The Phases of Alcoholism
When a person has reached the point where their physical and mental health are negatively effected by the amount of alcohol they drink, they have reached a commonly defined point of alcoholism. Its impact is pervasive, wreaking havoc on the social and personal life of the addict.The degree or stage of alcoholism that one is in varies and therefore it is important not to treat all alcoholics as “the same.” Alcoholism has three stages. It can take years for a person to progress through the stages, though one of the reasons alcohollism is called a progressive disease is because very often a person progresses from the first stage to the second and then the third..
If a healthy man or woman is having no more one or two drinks from time to time or a few times a week it is not considered to be alcoholism.. However if a person’s alcoholic consumption increases in either amount or how often, this is the point at which the stages of alcoholism can begin to take hold.
The First Adaptive Stage of Alcoholism
In the first stage of alcoholism a person often drinks alcohol simply to changehis or her mood, or to seek relief from a problem. During the early stage of alcoholism, the person, as well as their friends, family, and others, do not realize that they have entered the first stage of alcohol addiction. The drinker’s eagerness for alcohol spirals upward, leading them to need to drink more to achieve the same outcome in terms of mood and stress release. In the early stage of alcoholism the body begins to adapt to an increased amount of alcohol. In this phase of alcoholism, the person’s does not control over their body’s physical functions and they can, for example, walk a straight line even when intoxicated.
Alcoholism’s Middle Stae
In alcoholism’s second stage the person starts drinking in larger volume and more frequently. In this stage the alcoholic becomes unable to put boundaries on their drinking with regard to time, place, or amount. As the disease progresses the person turns to taking a drink whenever confronted with even the smallest problem or stress. As the disease progresses, the alcoholic finds their body control slipping noticeably which can result in them falling down stairs or while walking, bumping into tings, and other accidents. During this stage it is very common for the person to realize that they have a drinking problem but to still deny it to eveyone around them.
Late Stage Alcoholism
This late stage of alcoholism is absolutely terrifying and confusing for everyone in the alcoholic’s life. This stage is also referred to as the deteriorative stage of alcoholism. During the late stage is the phase when the person’s alcohol intake begins to severely damage their body. In alcoholism’s late stage, it becomes apparent to everyone around them that the person is always drinking. The person starts becoming ill very often, seems mentally fogged or dazed, and suffers a lot of other mental and physiological issues. The chronic consumption of alcohol has now broken down the vital organs to the point that they are very weak. The result of this toll is quite often a few or many severe medical conditions. The medical conditions are widespread and can include pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, kidney failure, enlarged heart, severly high blood pressure, and others. Such physical and psychological changes are almost unavoidable for the late stage alcoholic. Incredibly, late stage alcholics very often have sunk further into denial about having any sort of drinking problem. This is one of the nastiest things about late stage alcoholism – the denial that they have a problem leads in turn to difficulty dealing with every day life, much less even contemplating seeking treatment for their drinking problem.
