A Practical Approach to Alcoholism

Alcoholism is something that cannot be defined in simple terms. Alcoholism in general refers to the condition whereby there is a compulsion in man to keep consuming beverages with alcohol content which is harmful to health. The condition of alcoholism does not allow the person addicted to have any control over consumption in spite of being aware of the negative consequences resulting from it. Even if the person who is an alcoholic faces social ridicule, family pressure, abuses, insults, etc he is in a condition whereby he cannot give up the habit or obsession which is beyond his control. His senses are totally under the influence of alcohol and any kind of an effort put forth by him to give up the habit does not work. He is thus totally dependent on the beverage. An alcoholic has such a craving to drink that even if he happens to get into alcohol related trouble like drunken driving, losing his job, etc it does not stop him from considering giving up the habit. Not everyone who consumes alcohol is an alcoholic. A person who consumes alcohol in limited quantities and is able to say no when he does not want to is not termed an alcoholic. He or she is just a social drinker. One interesting theory proposed by writers is that alcohol in early days was discovered to replace the scarcity of unpolluted and safe drinking water. People preferred to die a slow death rather than dying overnight after drinking the extremely polluted and harmful water which carried many bacteria's, viruses and diseases.