Alcoholism and its Stages
There are three stages of alcoholism. As many people know, alcoholism can take years to develop. Alcoholism begins when drinking starts affecting the physical and mental health of the drinker - they have crossed that invisible line into alcoholism.
In the early stages of alcoholism the drinker has started to drink for new reasons. They drink to change their mood or maybe to help daily stress or a problem. At this point friends and family don’t know he or she has become an alcoholic. Chances are neither does the drinker.
By the middle stage the drinker progresses to no longer needing a reason to drink and may even create reasons to justify having a drink. Now he or she is drinking way over socially and legally tolerable limits. They drink until reaching a point of control loss or even blackouts. Drinking may have led to a DUI. With signs being apparent, friend and family are aware of a problem with drinking. Should they try to intervene, the drinker becomes angry when the issue of drinking is mentioned and many times denies there is a problem. The drinker feels they can stop any time they want to and may even try. Alcohol has become such a part of the physical and mental part of the drinker’s life that should they try to quit, the craving and desire to keep drinking is overwhelming.
The advanced stages of alcoholism are many times devastation to the drinker and those around him or her. Friends and family have become despondent and disgusted with the destruction the drinker has brought upon themselves and others. There is irreversible damage to internal organs as the body and mind are destroyed by alcohol. Those who now try to get the drinker to stop drinking are wasting their time. The drinker is controlled by their alcoholism.
At this point it is going to take a catastrophic event to get the alcoholic to decide he or she really wants to stop drinking. At this advanced stage when the drinker makes a sincere attempt to stop drinking, he or she will find out that the addiction has completely taken hold, and there will be extreme withdrawal symptoms.
Quitting alcohol is a tremendous challenge. There are many success stories of people who were able to overcome their addiction to alcoholit can be done. But for all of the success stories, there are those who battled alcohol and wanted to win that were unable to beat the strong hold alcohol has. The most important thing to remember is that you can do it and no matter what obstacles come, never give up.
