Bianca Brucato

Professor Young

September 28, 2014

English 1100

                                    “ The affects and solutions to alcoholism”

            How many people do you know suffering from alcoholism? Alcoholism has become a huge problem throughout the United States. Many people can have one or two drinks and still be in control. Some people however have trouble controlling themselves, and are at risk of alcoholism. Alcoholism is a disease that affects both your body and mind. Without treatment an alcoholic can have a high rate of becoming seriously ill and an early death. Furthermore, It can affect the family community in a negative way and lead to family loss, health issues, and serious accidents.

            To speak of this issue more widely, Alcoholism is an alcohol dependence disease that is often called the “family disease” because it affects the community of family the most. This disease affects all husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, parents, and children directly and indirectly. An alcoholic begins to rely so heavily on alcohol it starts to take over his life and relationships with others. Alcoholism can also affect people outside their family. Drunk driving can cause accidents and cause an innocent person to die because an alcoholic decided to drink and drive. This can lead to someone else’s child, parent, brother, or sister being away from them because an alcoholic decided to drive. Alcoholism is a disease that needs to be treated and cannot be cured without seeking help. Those who have family members or friends that are alcoholics need to act more aggressively by enforcing strict rules to stop drinking and seek help that will end this problem.

            One problem that results from alcoholism is family loss. Many alcoholics have families that love and support them, but still decide to drink and self-destruct themselves. This can totally disrupt family life and create a mess that can take years to fix. When your spouse is an alcoholic, it can lead to divorce because of trust and communication problems. Children of alcoholics often feel scared and neglected because of their parent’s unstable behavior.  This can lead to your child resenting you or wanting nothing to do with you. Domestic violence often emerges in households where a spouse or parent is an alcoholic, causing domestic violence to be more dangerous. Alcoholism is a serious disease that results in the destruction of family ties and relations.

            A solution to alcoholism is for family members or friends of alcoholics to encourage them to seek help to fix the problem. Encouraging or even forcing addicts to go to family therapy and alcoholic treatments is a crucial factor in treating alcoholism.  Strong family support plays an important role for alcoholics in their recovery process. Forcing alcoholics to stop drinking and encouraging them to seek help is a major solution to the problem of alcoholism that is faced in many households.

            Secondarily, another problem that results from alcoholism is serious illnesses. Alcoholism can lead to many other mental and physical illnesses.  Many people to who are alcoholics experience depression or anxiety when they drink. Many times alcoholics like to think drinking will help fix these problems, but drinking will only make it worse.  Long-time heavy drinking also increases your risk of having problems with your heart.  Drinking causes your blood pressure to rise and heart muscles to weaken, which are major factors in having problems with your heart.

            In order to avoid these serious illnesses that result from alcoholism, a solution can to be to seek help from your doctor.  Your doctor can help you get the help you need to stop drinking which, can lead to many other problems.  A doctor can prescribe you medicine or therapy to help you cope and deal with alcoholism. You can even call a Drink line, which is free and confidential to talk to someone about your problems on drinking. Consulting in a doctor to help stop abusing alcohol and cure other illnesses is a major way to help fix the problem of alcoholism.

            Thirdly, another problem that results from alcoholism is serious accidents that can harm yourself and others.  Drinking and driving is a major problem in the United Sates. It can result in both the driver and others on the road in being serious injured or killed.  Alcoholism affects and impairs your judgment; so driving while your highly intoxicated can hurt innocent people.  Drinking and driving can take a child, parent, husband, wife, brother or sister away from someone else.  This can affect other families, not only you and the person injured. Drinking and driving is a serious issue that can result from alcoholism and harm many people and families.

            A solution to this problem is to avoid drinking and driving all together. As a community of families, if you see someone drinking and driving you should try to stop them and bring them somewhere to sober up. As a community this can help save others and the person who is drinking and driving.

            Alcoholism is a disease that affects both the body and mind. Many alcoholics are so codependent on alcohol they do not care if they hurt their families or others to get alcohol. Alcoholism is a disease that affects the community of family and can lead to other issues such as family loss, serious illness, and serious accidents. It is important that families force alcoholics to stop drinking and seek help to solve the problem of alcoholism.