31 Jul 2022

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Alcohol Use Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

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Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) occurs when the use of alcohol becomes severe that an individual must depend on alcohol to perform certain tasks in life. This chronic and relapsing of the brain disease is a result of compulsive use of alcohol characterized by a negative emotional state when the individual has not taken alcohol and losing control over the use of alcohol. The individual continues to drink even when the habit causes problems in his or her family. The individual may also resort to calling off activities that were otherwise productive in his life and use that opportunity to drink. Other symptoms included withdrawal symptoms by the individual when the effects of alcohol use wear off the drunkard. The individual will be shaky, lack sleep, become irritable, anxious, depressed, and become restless. The drunkard will also have nausea and sweating at any given time (Fitzgerald, 2018). AUD differs from the normal alcohol use in the sense that the effects thereof are different. The side effects of normal alcohol use are characterized by hangovers the following morning, irritability, and severe headaches due to dehydration. However, the consumer does not call off important activities to create time for the drink. This is a common case of the AUD patients because the habit tunes the brain to function properly only when he feeds it with alcohol. 

Etiology of AUD from a biospychosocial perspective 

Etiology is the understanding of the root and origin of a particular problem, the factors affecting the problem development, and the influences ameliorating the course of this particular problem. Apparently, the etiology of AUD related to the root cause of the disorder and overuse of alcohol so that the brain and the central nervous system depend on the content to function properly. Several studies have linked developed alcohol use of another substance, aside from just alcohol. The substance use develops to poor cognitive capacities rendering the abuser helpless in terms of making independent decisions in life (In Sher, 2016). Furthermore, the abuser might have difficulties making a final decision to control his drinking habits. According to the electroencephalographic (EEG) measures, the functioning of the central nervous system is poor in adults and control individuals that overuse alcohol. The brain wave patterns are inconsistent as far as forming a cognitive capability pattern and planning responses. The cognitive disorder leads to poor attention, response style, planning as well as oversight. This means that the capacity to oversight, even individual activities will have little control over the little things he does because alcohol is the controlling factor that dictates all that needs to and not to be done. The individual also becomes less social and his or her verbal speech becomes unclear, unlike when the circumstance was otherwise. Some studies show that 50% of the risks associated with AUD is genetically determined, even though it is difficult to determine the influence of genes in these studies (In Sher, 2016). 

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Etiology treatment options for AUD 

The pharmacological treatment options for AUD conditions are limited, which led to contemporary studies describing a host of alternative approaches to decreasing alcohol use and side effects thereof. These etiological treatment options include rehabilitation where the consumer takes some time to rectify his or her drinking affluence. At the rehabilitation center, the patient will undergo some particular systematic training that will help in reducing the dependence on alcohol to perform properly. This training does not include denying the abuser access to alcohol, but rather regulates the access to a particular amount on a daily basis. The reducing access trains the body to adjust a new to the new content before the client finally can control himself with regards to deciding the amount of alcohol consumption. Additionally, control over the duration of taking alcohol is essential so to avoid alcohol overuse and lead to sobriety of the central nervous system of the consumer. Another approach would be to ensure the client remains engaged in constructive errands that would otherwise have led to access to alcohol. The patient will be exposed to social events to develop stronger bonds in their social life and to better understand their social obligations in the society and ensure they deliver these obligations to the letter (In Sher, 2016). Therefore, the etiological approaches to treating AUD conditions have been effective when compared to the pharmacological approaches of the same condition. 

Long-term consequences of AUD 

The AUD long-term effects are such as passing the genes to the unborn child who will later be born with some deformities. Some children obtain the same genes from the parent, especially if the mother abuses alcohol too much to the extent of contracting the AUD condition. The children have functional impairment originating from their central nervous system and extending to other organs in their bodies. For instance, some women miscarry because of the unbalanced blood pressure owing to excessive alcohol consumption. Besides the genetical transfer from the parent to the unborn children, the abusers are highly at risk of contracting other diseases such as high blood pressures and heart related illnesses. Further, the patient has a high tendency of having an alcohol cirrhosis condition related to their liver and later the kidney will likely have similar or bigger problems in the end. The Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome affects the brain functionality and capacity to have independence in its functioning. This syndrome affects the educational, social, and occupational functionality as far as the abuser is concerned. This means that the individual can no longer perform professional functions, have the standard social life, and cannot comprehend some educational functions in his or her life. 

Impact Material Alcohol use has on a Developing Fetus 

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy may harm the fetus. There is a regular exchange of blood flow from the mother to the fetus. Additionally, alcohol is highly soluble to the blood streams, which will then run in the system of the fetus. This alcoholic content in the system may hinder the development of major organs of the child, aside from damaging the growth of cells such as the brains and spinal code systems (Foster & Hicks, 2015). In the end, the fetus may grow with the distinctive facial features other than when the circumstance for his or her growth was different. Further, the fetus may experience growth problems in the sense that the weight of the fetus at the time of birth will be smaller as compared to their counterparts that were born in a different circumstance (Feinstein, 2006). Besides the birth defects, the child in the long-term may experience learning and behavior disorders. Simple tasks such as learning to suckle will be difficult to learn when the child is finally born, an aspect that could otherwise be different from the norm of child rearing (Foster & Hicks, 2015). Therefore, it is unhealthy for any pregnant women to take alcohol since it has direct impacts on the fetus development. 

References  

Feinstein, S. (2006).  The Praeger handbook of learning and the brain . Westport, Conn: Praeger. 

Fitzgerald, H. E. (2018).  Alcohol use disorders: A developmental science approach to etiology . Oxford University Press. 

Foster, T. K. & Hicks, M. B. (2015). Alcohol use disorder in women: risks and consequences of an adolescent onset and persistent course, HHS Public Access, 28 (2), 322-335. 

In Sher, K. J. (2016).  The Oxford handbook of substance use and substance use disorders . New York: Oxford University Press. 

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StudyBounty. (2023, September 14). Alcohol Use Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment.
https://studybounty.com/alcohol-use-disorder-symptoms-causes-and-treatment-essay

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