Old Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor had endured a long battle with drinking.
Here’s what she experienced, “I used to think that drinking could help my shyness, but all it did was exaggerate my negative qualities. The drinking and pills sort of dulled my enthusiasm.”
Later in life as she entered the Betty Ford Rehab Center in 1983, her first journal entry:
“I feel like hell. I’m going through withdrawal. My heart feels big and pounding. I can feel the blood rush through my body. I can almost see it, running like red water over the boulders in my pain-filled neck and shoulders, then through my ears and into my pounding head. My eyelids flutter. Oh God, I am so, so tired.”
Culture normalizing and media glamorizing moderate consumption. “What’s your choice of poison?” - A popular movie dialogue with a ring of dark humor that normalize the act of drinking. The message conveyed is that alcohol although a poison for the body is considered safe if consumed moderately. However, Medical and Psychiatric experts provide a different view on the matter. David Nutt professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London states “There is no such thing as a safe level of alcohol consumption”. Anya Topiwala and her team of researchers have concluded that even moderate drinking is associated with shrinkage in areas of the brain involved in cognition and learning. Psychiatrists have also indicated that many individuals are trapped in the addiction cycle after their first drink. Hence, even exposure can be detrimental to one’s health.
Alcoholism is a chronic and progressive disease. Alcoholism can affect people regardless of age, gender or race. This complex condition affects the mind as well as the body. Alcoholism is characterized by an obsession to drink and an inability to control the amount of alcohol consumed. The struggle of alcoholism develops first with the need to psychologically escape from the stress of reality. When past baggage, emotionally charged experiences and fears are activated, the individual begins to associate drinking with de-stressing and short term solution. Yet, the person may begin to need the drink in a larger quantity to over-power the strong negative emotions. This stage is known as the “Adaptive stage” and is often not noticeable as an addictive situation.
As time passes, the individual develops the hallmark characteristic of the second stage of alcoholism i.e. dependence. Which means that the person’s body is beginning to feel the effects of reality without alcohol. Discomfort and irritability surmount until s/he can create a plan to access his/her drink of choice. There is lesser control after the first drink and those around the individual may recognize and even feel slightly concerned. These responses will lead to attempts to conceal, deny, avoid and lie about the behavior. The person themselves is not aware and is in denial mode even after experiencing the physical consequences of hangovers, blackouts, tremors and stomach issues. This stage is known as the “dependence stage” and worsens with time as the consequences of drinking extend into daily functioning.
Relationship strains, warnings in the workplace, irresponsibility with finances and risk taking behavior rises. The consequences are evident yet the individual is too far into their addiction to stop the addiction. This stage is known as the “Progression Stage”. Finally, if the problem persists, it snowballs into damaging quality of life. Loneliness from damaged relationships, loss of professional integrity and lack of self-control are experienced with headaches hallucinations, mood dysfunction, tremors and even death.
The consumption of alcohol is excessive to the point of being unable to survive or live normally without being under the influence. At this stage, known as “conclusion stage”, immediate detox and psychiatric rehabilitation is needed as a long term solution.
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