Alcohol Issues and Short Stories
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The following represents various issues, problems, and short stories about people who have faced
drinking problems.
The Enabling Spouse and Alcohol Abuse
The wife had finally had
enough with her husband’s abusive drinking. She was tired of making excuses for him when he couldn’t show up for work and
she was tired of the precarious financial situation he had put his family into due to his excessive
drinking.
Actually the wife went to the local alcohol abuse center to discuss her husband’s drinking with an alcohol
counselor.
The counselor in a supportive but firm way explained to the wife how she have been contributing to her husband’s
drinking behavior through the years by covering for him rather than letting him suffer the consequences of his
drinking behavior.
In a word, the wife finally understood that she had been enabling her husband’s irresponsible and abusive
behavior.
No she couldn’t control her husband’s actions, but with the guidance and support of the healthcare professional
at the local alcohol abuse center, she decided that from this day forward, she would not contribute to the negative
behavior of her husband.
The good news is that after the wife explained this to her husband, and the husband saw that she was serious, he
actually made an appointment to see an alcohol therapist at the local alcohol abuse center.
Information About Alcohol Abuse and Multiple DUIs
Rudy had just received his fourth DUI. When he went before the court, the Judge told Rudy that his alcohol-related
behavior was deplorable and as a result, he was going to sentence Rudy to serve six months in jail.
During this time, Rudy would learn more about alcohol, especially about the negative consequences of abusive
drinking and he would also be required to get alcohol counseling.
The judge emphasized the fact that unless Rudy gets professional treatment and learns how to live an
alcohol-free life, he would be spending a lot more time in jail. Rudy seemed to understand but still felt that jail
was not the appropriate response. The judge disagreed, saying that it was his responsibility to keep people who had
received multiple DUIs off the streets.
| Alcohol withdrawal symptoms rarely occur in people who only drink once in a while.
Alcohol withdrawal symptoms usually occur in people who have been drinking heavily for weeks or
months and then suddenly stop drinking. |
Alcohol Abuse and Some Common Effects
There’s probably a number of horror stories about the terrible effects of alcohol abuse but the most common
negative effects of alcohol abuse are the following.
First, chronic alcohol abuse almost always leads to major health problems. If this wasn’t enough, long-term
alcohol abuse frequently results in work issues such as poor performance, poor production, or
unemployment.
To compound the issue, repetitive alcohol abuse is not easy on the pocketbook. Stated another way, drinking
excessively costs a relatively great amount of money.
It is also not uncommon for alcohol abusers to receive one or more DUIs. And in this time period one DUI and
especially multiple DUIs can lead to legal problems such as incarceration. And finally, abusive drinking often
leads to ruined relationships.
| At-risk alcohol use, or problem drinking, is defined as more than seven drinks per
week or more than three drinks per occasion for women; and more than 14 drinks per week or more
than four drinks per occasion for men. Heavy drinking is often defined as more than three to four
drinks per day for women and more than five to six drinks per day for men. |
Personal Responsibility and Alcohol Abuse
Why do so many
people in our society abuse alcohol? Are we so emotionally weak that we have to drink in order to cope with
our problems? Do we have such poor decision-making skills that we need to resort to drinking to deal with our
difficulties?
Has life become so stressful and tense that we need to drink to calm down and relax? Personally, I think that
the pendulum needs to shift back to a focus on personal responsibility and personal accountability. We need to
develop our emotional IQ and life skills IQ in addition to our intelligence.
We need to develop new ways of dealing with our problems that do not entail destructive and unhealthy activities
such as hazardous and irresponsible drinking. In a word, we need to move away from abuse and alcohol to a more
healthy perspective.
| The more alcohol you drink, the more likely you are to have a hangover the next day.
But there's no magic formula. A single alcoholic drink is enough to trigger a hangover for some
people, while others may drink heavily and escape a hangover entirely. |
Alcohol Abuse and Drinking in Moderation
Two teenage boys, Pete and Frank, were talking about drinking in general and about alcohol abuse in particular.
Pete stated that just because he drinks occasionally doesn’t necessarily mean that he engages in alcohol abuse.
Frank then asked Pete if he ever gets drunk. Pete said that of course he gets drunk a few times per month but
since he doesn’t drink every day, that he is not an alcohol abuser.
Frank just recently did a research paper on alcohol abuse and saw things differently than Pete. Frank said that
according to what he learned he researched alcohol abuse was that anytime a person drinks more than a moderate
amount, he or she is engaging in alcohol abuse. This certainly gave Pete something to think about.
| Because alcohol is not found easily in nature, genetic mechanisms to protect against
excessive consumption may not have evolved in humans as they frequently have for protection against
natural threats. Some evidence, then, suggests that a natural lack of genetic protection plays a
major role in alcoholism. Such studies have found that people with a family history of alcoholism
tend to "hold their liquor" better than those without such history. |
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