Alcohol addiction: love that kills

The main danger of alcoholic addiction is that the decay of body and mind happens slowly and gradually, and the addict does not even notice that.  This addiction is like a rocket going straight to hell, throwing away human qualities and social norms like stages. First an addict loses interest towards their social standing, then their work, and afterwards they lose interest towards their family. Then they stop caring about their appearance, then about their health. As the result, they experience complete social and physical degradation, which results in premature death.

Each alcohol addict has their own “flight history”. Some had it for a couple of years, while others may be experiencing it for decades. However, if you don’t eject yourself from this rocket, it will definitely reach its destination, with you in it.

Truth about intoxicated euphoria

Not many people know what intoxicated euphoria really is. It is related, as you can guess, to alcoholic intoxication. Alcohol is a poison, and the body tries to protect itself by releasing necessary substances into circulation system. A person experiences this state like an euphoria.

Moreover, the body gradually adapts to constant alcohol intake, so an addict needs to consume more in order to achieve the state of euphoria. As each person has their own lethal dose of alcohol, that is when the game with death begins. It usually takes years to reach that lethal dose. During that period, people undergo social and mental decay. The speed of such decay depends on the time the hormonal disorder in the body started.

The psychological side of this addiction is related both to the acquired mode of behavior and to the disturbed metabolism, when the body starts to produce endorphins and other “happy hormones” only after alcohol intake. The world starts to feel pale, painful and unbearable.

Brain function of a healthy person

Brain plays an important role in a person’s emotional life. For example, it reacts to interactions with a close friend or a pleasant fellow by releasing dopamine, which is often referred to as a “happy hormone”. When this happens, a person experiences pleasant emotions.

In ancient Persia people already distinguished three most euphoric states for a man:

• the first was when speaking to his child;
• the second was when speaking to his lover;
• the third one was when speaking to his parents.

As you may see, all three are related to interactions with one’s family. If we apply this to our modern society, we can add to these euphoric states ones that happen when we interact with our friends and co-workers, when we engage in favorite work or hobby etc.

Brain function of an alcohol addict

All the states listed above are related to the work of a healthy psychovegetative system of a person. Alcohol addicts, however, have a dysfunctional one. Their hormone system does not respond to social interactions. They may still have friends, but talking to them does not invoke euphoria. They may have children, but raising them does not bring pleasure. They may have a spouse, but sexual life with them does not feel fun without alcohol. The whole world feels somber and unbearable without alcohol. This is a mental pit that awaits all alcohol addicts, sooner or later. One day the only joy they have is alcohol and any behavior related to its abuse.

Psychological help

Can we help an addict in this situation?  Of course, we can. However, as you may have learned from medical sites, it’s difficult. There are a lot of official ways to treat addiction. Among them, the work of a psychologist is the most important one. There are two tasks in freeing a person from addiction. The first one is to modify the addict’s behavior. The second one is to restore the psychovegetative system in their body, which includes hormonal responses. This should be done through psychology, as there are no drug-induced methods of restoring psychovegetative processes damaged by alcohol consumption. The psychologist you ask for help must have a solid knowledge of the processes that connect psychovegetative system with the person’s behavior. This system and behavior affect each other, which becomes the key to success in therapy.

If a person developed a problem by adopting incorrect mode of behavior, then it can be fixed by modifying behavior. This is the main principle of behavioral psychotherapy.

Never lose hope. Specialists wielding this method will help you or your loved one to overcome addiction.

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