**According to Webster's dictionary alcoholism is a physcial dependence on alcohol to the extent that's stopping alcohol use brings on withdrawal symptoms.  Treatment requires first ending the physical dependence, then making life style changes that help the individual avoid relapse.  In some cases, medication or other things are needed.  Alcohol dependence can have many serious effects on the brain, liver, and other organs of the body.

 

 

          For alcohol abuse treatment, Social Psychology is a big help. According to the book, Psychology: Themes and Variations, Briefer Edition, “Social Psychology focuses on interpersonal behavior, and the role of social forces in governing behavior. Typical topics include attitude formation, attitude change, prejudice, conformity, attraction, aggression, intimate relationships, and behavior in groups.” Peers and family are two big factors that help alcoholics with treatment. One problem with alcoholism, which happens to be a big problem, is denial. Not only can an alcoholic be in denial but a whole society can be also. There are many ways to treat alcoholism, but a few that have proven to help alcoholics are intervention, recovering alcoholics and AA.

            There have been many studies done for brief interventions of alcoholics. “Brief interventions are gaining favor as a means of addressing the problems as associated with hazardous and harmful drinking.” (Moyer, A., & Finney, S. p.44). Brief interaction can be very effective when used right for alcoholism. Studies that did follow ups showed more improvement with the drinking problems than those who did not follow up at all or only once. Brief interventions can also be very cost effective for the patient. The alcoholic can also still work and spend time with his/her family while going through the interventions. Time with the family and still working can also help the alcoholic deal with his/her problem. 

            Fellow peers of the alcoholics who are recovering alcoholics can also be a big help. Recovering alcoholics can set up appointments with other patients who are hospitalized and traveling down the same road as the recovering alcoholics. By talking to recovering alcoholics who are peers, people can relate each other with their problems and help one another to a strong, quick, and helpful recovery.

 

-Billie Jo Collins

 

 

 

             High Risk Situations can go either way when you are coping with the abstinence of alcohol. For example, a person's behavior towards the situation determines whether he/she will experience a relapse or not. A relapse involves rationalization, denial, urges, and cravings.(Mary E. Larimer, 1999)

                A person who can develop effective coping strategies, is less likely to experience a relapse as opposed to someone who is lacking those skills. People who are succesful in high risk situations often experience an increase in self efficacy.(Mary E. Larimer, 1999)

                A person's choices could very well set him/her up with a very high risk situation. These choices are known as "Apparently Irrelevant Decision's"(AID's). They are called this because a person can make a decision that they may think to be harmless, but it really moves them closer to a possible relapse.(Mary E. Larimer, 1999)

               Cognitive restructuring is very important in the process of intervention. In cognitive restructuring, clients are taught to change their idea of lapses. This can help lessen the person's tendency to view lapses as a result of personal failure, and decrease the idea that a lapse will ultimately lead to a relapse.(Mary E. Larimer, 1999)

-Justin Gaddor

 

                "But to scientists, that apparant heritability suggested that some gentic componet underlying vulnerability to alchol problems was being tranmitted from generation to generation" (Nurnberger, 2007, page 1). Gentics isn't the only thing that is the cause of alcholims as you can see from the following paragrphs but it is one of the many causes of this complex disorder. "Previous twin adotion studies have indicated those alchol problems are strongly heritable indeed; more than 50 percent of the over all risk for alcholism (Nurnberger, 2007 , page 3). With it being so high I feel that genetics do play a role in Alcholism. It also has been proven that markers do acually appear more frequently in members of families that do have alcoholism associated phenotypes which would again also suggest a link between the regions of chromosomes. "Reduced delta and theta frequently signal strength to alcoholic subjects was also traced to variants of CHRM2, a gene encoding a cellular receptor" (Nurnberger, 2007  Page 3). It's so imporant for us to find the cause of this awful disorder because it tears many lives apart. Although gentics are not the only reason why people are alcholics it does play a key role in this very complicated disorder! 

  -Janelle

 

 

            The three basic steps that any alcoholic needs to take is an intervention followed by detoxification and finally rehabilitation. Specialists believe that the best way to confront your drinking problem is to have a good support group who can bring your problem to the table for you to face it and deal with it. The Intervention stage that normally is followed by finding a facility to check yourself into for the detox part which usually lasts for about 4-7 days which then brings you to the rehabilitation stage where you then become in the mind set of long term recovery. You have many options to what you can do to stay sober such as AA meetings, being an out-pateint you can go to an in-house and live with other alcoholics, your options are endless. As Wechsler believed i think that there is a significant relation in college students and drinking(Wechsler, 2002, pages 203-217). They become hugley addicted becuase of the chemical compound in alcohol that they are not aware of or educated on(Wechsler, 2002, pages 203-217). Alcholism has become of the leading causes of death's in america. Alcholism can be so easily treated for those who accept the help that is out there and can stop this growing tragedy.

                                                                                      

                                                                                                                 -Leah

 

 

 

 

Group members

Billie Jo Collins

Leah Howie

Janelle Jahanabaksh

Justin Gaddor

Sources

1. First Picture 
2. second picture 
3. Source 4