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Alcoholism And It's Effects

What exactly is alcoholism, how do you know who has it, and how do you get rid of it? Alcoholism also known as "alcohol dependence syndrome," is defined as being a disease that is characterized by cravings, loss of control, physical dependence, and tolerance. Alcoholism is also defined as a chronic, progressive, relapsing brain disease that around five percent of Americans die from. "It is a widely used drug, tolerated physiologically and socially, with a place in religious ceremony, in ritual, in spontaneous celebration, and in everyday social transactions, but also a drug that contributes extensively to illness, to violence, to social order, and mortality" (Trum 1). Unbelievably stated, forty percent of alcoholism is caused by genetic factors.
Alcoholism also runs in families, so it is likely for more than one member in a family to have an alcohol problem. For most people, alcohol is a pleasant complement to social activities, but studies show that nearly one in every fourteen adults either are alcohol abusers, or are alcoholic. Alcoholism has little to do with what kind of alcohol one drinks, how long one has been drinking, or even exactly how much alcohol one consumes. But it does have a great deal to do with an individual's uncontrollable feelings of need for alcohol. The "disease" of alcoholism is uncontrollably lethal; statistics show that ninety five percent of untreated alcoholics die of it. Alcoholism has a variety of important topics, but the most influential are the signs of alcoholism, health related effects, and the treatment procedures to rid the problem.
The concept of Alcoholism is displayed briefly throughout the award winning play, A Raisin in the Sun. This play depicts a poor black family in the early 1960's who deals with everyday struggles such as poverty and racism. The family comes across an ample amount of money from the death of a loved one, and has controversy over what to do with the money, and what happens to it. Walter Lee...