Even though the American Medical Association (AMA) identified alcohol addiction as a chronic medical disease in 1956, alcohol addiction continues to be viewed by many as a weakness or moral failure. At its core, addiction isn’t just a social problem, moral problem, or criminal problem. It’s a brain disorder, with symptoms manifesting in all these other areas. Many addictive behaviours are serious issues, drug addiction and they can even be illegal.
Major Depression
It has previously been categorized as a personality disorder, but in the 3rd edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it was identified as a mental health disorder. Like all other types of addiction, alcoholism, also called alcohol abuse or alcohol addiction is a disease. Just many other diseases, while they might not be curable, they can be treated. Also, like other types of diseases, it does not discriminate based on age, gender, or even ethnicity. To top it all off, alcoholism kills nearly 90,000 people in the United States every year. There are many factors that contribute to mental health disorders, including biological factors like chemical imbalances in the brain.
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- For example, individuals might drink because they’re depressed (to alleviate symptoms of mental health disorders).
- Arise during the developmental period, and involve significant difficulties in the acquisition and execution of specific intellectual, motor, language, or social functions.
- When an individual has both a mental illness and an alcohol addiction simultaneously, the clinical diagnosis is co-occurring disorder, comorbidity, or dual diagnosis.
- There are no specific tests that can be used to diagnose alcohol withdrawal.
Mental health treatment often focuses on and exploration of a person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors, focusing on ways to improve those feelings through one-on-one counseling or group therapy. This type of treatment often includes medication paired with psychotherapy. You can search for an empathetic mental health professional using our Healthline FindCare tool to get more information and help finding the right treatment for you.
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And while he almost certainly didn’t make is alcoholism considered a mental illness it up, it’s worth noting that “the drink” really did take “the man” in his case. Caught in the grip of alcohol misuse for much of his adult life, the writer achieved a year of sobriety before his untimely death at age 44. Unfortunately, it seems that years of drinking and the health problems that came with it had already taken their toll. Finally, people who go through the treatment process for alcohol addiction will need support at a variety of levels. Alcohol use disorder (AUD), which people used to call alcoholism, is a medical condition in which a person can’t control or quit their use of alcohol. Yes, alcoholism is a complex disorder influenced by a variety of genetic, psychological, and environmental factors.
- Withdrawal symptoms have likely begun to kick in when the drinker doesn’t have any alcohol in their system, or their “buzz” has begun to wear off.
- When I avoid alcohol completely, I feel lighter and more hopeful despite the state of the world, I sleep better, and my memory improves.
- This is why a person who abuses drugs eventually feels flat, unmotivated, lifeless, and depressed and is unable to enjoy previously pleasurable activities.
- Instead, this classification means that research around it has produced treatment options, standards of care, and destigmatizing understanding.
- Moderate alcohol use disorder requires the presence of 4 to 5 symptoms, and severe AUD requires the presence of 6 or more.
No matter what stage of alcoholism you are in, the good news is there are options available to you to get the help that you need. The first step in the process of getting help for alcoholism is to enter into a detox program. Detox is designed to rid the body of any and all harmful substances, including alcohol. Due to the way the body reacts to detoxing, it is important to do so under the care and supervision of trained medical professionals. This can be done at either a local medical facility, a dedicated detox center, or a treatment center that also offers detox. When someone suffers from alcoholism, they tend to go through three different phases of drinking.
