WHY SOME PEOPLE
DRINK EXCESSIVELY
A drink or
two can help to create an aura of relaxation and contentment, allowing cares
and responsibilities to be forgotten temporarily, and encouraging sociability.
Most people find this desirable--and recognize that it is desirable only as a
temporary state. Some people, however, want to extend the state, cling to it, and
accentuate it. When they yield to the desire, drinking more and more and even
almost continuously, they become alcoholics, addicted to drink.
Addiction
involves an accommodation by the body to the presence of a drug. With the
accommodation comes dependence. Details of the mechanism are not entirely
clear, but it appears that the cells of the body may shift their metabolism.
They depend,
of course, upon circulating blood for their nourishment. As they are exposed to
alcohol in the blood, they accommodate to the presence of the alcohol. Once
they have made the accommodation, they have, in effect, become as dependent
upon alcohol being there as they once were upon it not being there. At this
point, it is difficult to stop drinking. If an addict's alcohol supply now is
taken away suddenly, he reacts with distressing symptoms which may include
violent tremors, nausea, and headaches.
There is
still no definitive answer to the question of what causes alcoholism. Both
physical and psychological factors have been cited. Studies have failed to
establish anyone specific type of pre-alcoholic personality. People who become
excessive drinkers’ may or may not be immature or neurotic. Some, in early
life, may have been well-adjusted only to regress, as the addictive process
takes over, to immature behavior. As their addiction takes hold, all
alcoholics, whatever their back- grounds, tend to become much alike in
behavior.
It is as
though the disease of alcoholism remolds them into a stereotype. The
procurement of alcohol becomes their chief concern, superseding other
interests, producing deterioration in their work, social life, and relationships
with their families. One physician specializing in the treatment of alcoholics
has reported that a battery of psychological tests given to 300 consecutive
patients showed gross disturbance in every case.
The patients did not conform
to any single personality type and yet showed markedly similar character
traits. All had low frustration tolerance and inability to tolerate tension or
anxiety. All gave evidence of mental depression, withdrawal, low self-esteem,
and a sense of isolation. In all cases, there was marked hostility.
