Alcohol & Health
Treatment
Helping Alcoholics
Medically Reviewed by Annamarie Coy, BA, ICPR, MATS
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Patients struggling with alcohol use disorder have different paths to sobriety. Here are a few common strategies employed by health professionals:
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People suffering from alcohol problems and seeking professional help can receive one-on-one therapy and peer support from these in-person and online groups:
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a worldwide organization of peer-facilitated support groups that help people recover from all drinking problems, including addiction, dependence, and alcohol use disorder (AUD).
As its title suggests, AA’s 12-Step Program provides 12 guiding steps to overcome addiction. Hailed as a standard for recovery, 12-step programs aim to help participants admit their addictions, examine their past errors, and learn to improve with a new code of behavior.
Self-Management and Recovery Training, like AA, aims to support individuals who choose to give up and abstain from alcohol and substance use. The program operates on current scientific knowledge of addiction to treat it.
Al-Anon is an international mutual support program for individuals affected by someone else’s drinking. Al-Anon allows participants to share everyday experiences and enforces principles, enabling friends and family members of alcoholics to bring positive changes to their situations.
Alateen is a fellowship designed for teenage relatives (13 to 18) and friends of alcoholics. Teenagers in the program attend support groups with other family members in similar situations.
This self-help group was founded for women (and those identifying as women) in 1975. The group is dedicated to helping women through the addiction recovery process.
Help is always available to those in need. Here are some of the best research-based online resources and organizations that can help with recovery:
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Below, you’ll find frequently asked questions, defined terms, and helpful resources on alcoholism.
Social drinking is deemed acceptable because it isn’t disruptive and doesn’t often lead to behavioral health problems. However, social drinkers are still at risk of developing substance abuse disorders.
The five stages of alcoholism include the:
In identifying these stages, individuals can seek the appropriate help from treatment facilities and stop drinking.
In the US, a standard drink consists of 14 grams of pure alcohol, equal to about 0.6 fluid ounces or 1.2 tablespoons. Usually, one drink is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.
Content levels vary according to the type of beverage consumed. Check the label of each alcoholic beverage to calculate exact percentages.
Alcohol proof is a measure of the alcohol content in a beverage, typically expressed as twice the percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV), where 100 proof is equivalent to 50% ABV.
Each spirit varies in proof values due to factors, such as:
Alcohol exists in various forms and can be distilled or undistilled. Heating the fermented plant matter at high temperatures to generate collected and bottled steam produces distilled alcohol.
Undistilled alcohol is made by fermenting sugar, plant matter, and yeast with water and heat to produce ethanol as a byproduct.
Alcohol metabolites remain for up to 80 hours after your last drink. They stay in your body through your:
The body purges alcohol at a rate of about 0.015 grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood each hour. Blood alcohol levels of 0.20 will take between 12 and 14 hours to leave the body.
However, heavy drinking often leads to changes in metabolism.
EtOH stands for ethyl alcohol or ethanol, a purer form of alcohol. Ethanol is commonly used as a solvent in industrial and consumer products. EtOH refers to alcoholic beverages, especially those distilled from grain substances.
BAC measures the alcohol (ethyl alcohol or ethanol) in a person’s bloodstream. It reflects the speed by which the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes the substance.
The effects of alcohol on the body will depend on the BAC. The higher the BAC, the more consequential the effects are on someone’s body.
A blood alcohol content between 0.31% and 0.45% can be life-threatening. On average, the liver can only metabolize approximately one standard alcoholic drink per hour. The higher the BAC, the more intense (and sometimes more dangerous) the effects of alcohol.
Problem drinking occurs when you start drinking too much—often for the wrong reasons. Not everyone who has a drinking problem is considered an alcoholic. Likewise, not every alcoholic is at the same level of alcoholism.
Alcohol is thrice as harmful as cocaine or tobacco, killing more people than all drugs combined. As little as one night of binge drinking can result in more than what the liver and body can handle.
Blood tests can detect heavy drinking by indicating elevated levels of specific biomarkers, including gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT).
The legal definition of alcohol intoxication is a BAC of 0.08% or above. The level of intoxication depends on how much alcohol has been consumed.
Symptoms of alcohol intoxication include
Alcohol tolerance occurs after consistent, continued drinking leads to a lesser effect. People develop tolerance when their brain functions adjust to compensate for the disruption caused by alcohol in their behavior and bodily functions.
With time, consistent drinking can change the way certain brain chemicals function. It is also a chronic disease that makes it easy to relapse.
An alcohol overdose or alcohol poisoning (intoxication) is a potentially life-threatening condition. It occurs from drinking large amounts of alcohol over a short period and requires immediate medical attention.
Alcohol makes you drunk by impairing the central nervous system and slowing down brain activity and neurotransmitter function. These can lead to altered perception, impaired coordination, and changes in behavior and mood.
While ethyl alcohol is safe to consume in small or moderate doses, it’s still an intoxicating agent.
There is no simple answer to why alcoholics drink. Some people are more susceptible to addiction genetically. Others may experience mental health disorders and are more likely to self-medicate with alcohol.
Self-medicating is the wrongful use of drugs, alcohol, or any other substance to manage the troubling symptoms of a mental health disorder or other illness. People who self-medicate may have other health conditions, like
Alcohol allergies occur when the body creates antibodies to fight off a ‘perceived threat’ caused by compounds found in alcohol.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), excessive drinking is the culprit behind more than 95,000 deaths in the United States yearly, equating to 261 deaths daily.
Moderate beer consumption has potential health benefits due to its antioxidants and specific nutrients. Still, excessive or chronic consumption can lead to various health problems, including:
Drinking alcohol puts you at a higher risk of dehydration due to its diuretic effects. Excessive urination causes your body to lose vital electrolytes such as sodium, calcium, and chloride. The higher the alcohol content, the greater this effect will be.
In 2013, almost 80% of Canadians drank alcohol in the past year, with alcohol-related deaths constantly increasing. Many treatment options have been available to combat alcohol use disorder (alcoholism) in Canada.
Since the 1950s, alcoholism rates in the UK have more than doubled. There has also been an increase in alcohol-related deaths, mental health problems, and hospital admissions.
Alcohol Awareness Month occurs in April and advocates for the treatment of AUD. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) created the month to reduce stigmas and change societal attitudes about AUD through education, meetings, and workshops led by specialists.
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The LGBTQ+ community often faces social stigma, discrimination, and unfair treatment, leading to substance use disorders as a coping mechanism. Up to 25% of the LGBTQ community has a moderate alcohol dependency.
Some treatment facilities offer specialized programs for specific demographics, including the LGBTQ+ community.
Many veterans experience PTSD with a dependency on alcohol because of the military drinking culture and unprocessed trauma. More than 1 in 3 active duty service members are binge drinkers. Fortunately, veterans can get AUD treatment through VA health insurance.
The CDC says excessive alcohol use is linked to more than 27,000 female deaths annually. About 13% of women binge drink, and about half of all adult women reported drinking alcohol in the last month—women with AUD risk developing alcohol-related liver injuries more than men.
There is no “right” way to address alcohol abuse. Instead, individuals can “curate” their road to recovery by researching the appropriate support groups and treatment programs that best suit their learning habits.
Recovering addicts can attend individualized therapy or work alongside health professionals and family members as outpatient participants or in treatment facilities. Some facilities cater to specific demographics, such as veterans, women, and LGBTQ+ members, to foster a deeper sense of community and champion greater success.
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