can’t find a job, saying ‘my teeth are so rotten and my mouth stinks,’ ” Ms. Nosewicz said.

Dental referrals are not exactly part of the job description, but Ms. Nosewicz tried dental schools in his area until she found a school to do the work. “He was crying on the phone,” she recalled, “and said, ‘Thanks so much. Thanks so much.’ ”

All in all not a bad day’s work, Ms. Nosewicz said, as she got ready to leave. “Three rescues, four consults and one set of teeth.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/

Alcohol Abuse in Soldiers

Alcohol Abuse in Soldiers

A lot of soldiers returning home from wars have become alcoholics. It is true that the loneliness as well as the pressure while out in the battle field makes soldiers resort to drinking sprees, alcohol dependency and sometimes drug dependency.

Soldiers should remember though that the abuse of alcohol as well as the misuse of medications or drugs can result to harmful and risky behaviors that include but are not limited to pub fights, spousal abuse, even unexpected deaths so it is a must to engage in responsible drinking. Below are some tips that would help one drink responsibly:

Before drinking and in the course of drinking, make sure that your stomach has food because eating food with starch and high protein will slow down the rate of the effects of alcohol hitting you.

Drink slowly but surely as fast drinking will make the drinker more intoxicated. Drinking no more than one drink every hour will result to the drinker not being drunk fast

Try drinking non alcoholic drinks in between your intake of alcoholic drinks as this will result to alcoholic drinks not having a greater effect on you.

Remember this HALT! This is easy to remember and stands for “Never Drink if you have the following feelings: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.”

And of course, let us not forget (though it may be a cliché, it can save lives). Do not drink and drive. Always make sure that the person who will be driving the vehicle is sober, otherwise, just take a cab or any other public transportation.

Following these tips will help you (soldiers) avoid alcohol abuse as well as symptoms or ailments partnered with alcoholism such as: PTSD. PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when coupled with alcoholism will automatically cause a lot of trouble. It is a type of anxiety disorder that usually results from trauma that comes from physical injury, a serious threat of death or the death of someone close. As early as the 6th century BC, PTSD has been observed in war veterans.
It has been observed that people with PTSD have a greater risk of developing alcoholism and most alcoholics are even diagnosed with the said disease. Around eighty percent of war veterans undergoing treatment for PTSD have been detected with alcohol abuse disorders. These people have a tendency to commit suicide once they become depressed especially if they are over the age of 65. Binge drinking is also a frequent activity in soldiers/veterans as it is used as a tool to forget traumatic memories for a short period of time.

Alcoholism also disrupts your relationship with your partner and may lead to violence as it is evident in spousal abuse committed by intoxicated soldiers. Aside from conflicts, problems in intimacy have also been observed. PTSD symptoms are stimulated more with alcoholism. The effects of PTSD treatments are also lessened by alcohol abuse.
Soldiers amongst all professionals have the great responsibility of avoiding alcoholism. It is a must to follow tips in avoiding too much drinking not only for your safety but also for the safety of your loved ones and the people who look up to you.



Need help with alcohol abuse?