Symptoms of Alcohol Abuse

For my third blog post I wanted to focus on the symptoms of alcohol abuse because it is such a common problem that occurs in people's life, and often times they don't notice that the abuse is happening, especially on college campuses. In a lot of cases it is easier for close friends and families to notice that alcohol abuse is occurring rather than the person that is abusing the alcohol. Some symptoms that are easier to detect include alcohol use interfering with school work due to being hung over, drinking knowing that you are driving some sort of heavy machinery without caring that your vision could be impaired, blackouts, injuries due to alcohol use, and consuming alcohol knowing that it could potentially worsen preexisting conditions a person may have. There is a very fine line between alcohol abuse and addiction to alcohol, being able to detect these symptoms can help yourself or someone you care about before an addiction becomes present. Overlooking these symptoms can cause a person to go off into a spiral of binge drinking and addiction. The symptoms are used ad warning signs that a person's mental and physical health can be in danger as well as their relationships they have in their lives. This is why it is extremely important to be very observant of not only yourself but your loved one when it comes to consuming alcohol. If you notice that your or your family members or friends are drinking more than usual or prioritizing alcohol over things that should actually matter confront them or seek help for yourself. Having a big support system around to help a person dealing with alcohol abuse is very important, because it shows them that they have people in their lives who care about them and especially their safety and health.

                                                             Works Cited
       “Stages of Alcoholism: Signs of Early, Chronic & End.” American Addiction Centers, americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-treatment/stages/.

Alcohol Abuse in the Media

Alcohol abuse can be a major concern for college students since it is so easy for us to obtain alcohol, and many students do not drink alcohol before college so abusing alcohol is extremely common among college campuses. I found this great article that is easy to relate for college students that is by The New York Times and is called "Get the Keg Out of the Frat House". The article goes into depth about how some students are forced to drink an absurd amount of alcohol as an act of hazing for initiation into certain fraternities. The article brings up one case about a male student who was only 18 years old and attending Louisiana State University who happened to die from the amount of alcohol he was forced to drink at the Phi Delta Theta house (Hechinger web. 2017). The sad thing is that this is not nearly the only time that hazing has caused health or serious injury to a young male going into their initiation process. Criminal charges are even given to some of the older fraternity brothers that are causing these injuries and deaths, which is necessary in my opinion because they should be held responsible for their actions. A lot of steps have been taken to try get rid of hazing all in all so these types of situations never occur again, like banning pledging so there is no time for the new members to be hazed. Being a part of Greek life, it is very upsetting to know that certain fraternities will treat others this way especially people that they want to be their "brother". Although there has been many action to prevent and stop hazing completely, there are still fraternities out there that will continue to break the hazing rules and force new members to abuse alcohol.


Sources:
Hechinger, John. “Get the Keg Out of the Frat House.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/opinion/frats-college-partying-pledging.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FAlcohol%2BAbuse&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection.
frats-college-partying-pledging.html

Alcohol abuse is when a person continues to drink without caring about the outcome. Alcohol abuse and addiction to alcohol are not the same thing. An alcohol abuser may only drink a few days a week but when they do they drink so much that they make risky decisions and can harm themselves and/or others. The most common symptoms of alcohol abuse include depression, lack of interest in their life as a whole and with family and friends, and violent behavior. Alcohol abuse can come with both long and short-term effects. The short-term effects include vomiting, headaches, slurred speech, and impaired judgment. The long-term effect, which are more serious, can include blackouts, memory loss, and liver disease. Treatment for alcohol abuse includes treatment at a specified center that would require the individual to stay for treatment. For a person to leave a treatment center they need to have a good understanding of their problem and why they need to get help to stop the problem. Counselors and therapists make sure that their patients have alternatives to drinking so that they are less likely to have a relapse. It is really important for a person going through treatment to have a big support system, including their family and friends, because it will really help them with successfully getting help. I believe that this is an important topic because not only does alcohol abuse the person abusing alcohol but it can also affect others in the community. I feel like alcohol abuse applies to my classmates and myself because of how easy it is to drink excessively and also how easy alcohol is to obtain here in Charleston.