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Causes and Treatment for Alcoholism

Anyone who reads the newspaper, watches television or the movies, or is aware of popular culture, can recognize that drugs are considered a serious problem, leading to crime, ruined lives, and early death. It is not as obvious that alcoholism remains a problem directly affecting about 14 million people in this country and indirectly affecting a sizeable minority of the population (Knapp, 1999).

Alcoholism is the equal opportunity problem that can baffle family friends, doctors, and the psychiatric establishment. It affects the rich and famous, as well as the poor (Baugh, 1999). It can kill children of the powerful, even when the experts are all exerting their efforts to help someone recover (McGovern, 1996). The intention in the following pages is to provide a brief summary of current thinking on the causes and treatments for alcoholism.

There is generally no one thing that experts point to and declare that it is the sole cause of alcoholics. Instead, there are a number of issues that are considered as being elements of the problem.

Genetics is one of those elements. In a recent review article, Marc Schuckit (1999) examined some of the genetic influences which lead to three or fourfold higher prevalence of the disorder in firstdegree relatives of alcoholics or eightfold higher prevalence in identical twins of alcoholics. Schuckit indicated that genetic influences are different from, and separate from, a genetic predisposition. They are factors that involve more than one gene, or involve incomplete express, and may combine with environmental factors to increase prevalence. For example, a variation of ALDH2 provides some protection to Asians and Jewish people, because it leads to adverse reactions to even low doses of alcohol. On the other hand, low response levels, which are associated with alcoholism, seem to be connected to the LL allele of the serontonin transporter gene and the gammaaminobutryric acid sub A...

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Causes and Treatment for Alcoholism. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:11, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1691121.html