Term paper on Alcohol

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Samuel Dodd

English 2010

Dr. King

Dodd 1

Alcoholism: Symptoms, Causes, and Effects

I am sitting at home playing Nintendo with my roommate, jake, when I hear

a knock at the door. I wonder who in the world would be coming over this late

at night, because it's after midnight. As I open the door, the tired, bloodshot eyes of

my upstairs neighbor, Steve, stare at me. “Hi Sam,” Steve says. As he attempts to

enter my apartment, he stumbles on the slight rise where the weather strip runs

under the door. As he trips, his forehead smashes onto the edge of the coffee table

leaving a deep and bloody gash. I run in the bathroom and grab a towel while Jake

tries to help Steve. It doesn't take us long to realize that Steve is going to need

stitches and is in no condition to drive. He smells strongly of alcohol. We place a

make-shift bandage on his cut and throw him in Jake's Chevy truck.

On the way to the hospital, Steve starts complaining about being really cold.

He is talking incoherently and half crying. I ask Steve what he has been doing, and

he just hangs his head down mumbling about drinking. Steve isn't a social drinker.

He drinks alone. He explains that he has been drinking by himself all night long.

Steve is not a young college kid experimenting with alcohol. Steve is over

thirty years old. Steve drinks nearly every night. Steve is an alcoholic.

Alcoholism is a disease that affects many people in the United States today. It

not only affects the alcoholic, but also their family, friends, co-workers, and

eventually total strangers. The symptoms are many, as are the causes and the

effects.

Alcoholism is defined as a pattern of drinking in which harmful consequences

result for the drinker, yet, they continue to drink. There are two types of drinkers.

The first type, the casual or social drinker, drinks because they want to. They drink

Dodd 2

with a friend or with a group for pleasure and only on occasion. The other type, the

compulsive drinker, drinks because they have to, despite the adverse effects that

drinking has on their lives.

The symptoms of alcoholism vary from person to person, but the most

common symptoms seen are changes in emotional state or stability, behavior, and

personality. "Alcoholics may become angry and argumentative, quiet and withdrawn

or depressed. They may also feel more anxious, sad, tense, and confused. They then

seek relief by drinking more" (Gitlow 175).

"Because time and amount of drinking are uncontrollable, the alcoholic is

likely to engage in such behaviors as [1] breaking family commitments, both major

and minor; [2] spending more money than planned; [3] drinking while intoxicated

and getting arrested; [4] making inappropriate remarks to friends, family, and

co-workers; [5] arguing, fighting and other anti-social actions. The alcoholic would

probably never do such things, nor approve of them in others unless he was

drinking" (Johnson 203).

The cause of alcoholism is a combination of biological, psychological, and

cultural factors that may contribute to the development of alcoholism in an

individual. Alcoholism seems to run in families. "Although there is no conclusive

indication of how the alcoholism of families members is associated, studies show

that 50 to 80 percent of all alcoholics have had a close alcoholic relative" (Caplan

266). Some researchers have suggested that in several cases, alcoholics have an

inherited, predisposition to alcohol addiction. Studies of animals and human twins

have lent...