Alcohol Abuse and Its Impact on the Family - Research Paper Example

Alcohol Abuse This essay is based on the discussion of alcohol abuse with the aim of understanding its impact at the family level. Alcohol abuse has been found to have a negative impact on the wellbeing of the family as it destroyed family relationship and the development of children. Prevention issues have also been discussed particularly involving addressing the problem of alcoholism by eliminating risk factors. A multiparty approach to the problem has been noted as the best mechanism to tackle alcoholism because the entire community suffers when members develop alcohol dependency. Best approach in treatment is seen as one that accommodates all the available approaches as opposed to limiting intervention efforts to a particular approach whether medical, behavioral, psychotherapy and non-behavioral. Introduction Alcoholism is one of the additions that affect many members of the society making it essential that ways of averting its outcome is discussed. Accessibility of alcohol has resulted in increased usage particularly since there is a general perception in the members of the society that alcohol is not a drug. This perception has led to wide usage in some cases by children who learn this habit from the adults around them. My interest in alcohol abuse is informed by the fact that alcohol is a common problem in my family as well as within my circle of friends. This reality has resulted in increased interest to explore the subject as I seek to determine the impact it has for my family, community, friends and me. Background to the problem of alcohol abuse Over the years, alcohol consumption has emerged as the most commonly abused substance in the US and at a global scale. There is a tendency for users no to consider alcohol as a drug because its mode of consumption is through drinking which differs from other drugs that are either smoked or injected into the blood stream. This perception of the alcohol has contributed to increased usage among different ages, social, socio-economic and ethnic groups. Categorization of alcohol as a drug is due to existence of the substance ethanol in different quantity as a depressant drug in beverages such as beer, wine and hard liquor. The level of this depressant in beverages vary for particular brands depending on manufacturer specification but generally beer and wine have less pure alcohol content per ounce compared top distilled spirits such vodka, brandy, gin and rye. Classification of alcohol as a depressant follows extensive research that has determined the existence of bio-chemical effects to a similar level achieved when one uses anti-anxiety tranquilizers. Therefore, alcohol becomes an over-the-counter tranquilizer, as it contains benzodiazepines also contained in recognized drugs such as valium and Librium (Levinthal, 2010). Majority of US citizens are occasionally users of alcohol and drink in moderation but there are many among them who eventually develop considerable problems with alcohol. Alcohol dependence and alcoholism are often used interchangeably to refer to the development of a pattern of weakness in one’s control over frequency and quantity of alcohol use and is characteristic of persons who have developed physiological dependency on the drug (Levinthal, 2010). There have been a number of studies conducted to determine the prevalence of alcoholism in the United States Kranzler, Koob, Gastfriend, Swift and Willenbring (2006) indicating about eight million adult Americans were dealing with the problem at the time of the study. Literature review Treatment of choice for alcohol addiction According to Levinthal (2010), many of the existing agencies that deal with the problem of alcoholism in society have adopted the perspective of alcoholism as a disease model, which is supported by the assumption that alcohol dependency is a medical illness. Based on this assumption, a person with alcoholism problem develops an irresistible craving for alcohol when they take an alcoholic drink due to the subsequent biochemical effects on the brain generated by the drug. Additionally, alcoholism as a disease model propagates the argument that alcoholism is a chronic and permanent condition for the affected individuals. A number of existing peer support groups for instance the slogan for Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is once an alcoholic, always and an alcoholic supports this perception. Therefore, people affected by alcoholism are considered as either drinkers of recovering for those that attempt to stop the habit, but are never referred to as cured. However, there is a need for change of how alcoholism is perceived since a number of researchers have developed a contrasting perspective to the problem of alcohol abuse. For instance, psychologists such as Linda and MarkSobell have argued alcoholism is an addition that the affected can stop by learning and developing new skills that result in controlled social drinking necessary for them to enter a phase where they drink moderately and prevent them from excessive drinking (Sobell M and Sobell L, 2013). However, research is still split on where people with alcohol addiction can eventually learn to control themselves to make moderate drinking possible. Concern over alcohol abuse relates to a number of negative outcomes noted over the course of the user’s progression in habit. Given the commonness and frequency of alcohol use, the cost to individual and society tend to be higher than in the usage of all illegal drugs (Levinthal, 2010). The outcome for majority of those abusing alcohol include loss of jobs, reduced productivity, and downward spiral in socio-economic status. Additionally, alcohol is blamed for violent crimes such as homicides and assaults. Prevention issues Over the years, brief interventions have emerged as important practices that could lead to improvement of situation for individuals suffering from alcohol abuse. The aim of this practice has been identification of existing and potential for development of alcoholism leading to introduction of practices that motivate the affected to undertake an intervention process (Rehm, Shield, Rehm, Gmel and Frick, 2012). Available studies reflect the importance of brief intervention, which has been advocated as being cost effective and can be administered easily. These results have led to wider support from health practitioners who have continued to apply strategies related to the method as important background for filling existing gaps between primary prevention approaches and intensive treatment options for individual with severe alcoholism disorders. However, brief intervention only cannot lead to reduced alcohol consumption by the targeted individual as the methods applied does treat alcohol dependence, which can only be tacked through greater expertise from a physician in addition to intensive clinical management practices. Therefore, effective application of the interventions must be accompanied by extended treatment with brief intervention providing initial treatment for severely dependent patients (APHA and EDC, 2008). Tackling alcohol abuse requires a multiparty intervention for the affected individual to access help from the family, community and workplaces. While the individuals at risk of being affected by alcoholism and their families should be at the forefront of preventive measures to against addition, the role of the community has also been acknowledged. Community is seen as playing an important role in alcohol abuse problem as it influences the environment in which the behavior (APHA and EDC, 2008). The national government, together with state and local government can collaborate on issues such as setting the minimal age for drinking, legal blood-alcohol level, appropriate time to take alcohol during the day or night, advertising restrictions. However, the community is better placed to implement and enforce these policies and legal requirements as members are able to use traditional approaches of handling individual with alcohol addiction problem. The use of community-based media is also an important step as policies can be communicated to the wider society therefore affecting efforts to achieve desired changes (Ames and Bennett, 2011). Ames and Bennett (2011) note the importance of prevention efforts launched from the workplace to help employees with addiction access assistance from experts. Therefore, the researchers estimate costs of alcohol to be about 184.6 billion dollars by the year 1998 in the United States alone. Of these figure 70 percent was attributed to loss of productivity and cost of seeking medical attention due to the alcohol related illnesses. Therefore, the workplace is advocated as one of the best places that alcohol abuse problem can be addressed. Initiatives started to help those with alcohol addiction problems can potentially benefit the individual, their families and society in general However, there are some reservations over the effectiveness of workplace intervention with the researchers noting there were limited successes to report. Workplace intervention that have included health promotion programs focusing on counseling, education, brief intervention strategies did not lead to improvement for the targeted employees (Ames and Bennett, 2011). Treatment modality A number of treatment modalities have been designed as approaches to deal with the problem of alcohol abuse. Existence of different treatment modalities attributed to the diversity in terms of etiological understandings of alcoholism and the demographic groups affected. These treatment modalities have different outcomes for the patients depending on the desired outcome and level of motivation to undertake the treatment processes. Medical approach to treatment of alcoholism focuses on detoxification and the use of drugs with chemical aversion and psychotherapy delivered by a physician (Rutter, 2002). Detoxification noted as an important step towards treatment of alcohol abuse. However, this is not actual treatment, as it does not focus on the causes of dependence of alcohol. Additionally, users adopting detoxification have a high risk of suffering severe withdrawal symptoms making it necessary to supplement the process of detoxification with through other programs of treatment such as use of drugs. The need for alternative treatment for addicts under detoxification is informed by the fact that withdrawal might result in enhanced reaction to sensory stimuli, lead to reflexes becoming hyperactive, extreme alertness, insomnia and anxiety. Hospitalization might therefore be necessary for moderate to severe withdrawal symptoms as it provides the right environment for monitoring the progress made by the patient (Reoux and Miller, 2000). Apart from detoxification, alcohol can be treated by use of antidepressant medications. The use of drugs as treatment for alcohol addiction also focuses on treating disorders associated with addiction but does not treat the main problem, which is alcoholism. Various psychological treatments for people with alcohol addiction exist but they vary depending on the choice of the therapist after assessment of a patient. Generally, psychological treatment for addicts take three approaches; behavioral, non-behavioral and system approach. Behavioral treatment is often adopted together with other psychological techniques to improve the positive response of patients to the treatment. Among the existing behavioral techniques for treating alcohol addiction is the blood-alcohol level discrimination training, which is based on the assumption that those who abuse alcohol lack the capacity to make adequate assessment of their of their intoxication level. Therefore, the method is based on teaching addicts about correct estimation of blood-alcohol level (Rehm et al 2012). This method might also feature use of videotapes to help the person experience their drunken behavior from the perspective of observers. It is believed that viewing alcoholic lifestyle from this point of view will help train the addict on how to control their drinking habits. Non-behavioral psychotherapies make use of techniques such as transactional analysis to treat addition delivered during sessions between the addict and psychotherapists or in presence of family or in groups. The focus for this approach in treating addiction is to respond to the social problems affecting the addict. (Hadži-Pešić, Mitrović, Car and Stojanović, 2014). Although alcoholism might be related to earlier experiences, many of the addicts consume alcohol in order to respond to their daily challenges in life. Non-behaviaral treatment of alcoholism will therefore seek to address challenges in the person’s life especially those emanating from interaction with family members, workplace while also seeking to assess the value of alcohol in the addict’s life. System approach to treatment of alcohol addiction is based on the perception that alcohol addiction has its roots in family interactions especially communication in patterns existing between the members. The interaction processes adopted by members of the family have significant influence on the decision to drink or not, therefore, negative family interaction patterns must be treated to ensure the person is not forced into the habit due to family pressure. System therapy is related to group therapy and seeks to encourage members to speak more often about their needs and to encourage constant interactions (Copello, Copello, Velleman and Templeton, 2005). While research indicate the importance of these approaches to solving the problem of alcoholism, it is important to acknowledge the fact that one approach cannot adequately address all the pertinent issues surrounding the development of addiction in a person. Effective strategy for handling alcohol abuse should recommend a combination of a number of approaches to address medical, behavioral and family factors in treatment of the problem. Effects of this addiction on the family When breadwinners have alcohol addiction problems, there are multiple negative outcomes for the family. Abusing alcohol has been associated with negative outcomes in the workplace as the affected individual occasionally miss work, are involved in accidents at work, fighting and arguing with colleagues, sleep on the job, and are ultimately sacked. The implication of these outcomes is low productivity of the worker, which denies the family its source of revenues. When an alcoholic employee gets hurt due to accident in the workplace, there are chances that they might not be compensated since they have broken the employment contract. Such individuals may not get sustainable income in future due to incapacitation and negative feedback from former employers to potential employers. Therefore, alcoholism has a negative outcome on the economic status of the family (Ames and Bennett, 2011). Apart from the economic outcomes, alcohol addiction also has implication on the quality of relationship between members of the family. There is increased possibility that the individual addicted to alcohol will have poor relationship with the rest of family members due to the impairment of judgment that may occasionally result in conduct that is not approved by the rest of family. Reinaldo and Pillon (2008) conducted a research on the effect of alcoholism on Latino families with the researchers determining family as an important unit in the society. The family prescribes different roles for every member and accomplishment contributes to the development of long-lasting bond. However, alcohol addiction is seen as contributing to the disruption of normal social order within the family. The result obtained from the study by Reinaldo and Pillon (2008) determines that alcohol is the cause of multiple family problems including domestic violence, harming other family members, increased interpersonal conflicts, abuse of child, and failure of parents to provide adequate support to the children, and negligence duties and separation of the couples. When one or both parents are involved in alcohol abuse, children are the worst affected physically and emotionally. Parents are active and passive educators and role models for their children as they learn from patents’ instructions and by imitating the behavior observed from their parents. Alcoholism may act as one of the areas where children learn drinking habits from their parents actively when parents give them alcohol and passively by observing and wanting to experience what their parents are doing. Therefore, such children experience negative outcomes due to the influence of their parents’ alcoholic habits. Physical outcomes experienced by such children relate to their developmental processes as many are denied the opportunity to thrive as infants leading to delayed health and development in later years. Children may also develop anxiety issues, poor self-esteem emotional withdrawn as part of negative psychological development. There are also negative outcomes for children’s educational achievement as they report low attainment and interrupted attendance in school. Children who experience difficulties association with living with alcoholic parents also display negative behavioral outcomes particularly as they tend to be socially isolation, engage in early sexual behavior and are increasingly vulnerable to exploitation by others in the society. Lastly, children from families that associated with alcoholic parents are also likely to develop alcohol use and addiction in later part of their childhood (McCarthy and Galvani, 2012). Analysis Evidence from the discussed literature highlights the importance of perceiving alcoholism as a problem that does not only affect the individual and family but the community at large. From the discussion alcoholism, the problem is widespread in the society due to alcohol being common and people failing to associate it with other drugs that are smoked or injected. The family has been identified as a social unit that suffers the most from the individual’s actions attributed to alcoholism (Ames and Bennett, 2011). The future of children raised in a family where either or both the parents are alcoholic is also destroyed as there are high chances such children will also end up as alcoholic, achieve low grades in school or dropout in addition to facing other social changes such as being isolated from the peer. There are a number of interventions and treatment options proposed for the treatment of alcoholism; however, available research does not indicate the overall aim of these interventions and treatment. There are two widely contentious goals of alcoholism treatment ending dependence by reaching abstinence level and making it possible for the alcoholic to change their habits so they can continue drinking but in moderation. Before commencing any intervention process, it is essential that the effected person be informed about the goal of such process so that all the parties involved can work to achieve that goal. The importance of clarification other than letting the individual prepare for the targeted objective is to ensure the intervention is a success. Some addicts can achieve moderation in their drinking while others can easily succumb to the need to drink more always. This is no scientific findings in this area to determine the likelihood of individuals who were ones addicted to alcohol being capable of drinking in moderation based on any biological or behavioral construct. Discussion and Conclusion Existing evidence of alcohol abuse indicates the need for concerted efforts by affected individuals, family members, community and the government to work together to help such people. The behavioral, social and economic implication of alcohol abuse makes it important for intervention to that involves the family especially given the understanding of how members are affected by this problem. The pervasiveness of alcoholism in society implies affected individuals find it difficult to stop the habit through attempts of the affected individual alone, which leads to the importance of assisted approaches to help them, deal with the underlying factors. This study has a wide implication for the clinical practice of a therapist especially in the application of various treatment and intervention approaches. As discussed above, there are a number of approaches with potential of effectively treating alcohol abuse. However, practitioners must not be dependent on a single intervention for effective outcomes. It is important to explore medical, psychotherapy and aspects of system approach for the therapist to achieve maximum result. References Ames, G. M., & Bennett, J. B. (2011). Prevention interventions of alcohol problems in the workplace: a review and guiding framework. Alcohol Research & Health, 34(2), 175. APHA and EDC. (2008). Alcohol screening and brief intervention: A guide for public health practitioners. Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Copello, A. G., Copello, A. G., Velleman, R. D., & Templeton, L. J. (2005). Family interventions in the treatment of alcohol and drug problems. Drug and alcohol review, 24(4), 369-385. Hadži-Pešić, M., Mitrović, M., Car, K. B., & Stojanović, D. (2014). Personality of Alcohol Addict According to the Theory of Transactional Analysis. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 127, 230-234. Levinthal, C. F. (2010). Drugs, Behavior, and Modern Society (7th Ed.). San Francisco: Peachpit Press. Kranzler, H. R., Koob, G., Gastfriend, D. R., Swift, R. M., & Willenbring, M. L. (2006). Advances in the pharmacotherapy of alcoholism: challenging misconceptions. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 30(2), 272-281. McCarthy, T. and Galvani, S. (2012). Children, Families and Alcohol Use – Essential Information for Social Workers. A BASW Pocket Guide. Birmingham; BASW Rehm, J., Shield, K. D., Rehm, M. X., Gmel, G., & Frick, U. (2012). Alcohol consumption, alcohol dependence and attributable burden of disease in Europe. Potential gains from effective interventions for alcohol dependence. Toronto: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Reinaldo, A. M. D. S., & Pillon, S. C. (2008). Alcohol effects on family relations: a case study. Revista latino-americana de enfermagem, 16(SPE), 529-534. Reoux, J. P., & Miller, K. (2000). Routine Hospital Alcohol Detoxification Practice Compared to Symptom Triggered Management with an Objective Withdrawal Scale (CIWA‐Ar). The American Journal on Addictions, 9(2), 135-144. Rutter, D. (2002). Social psychology and health: By Wolfgang Stroebe. British Journal of Health Psychology, 7(4), 495-495. Sobell, M. B., & Sobell, L. C. (2013). Behavioral Treatment of Alcohol Problems: Individualized Therapy and Controlled Drinking. New York: Springer. Read More