Alcohol is a common drink in life, and because of its social function, many people have little defense against its abuse. However, alcohol is associated with more than 60 physical illnesses, can cause serious impairment of social functioning, and can also lead to psychotic disorders – the mental and physical damage caused by alcohol abuse is far greater than people think.
1. Wine, why it makes some people feel happy
For many people, fine wine is a pleasure. But even when they drink for the first time in their lives, it is mostly due to social and cultural pressures (such as being able to drink “is great”), not because “wine can make people happy”, and often the first few drinks only make people feel uncomfortable.
2. But after a few more drinks, why does it make a difference?
There is a reward center in the human brain, medically called the limbic system of the human brain, this brain structure is related to human instinctive behavior, and regulate human emotions. For example, when one eats a delicious food, does something that one really wants to do, etc., this part of the brain releases pleasure neurotransmitters as a reward and one feels happy.
Therefore, alcohol as an addictive substance, after repeated use, will form a stimulus to the reward center, and its stimulus will bring many times stronger pleasure than food, etc.. This is why some people get a very happy, satisfying feeling after a few drinks, and because they can’t get over this feeling, they start to crave alcohol. This is the physiological factor of alcohol addiction.
Of course, this happy feeling varies from person to person, some people drink only a few times, the reward center will produce a very strong feeling of euphoria, some people but drink many times will not. This is why some people have been drinking all their lives, but only at the social level, and some have become dependent on alcohol after a few drinks.
3, alcohol addiction, the product of genetic and environmental interaction
In addition, there are also genetic factors at play. For example, if someone in a nuclear family is addicted to alcohol, the other members of the family are more likely to become dependent on alcohol than the average person. This has been proven in many studies.
However, addiction is primarily a product of the interaction between genetics and the environment.
Two conditions must be present for an alcohol addiction to develop: the easier access to alcohol and a social culture (“people who can drink are amazing”) that celebrates the ability to drink and also promotes the formation of alcohol dependence. Therefore, the incidence of alcohol addiction is very low in countries or regions where the concept of prohibition is in place.
In terms of the proportion of the role of genetic and environmental factors, generally speaking, they each account for 40-60%. Alcohol addiction is mainly the result of their interaction.
Then again, drinking is also related to family and personal. If there are frequent family conflicts, stressful work or interpersonal relationships, and individuals lack coping skills and are more likely to have negative emotions, then someone may use alcohol to drown their sorrows. Therefore, it is accurate to say that alcohol addiction is the result of a combination of genetic, physical, socio-cultural and psychological factors.
4.Why can’t you quit drinking just by your own will?
When you have an alcohol addiction, it is difficult to quit with your own will.
Alcohol addiction, also known as alcohol dependence, is the main core problem: the addicted person cannot control himself and needs to find and drink alcohol repeatedly for a long time. On the one hand, he has a very strong psychological craving for alcohol and a strong desire to drink; on the other hand, because of long-term drinking, his body has developed a chronic, pathological adaptation to alcohol, and at this time, the body becomes increasingly insensitive to alcohol and can only achieve the original pleasure by constantly adding more and more.
This is why people who are addicted to alcohol will drink more; and if the amount is suddenly reduced, the pathological balance of the body will be broken, and all kinds of uncomfortable manifestations of maladjustment will appear, i.e. “physical withdrawal symptoms”, such as restlessness, tremors, pain, etc. – at this time, drinking becomes Alcoholism is no longer about “getting” greater pleasure, but about “avoiding” the pain of not drinking.
After the addict has developed a craving for and tolerance of alcohol, it is quite difficult for the individual to stop drinking. Even though the patient may be subjectively aware of the physiological and social damage of alcohol, objectively, he is unable to control himself and cannot stop himself. Therefore, it is difficult for the vast majority of patients to stop drinking with their will, because it is not only a personal problem, but also a medical problem, a chronic, mental and physical pathology formed under the action of brain mechanisms and other physiological mechanisms, which is very difficult to change through personal will.
5, Quit drinking, a long-term process
Even in hospitals, treatment for alcohol withdrawal cannot be achieved overnight; the process is usually divided into three stages.
The first stage is abstinence from drinking behavior. A moderately severe person needs inpatient treatment to help him control his behavior in an environment away from alcohol.
The second stage is rehabilitation. The doctor uses medication and psychological means to promote recovery of the patient’s mental, psychological, somatic and social functions. This phase also includes brain rehabilitation for alcohol-induced brain damage.
After discharge from treatment, the patient enters the third stage, which is further long-term outpatient follow-up and relapse prevention. This is because although alcohol withdrawal and physical and mental recovery have taken place, the patient has a vivid memory of the intense euphoria they had, so they are prone to relapse. Through outpatient treatment, we can prevent relapse with medication and intervene in a timely manner with psychotherapy for addiction.
Therefore, to get rid of the dependence on alcohol, quitting drinking is only the first step of treatment, and the whole treatment is a long-term, even repeated process.
6.Why the incidence of alcohol addiction is higher in Shenzhen
From the 1980s to the present, the number of Chinese people drinking alcohol has been increasing, and the consumption of alcohol in society as a whole has been growing at a rate of 13 percent per year. However, compared to Europe, the annual per capita consumption of alcohol in China is relatively low.
According to statistics, 55 percent of men drink alcohol in China, and 15 percent of women are alcohol drinkers. Yang Mei analyzed that this is clearly related to the socio-cultural context: the general tendency is to approve of male drinking and to oppose female drinking.
Usually, the incidence of alcohol addiction is higher in colder regions, but the Pearl River Delta seems to be a special case, above the national average. Yang Mei introduced, in the mid-1990s, the total prevalence of alcohol dependence in China was 3.8 percent, and now it has reached 5 percent; however, in the Pearl River Delta as early as 2004, the figure was as high as 6 percent, with the prevalence of men reaching 8.1 percent. Accordingly, according to Shenzhen’s 11 million population projections, there are more than 600,000 alcohol dependence patients.
Why is the incidence of alcohol dependence in Shenzhen high? This is likely to be related to migrant workers, where there are many large factories and heavy manual workers, and they may face more life events stimulation, loneliness and anxiety than ordinary people. In addition, the fast pace of life in Shenzhen, which is much more stressful than in the mainland, can also lead to more occurrences of alcohol dependence.