Alcohol Dependence vs Alcohol Abuse: Understanding the Differences

Alcohol dependence can negatively affect your health and wellbeing, and that of the people around you. Alcohol dependence can be treated successfully and safely with medical detox. This should only be conducted by medical professionals within a clinical environment such as a detox clinic, hospital or rehab centre. In 2018 a staggering 7,551 people died from an alcohol-specific death in the UK. This is the highest number of deaths attributed to alcohol since records first began in 2007.

Clinical Presentation

• The primary role of specialist treatment is to assist the individual to reduce or stop drinking alcohol in a safe manner (National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, 2006).
• Examples of behavioral treatments are brief interventions and reinforcement approaches, treatments that build motivation and teach skills for coping and preventing a return to drinking, and mindfulness-based therapies.
• In 2010, AA membership worldwide was reported as nearly 2 million (Alcoholics Anonymous, 2010).
• The term fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) describes a range of adverse effects that may occur following alcohol exposure during the prenatal period.

Get expert care and community support after work hours—so you can heal while staying present for what matters most. Take our quick and simple alcohol dependence test to understand more about the impact of your drinking. Find out whether your relationship with alcohol is right or you’re overdoing it and need to take action. Whilst undergoing detox, if carried out within one of our CQC-registered alcohol detox clinics, you will be medically monitored continuously and provided with https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/dry-drunk-syndrome-symptoms-and-how-to-cope/ therapeutic support. Clinically, undergoing a full medical detox is the safest way to stop alcohol, where dependency has been identified. To put into context just how dangerous alcohol is for your health, it is estimated that alcohol-related conditions cost the NHS an average of £3.5 Billion a year.

Alcohol dependence treatment

The first attempt to collect information on mental health began in the 1840 census. By the 1880 census, the Bureau of the Census had developed seven categories of mental illness. In 1917, the Bureau of the Census began collecting uniform statistics from mental hospitals across the country. Alcohol misuse and the related problems present a considerable cost to society.

AUDIT

• Approximately one third of specialist alcohol services exclusively provide treatment for people with alcohol problems, but the majority (58%) provide services for both drug and alcohol misuse.
• In 1917, the Bureau of the Census began collecting uniform statistics from mental hospitals across the country.
• This means that when people with the disorder are abstaining from alcohol, they are still at increased risk of resuming unhealthy alcohol consumption, even if years have passed since their last drink.

Referring to this condition as alcohol use disorder is more accurate and less stigmatizing. While the two are no longer differentiated in the DSM, understanding their original definitions can still be helpful. This article discusses alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse, and the key differences between them. It might be surprising to hear that you don’t always have to be drinking to extreme levels to become dependent on alcohol. That’s why, to keep health risks from alcohol to a low level, the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) Halfway house advise it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis.

Alcohol dependence, often interchangeably referred to as alcoholism, is a chronic disease characterized by an inability to control alcohol consumption despite adverse consequences. Divorce can be a result of alcohol addiction, both from the psychological changes that occur and poor decisions like infidelity. It’s not uncommon for people to lose friends in direct relation to their behavior. Following a careful assessment by a doctor, you will be prescribed a pharmaceutical sedative medication that will act as a substitute for the alcohol. Detoxes usually take 1 to 2 weeks to complete, depending on the levels of alcohol involved and the individual’s health. For example, ” abuse ” may imply that the behavior is intentional and controllable and, therefore, a personal failure rather than a disease symptom.

7. IDENTIFICATION AND DIAGNOSIS

• As mentioned in this article, you can support recovery by offering patients AUD medication in primary care, referring to healthcare professional specialists as needed, and promoting mutual support groups.
• Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares strategies for coping with alcohol cravings and other addictions, featuring addiction specialist John Umhau, MD.
• Alcohol-use disorder is defined as clinically significant impairment or psychosocial stress in the previous 12 months.
• The society that you live in plays an important role in how likely you are to develop problems with alcohol.

Harmful and dependent drinkers are much more likely to be frequent accident and emergency department attenders, attending on average five times per annum. Between 20 and 30% of medical admissions, and one third of primary care attendances, are alcohol related (Coulton et al., 2006; Kouimtsidis et al., 2003; Royal College of Physicians, 2001). Further, people who are alcohol dependent are twice as likely as moderate drinkers to visit their general practitioner (GP) (Fuller et al., 2009).

This should include interventions aimed primarily at the drinking behaviour, including psychosocial and pharmacological interventions, and interventions aimed at dealing with co-occurring problems. Alcohol is excreted in urine, sweat and breath, but the main method of elimination from the body is by metabolism in the liver where it is converted to acetaldehyde and acetate. The rate at which alcohol is metabolised and the extent to which an individual is affected by a given dose of alcohol is highly variable from one individual to another.

Alcoholism Pathology Tests Explained

They’ll recommend treatments and resources to help you recover from alcohol use disorder. Alcohol dependence causes people to keep drinking to avoid experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Alcohol abuse, on the other hand, involves drinking excessively without having a physical dependence.

Withdrawal

Our specialists utilize a range of medication and behavioral methods with demonstrated efficacy for helping individuals change their drinking habits and maintain these changes long-term. Care is integrated with patients’ other health care to improve treatment access, reduce costs, and promote better physical and mental health outcomes. People who drink too much alcohol are at risk of developing a host of health conditions and disorders including certain types of cancer, liver disease, and heart disease. Excessive alcohol consumption can damage the brain and other organs, and it also increases the chances of developing sleep problems, depression, and other mental health problems. Alcohol can interfere with a person’s ability to care for their other medical conditions or make other medical conditions worse.