Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a disease which involves the whole person: physically, mentally, psychologically, and spiritually. The significant characteristics of the disease are that it is primary, progressive, chronic and fatal. However, the progress of alcoholism can be halted and the patient can recover. Alcoholism is a distinct disease with a descernable, predictable pattern of pathology. The cause of alcoholism is unknown. All kinds of people from diverse backgrounds and with many different personalities become alcoholics. The disease causes its victims to behave in destructive and antisocial ways.

Using a simple feeling chart, Vernon Johnson in I'll Quit Tomorrow, has developed a four-step process that describes the personality changes that occur in the alcoholic. The first stage is psychological and involves how the alcoholic learns the mood swing. Alcohol is a drug that makes the person feel good. The result of drinking is to shift the person's mood toward the euphoric end of the feeling chart. In the second phase, drinking now has a specific purpose--the drinker is seeking the mood swing. Harmful dependence is the third phase. Before this stage, alcohol had only a beneficial effect on the drinker. At this stage, alcohol has developed some negative consequences as well. In the final phase, alcoholic dependency has been established and the person drinks to feel normal. Alcoholics at this stage are no longer drinking to feel good and have fun. Dri

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recall, alcoholics are detached from recognizing the growing severity of their symptoms. Euphoric recall is the third way in which alcoholics distort reality. This term describes how alcoholics remember their excessive drinking episodes. Memories are all grossly distorted and events are remembered as euphoric or happy. Johnson considers this the most devastating of the memory system distortions, and euphoric recall as the greatest single factor contributing to self-delusion (43). This type of distortion is important because all the drinkers' antisocial and destructive behaviors are displayed. Alcohol relaxes the drinkers' inhibitions and all they remember is that they felt good. Alcoholics do not remember the slurred words, weaving gait, loud laughter, or broken sentences. For alcoholics, perception and memory distortion contribute to their inability to comprehend and appreciate reality. This condition contributes to their inability to recognize and accept that they are in a progressive state of deterioration. Since alcoholics trust their euphoric recall implicitly, the version of incidents that they remember is what they sincerely believe happened. This euphoric next day recall is linked to th

Category: Medical - A