Continued excessive alcohol consumption can lead to alcohol dependence issues that are related to different problems including adverse effects on family relationships, damage to body organs, and the involved person may incur increased costs to pay for various legal fines and treatment. Withdrawal symptoms also emerge when alcohol-dependent individual attempts to terminate or reduce alcohol consumption. The documentary My Name Was Bette: The Life and Death of an Alcoholic explore the struggle of Bette with alcoholism. Bette, a wife, nurse, and mother, experiences the various mental, emotional, and physical effects of alcoholism. The documentary also depicts the risk factors for alcoholism, the physiological effects of alcoholism, and stigma that hinder women from accessing timely treatment, and how alcohol affects women differently than men.
The present paper discusses the different factors that contribute to alcoholism based on the documentary, the physiological effects of alcoholism, the effects of alcoholism on family relationships and role functioning, and the treatment experience of women with alcoholic issues.
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Contributors to Alcohol Addiction
The film depicts numerous factors that cause alcoholism. They include a family history of alcohol abuse, increased stress levels, and regular alcohol use over an extended period. People who grow up with family members and other relatives suffering from alcohol abuse have a higher risk of being developing alcohol problems in future. High-stress levels due to pressure from work or family roles also contribute to excessive alcohol use. A career such as nursing that involve long working hours and strenuous tasks lead to high-stress levels, which some people deal with by consuming alcohol. Regular alcohol consumption can also become problematic particularly over an extended period. The more alcohol consumed, the more the body establishes alcohol tolerance, which means that more alcohol will be needed to experience the same effects that were experienced previously (Witkiewitz, Litten, & Leggio, 2019). Depression also contributes to alcohol use. Bette did not have an alcohol dependency problem, the risk of becoming an alcoholic increased due to other social, familial, mental, and grief factors. For instance, Social stigma that surrounds alcohol consumption involving women also contributed to her alcoholism in which she had to isolate herself from others to drink (Foster, Hicks, Iacono, & McGue, 2015). This, in turn, exacerbated the alcohol issue.
Based on the film, regular depression waves and a lasting stress trend that emerged due to the loss of several family members throughout Bette’s life including her children moving out, the death of her sister, and the death of her father were also contributing factors. Other factors that contributed to her alcohol problem include raising her children as a single mother in an era when it was unexpected, having a broken childhood, and having a demanding job that depressed and stressed her (Foster et al., 2015). Being a young woman also contributed to her alcohol problem as studies have found that women in their twenties and early thirties are at a higher risk of consuming alcohol than older women (Foster et al., 2015).
Physiological Effects
The physical effects of alcoholism on the mind and body also emerge from the film. For instance, there was a time when she sought rehabilitation during her 30s and found that her liver had been damaged. Other effects include gastrointestinal issues, anxiety, and sleeping problems. Studies have found that chronic alcohol use increases the risk of damage to the tissues and organs of the digestive tract, liver, rectum, and colon (Ceylan-Isik, McBride, & Ren, 2010). Withdrawal issues are also evident in the film when Bette was shaking and sweating on her way from the court. Studies show that when a person with an alcohol problem terminates or reduces alcohol intake abruptly, they develop a withdrawal syndrome. The syndrome causes symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, excessive sweating, tremor, seizures, and hallucination in most severe cases (Witkiewitz, Litten, & Leggio, 2019). Alcohol also harms women more than men. The bodies of women have a slower rate of metabolism and weak resistance to alcohol, which means that alcoholism threatens to harm the female body more. Female bodies also have reduced defenses and rapid and increased susceptibility to the adverse effects of alcoholism such as digestive tract and liver damage (Ceylan-Isik, McBride, & Ren, 2010). The meaning of this is that women are greatly impaired after consuming less alcohol than men. Increased impairment increases the risk for injury including blackouts, vomiting, hangovers, memory loss, and nausea. Organs in women’s bodies are also more susceptible to damage due to alcohol than men’s organs (Ceylan-Isik, McBride, & Ren, 2010). Damages such as liver cirrhosis, heart issues, and nerve damages may develop faster in women than in men.
Women have also been found to be more vulnerable to the toxic effects of drinking alcohol on the nervous system and more susceptible to brain damage due to alcohol consumption than men (Ceylan-Isik, McBride, & Ren, 2010). Women with drinking problems experience increased reduction in motor and cognitive function compared to men despite consuming less alcohol within a short period. Compared to men, alcoholic women experience reduced psychomotor speed, working memory, visuospatial ability, and planning (Ceylan-Isik, McBride, & Ren, 2010). Women also demonstrate brain shrinkage and abnormalities following a short drinking period than men.
Family Relationships and Role functioning
Alcoholism is deeply isolating based on the film because of the stigma associated with alcohol use among women and the pathology of the issue, which makes the person feel alone (Foster et al., 2015). The alcoholism induced disgrace and shame forced Bette to isolate herself from her family and friends to hide her alcohol problem. Alcoholism also caused Bette to deteriorate from a beautiful woman to a sickly, weak and emotionally traumatized woman. She became too dependent on alcohol that she only cared about it more than her friends, work, herself, and her role as a mother. Alcoholism affected all her plans and schedules and finances. She spent most of her income to purchase more alcohol, buy drugs and seek treatment for the different alcohol-related conditions, and pay legal penalties and fines related to the legal issues she experienced. It became challenging for Bette to continue with her roles including work.
Treatment Experiences
Bette experienced the same challenges when attempting to seek or access treatment just like other women during her time. First, she had to overcome stigmatization related to alcoholism among women and establish contact with a source of assistance before beginning treatment. She was also younger when the problem started and her income was not very high. The hurdle related to stigma influenced where she sought help and the kind of facility from which she sought help. Studies show that both women and men with alcohol problems face different barriers when seeking treatment. Most women, however, face many hurdles that hinder them from seeking treatment or completing treatment sessions (Erol & Karpyak, 2015). They are also vulnerable to feeling stigmatized and face stigmatization regarding alcohol consumption.
Increased stigmatization leads to shame and guilt for women who consume alcohol, which leads to adverse effects. For instance, women abusing alcohol may be unwilling to seek treatment due to shame. Women also feel embarrassed because of being treated for alcoholism. Depressive or anxiety disorders that affect women more severely also prevent them from seeking assistance with alcohol abuse issues (Erol & Karpyak, 2015). The many hurdles that women face to seeking treatment reduce their chances of seeking care for their alcoholism. The different barriers concerning stigma that women face also influence how they seek assistance. Most women seek assistance from primary care and mental health organizations instead of alcohol abuse organizations. Mental health and primary care organizations offer poor treatment outcomes than specialty organizations (Erol & Karpyak, 2015). Generally, however, women have better outcomes regarding treatment retention and abstinence after treatment (Witkiewitz, Litten, & Leggio, 2019). Studies have, nevertheless, found that women relapse in the presence of an intimate partner, relapse less when alone, and relapse after experiencing personal problems.
Conclusion
The documentary depicts patterns of alcohol abuse, social and health effects of abuse, risk factors for alcohol abuse, and treatment processes and challenges for alcohol abuse issues through Bette’s life. Based on the film, alcohol can affect a person’s life detrimentally as it affects family relationships, leads to numerous health complications, and interferes with an individual’s role functioning, consume more financial resources, and leads to withdrawal syndrome. In most severe situations, alcohol addiction leads to death. The physiological consequences of alcohol abuse are enormous as it damages most vital body organs such as the brain and liver in the long term. Women have also been found to be more susceptible to suffering more harm than men from alcohol abuse because of the biological differences between the two groups. Fewer quantities of alcohol affect women more than men. Women also face numerous barriers when seeking treatment due to the stigma associated with alcohol abuse among women. Overall, the documentary depicts the unique issues related to alcohol abuse among women.
References
Ceylan-Isik, A. F., McBride, S. M., & Ren, J. (2010). Sex difference in Alcoholism: Who is at a Greater Risk for Development of Alcoholic Complication? Life Sciences , 87 (5–6), 133–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2010.06.002
Erol, A., & Karpyak, V. M. (2015). Sex and Gender-Related Differences in Alcohol use and its Consequences: Contemporary Knowledge and Future Research Considerations. Drug and Alcohol Dependence , 156 , 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.08.023
Foster, K. T., Hicks, B. M., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2015). Gender Differences in the Structure of Risk for Alcohol Use Disorder in Adolescence and Young Adulthood. Psychological Medicine , 45 (14), 3047–3058. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291715001014
Witkiewitz, K., Litten, R. Z., & Leggio, L. (2019). Advances in the Science and Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder. Science Advances , 5 (9), eaax4043. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax4043
