Public Attitude Towards Alcoholics, Research Paper Example

Recent surveys have done an exemplary job of proving the long-held fact that alcohol abuse creates a gap within today’s society. Simple statistics have shown that 17.6 individuals suffer from alcohol addiction today. In other words if twelve individuals were placed in a single room, at least one or more of those individuals would without a doubt be addicted to alcohol. Surveys have also done a great job of pointing out that more than about half of adults in the United States have been known to have had or current have an adult who is completely dependent on alcohol. The following research, which has been brought about by surveys, explains the problems with alcohol as well as why so many individuals urge others to be wary of what they put into their body.

It should not come as a surprise that there is highly held disapproval of alcoholics. This is due to the fact that there are so many individuals who have personal accounts of how their lives or the lives of close individuals to them have been affected to due the effects of alcohol. It goes without question that more than often, these accounts are negative in such a way that they include a variety of factors including, but certainly not limited to, domestic violence, torn families, and/or fatalities. However, in order to fully comprehend everything that alcoholism implies, it must first be closely analyzed and reasons as to why so many individuals are prone to be addicted to such an atrocity must be found. In order to accomplish this, all factors that deal with alcohol must be taken into account. (“Alcohol: Public Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours.”)

A perfect way to begin is by defining what alcoholism. Alcoholism, for explanatory purposes, will be defined as a serious medical condition in which an individual is prone to drink excessive amounts of any kind of alcohol. Despite of the many negative effects that the consumption of alcohol has on the body, it should go without saying that alcohol has an equal amount of effects on the social life of many individuals. So then, if so many individuals are cognizant of the actuality that alcohol ends up leading an unhappy life, then why do so many individuals still decide to undertake alcoholism? The answer is quite simple when it is put into perspective: alcohol is at times cheap (depending on the alcohol that is being bought) and alcohol can lead to the lack of pain, if even temporarily. (“Alcohol’s Effects on the Body.”)

There are so many individuals scattered around the world that would rather die than have to face the current circumstances that they are in. Due to this, for those who do not wish to commit suicide, they take it upon themselves to find an alternative method of coping with their depression. Of course, alcohol ranks very high among such a list in which individuals are able to gain temporary happiness from a beer can or a bottle. For the sake of explanation, if there would be an individual that has led an unhappy life for quite some time now (for whatever reason) and this individual no longer wishes to live such a life, this person would invariably start looking for things to distract him or her from his or her current circumstances. . (“Alcohol Abuse Self Test.”)

The answer for this outlet is more than often alcohol. Why? Because alcohol has the ability to make a person happy for a limited amount of time. This short period of time is just enough time for the individual to be able to forget the things that may have happened that day. Of course, once the person is sober the next morning, he or she will want to be drunk again in order to be able to once again forget the current circumstance that he or she might be in. This leads to a perpetual never-ending cycle in which an individual becomes completely dependent on alcohol. The result of this decision changes the individual in all aspects of his or her life. (“Alcohol: Public Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours.”)

A common result of being an alcohol is that an individual usually does not have a healthy social life. This is proven by the fact that he or she might resort to mistreating his or her family (provided he or she has one) and therefore, creates an unhealthy unbalance within a household. The reason it is fair to assume that this individual would have a family is because more than often, a person who is an alcohol is an adult. On another note, the kind of effect that this kind of behavior has on the children is unbearable. The children must put up with all of the fighting and domestic violence that goes on within a household, often late at night. This commonly leads to the child getting poor grades at school as well as not being able to focus as much as the rest of his or her peers. Aside from the children, the spouse is directly affected by the fact that he or she must be willing to take care of the alcohol through the bad times. The problem with this, however, is that the spouse is often mistreated by the alcohol because of the fact that he or she might not really be himself or herself when drunk. This creates an atmosphere of negativity for the family for years to come. (“Alcohol’s Effects on the Body.”)

Public attitudes have had a lot to say about these problems, of course, but like most things, this problem will not be shed much light until someone is seriously injured. Often times, alcoholics are not seen as dangerous because the manner in which they are displayed on the media are exaggerated at best. This causes individuals to think that since most movies are unrealistic, then alcoholics must not be real either. This kind of train of thought is what has caused a variety of problems in the past, and if individuals truly want to instigate a change within this society, then they must be more than willing to take it upon themselves to instigate that certain change. (“Alcohol’s Effects on the Body.”)

A major problem with alcoholism, as seen by the public, is that those who are affected are seen as they have no hope for the future. This is the part where media takes it upon itself to ensure that alcoholics are seen as a way of living, as opposed to being portrayed as individuals who could improve their lives if they simply sought out help. Instead of displaying this, however, the media more than often shows alcoholics as individuals who are out asking for money on the streets as well as the individuals who commit the majority of murders within a movie. Seeing as how popular media is and the kind of influence that it has over the public, the media should be much more careful about the manner in which it shows those who are alcoholics. (“Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse Help)

It goes without saying that alcoholism is not a lifestyle that is chosen out of curiosity. Those who are completely dependent on alcohol have grown so fond of the substance because it helps them cope with the circumstances that they are facing or have faced throughout their lives. A problem that is implied here is that alcoholism is not only a result of challenges that an individual is currently facing in his or her lifetime. On the contrary, alcoholism might also deal with the challenges and adversities than a certain person might have faced at an earlier point in his or her life. This is known as post traumatic stress syndrome and many individuals have different methods of dealing with such a condition. There is always a majority of individuals who resort to drug abuse or alcohol in order to fix their lives, but these individuals must come to comprehend the fact that alcohol will fix no problems for them. Instead, what these individuals should be doing is that they should be deciding to seek for help either from families or therapists. (“Signs Symptoms.”)

Families play a huge role in the kind of help that can be offered to those individuals who are alcoholics because it is proven many times throughout an individual’s life that all tribulations can be overcome with the support and aid from a family. A family plays such a vital role in helping individuals because of the manner in which they are able to interact with the person on a one-to-one basis and are also able to make the alcoholic come to realize that he or she has people who care about him or her. This, of course, makes the person re-think the actions that he or she is undertaking and might even prevent him or her from performing such actions again throughout his or her lifetime. On the other hand, if a family is not available, professional help should always be sought. . (“Alcohol Abuse Self Test.”)

An advantage of seeking professional help as opposed to seeking help from an individual’s family is that the alcoholic might often times be more willing to tell the therapist more personal things because he or she knows that the therapist will not judge. This is because of the fact that the therapist is a professional in his or her respective fields and has most probably come across tens of hundreds of the same situations. This leads in to the next advantage of using a therapist; he or she knows what he or she is doing by recommending certain medications or exercises. See, if a random family member were to recommend anti-depressants, he or she might not even know what he or she is doing or recommending. Because of the reason that a specific family member would be playing doctor, the alcoholic could be placed in grave danger. Potentially, the alcoholic’s life could be put on the line simply due to the fact that the family member would deb trying to help that certain individual, despite the fact that he or she might not even have known what was being advised. . (“Alcohol Abuse Self Test.”)

The public highly frowns upon alcoholics because of the manner by which they are often portrayed on the media: mean, aggressive, violent. This is not to say that it is okay to be an alcoholic, but it often feels as if people forget the fact that alcoholics are people too. Because of this, they deserve the utmost respect that a fellow human being would be given. In order to change the perspective that the general public has on alcoholics, alcoholics must be willing to change themselves. By doing so, they would give an immense amount of hope to those individuals who put in their best efforts at better themselves but simply are not able to improve their lives. On that note, the reason as to why is it imperative that the maximum amount of individuals = participate in removing alcoholic’s stereotype is so that these people are given the opportunity to have a fresh start and make their own life choices. If, however, these labels are not removed, then there should be no doubt in an individual’s mind that certain person will fail. (“Attention Required! | CloudFlare.”)

In order to be able to tell if a certain individual is addicted to alcohol, there are a variety of contributing factors that should be taken into account. One of the most prevalent signs that there is an alcoholic present in the room is if he or she is unable to control his or her amount alcohol consumed once that specific person initiates drinking. This can be a huge problem nowadays, especially for women, because he or she might end up being abused that day due to lack of control, leading to unconsciousness. Unfortunately, there are numerous individuals who would jump at the opportunity to take advantage of others, which is why individuals should be cautious if they already know that they have problems controlling the amount of alcohol that they should consume, if anything at all. (“Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse Help)

Another red flag that an individual might be resorting to alcohol as a lifestyle is if he or she shows a steep decline in the amount of attention that is paid to the family as well as a decline in the amount of professional obligations that are completed by that specific individuals. While there could be a variety of reasons as to why an individual would be leading a reckless lifestyle, among one of the most common reasons for this would be due to the fact that this person could be addicted to alcohol. This leads to the next point in which an alcoholic might often times not care much about the legality of many things. What is meant by this is if and when an individual decides to lead his or her life in a manner which will ultimately affect him or her. Even worse, if and when an individual is aware of the fact the he or she is leading an unproductive lifestyle and he or she still decides to undertake such actions, then this individual must be seriously addicted to alcohol. Again, there could be numerous contributing factors that could be causing a specific individual to make such decisions, so it is always important to consider all living aspects of an individual. (“Attention Required! | CloudFlare.”)

Directly linked to alcohol addiction is the manner by which individuals would have increased level of anger and aggressions, most commonly in areas where such behavior would immediately be deemed as inappropriate. This would be due to the reason that an alcoholic would simply not care about what goes in around his or her life because he or she might think that it is already too late to attempt to live a better life. What these individuals should be told is that it is never too late to make a change in one’s own life, no matter in what state the certain individual might be in. Besides actions that are displayed by an alcoholic’s everyday life, there are a variety a effects that the consumption of alcohol could have on individuals. (“Attention Required! | CloudFlare.”)

What individuals must always remember is that all actions have a consequence. What this means in this context is that the constant consumption of alcohol might lead to an individual having an unhealthy body because of the kind of effects that alcohol has on the body. In order to be able to discuss this at length, everything about the aftermath’s about alcohol consumption must be comprehended completely. First and foremost, a major effect that alcohol consumption places on many individuals is the fact that it affects the brain. This is done in such a way by which alcohol is able to interrupt many of the brain’s functions, including many cognitive functions which are necessary in order to think straight. This is the reason as to why there are often many individuals who undertake ridiculous and absurd actions. These individuals lack the cognitive abilities when drunk to make decisive decisions that will prove to be fruitful and advantageous for them in the near future. In addition, drinking alcohol also affects the brain in a manner through which individuals are unable to control much of their behavior and have mood swings, which may be dangerous at times. Lastly, alcohol consumption places a major influence on the kind of coordination that an individual is able to have. (“Alcohol Abuse Self Test.”)

Aside from the brain, alcohol plays huge roles in affecting different areas of the body. These areas include, but are not limited to the heart, liver, pancreas, and immune system. In regards to the heart, alcohol has been shown to have a tremendous influence on the function of the cardiovascular system. For example, if and when an individual decides to intake too much alcohol on a single occasion, he or she runs the risk of stretching certain heart muscle (otherwise known as cardiomyopathy) or may end up having an irregular heart beat. It does not take much research to prove that this irregularity within a heart could ultimately be a heart attack and promptly end an individual’s life. This is just one case of how detrimental alcohol can be on the human body and already it has been proven that alcohol can end a life within a matter of seconds. (“Treating Alcohol Addiction.”)

Of course, society does not see alcohol as the problem, and rightfully so. Instead, society says that the real problem are those individuals who decide that it is okay to take advantage of the freedom that they have been given to consume alcohol to a certain extent. It is these individuals who often lead to new laws and regulations because of the fact that they do not know how to control themselves. Aside from the new laws and regulations, however, individuals who are directly at directly put at risk because of an individual’s decision to be an alcoholic is that certain alcoholic’s family. It is without question that the family of such an individual should not have to suffer simply due to the poor decisions of an individual. Yes, it could be argued that those who are addicted to alcohol do not have a choice but to intake alcohol each and every day, however, everyone has freewill. It is up to an individual’s own life choice if he or she decides to undertake such irresponsible actions. (“Alcohol Addiction.”)

In numerous surveys, individuals have indicated that alcoholics choose to drink on their own; no on is forcing them to make such bad life choices. Because of that, an individual should know when he or she should stop certain alcohol consumption in order to ensure that he or she does not become a threat to society. Often times, this can mean having to pursue the difficult thing and get help. Ultimately, however, seeking help (often times from a therapist or from another professional) can prove to be the most effective and proactive thing to do. Searching and getting such help can prevent an injury or even a death. At times, certain alcoholics will have to be placed under close observation, but this should be preferred over having a bad consequence as the result. (“Treating Alcohol Addiction.”)

In order to fully comprehend everything that alcoholism implies, it must first be closely analyzed and reasons as to why so many individuals are prone to be addicted to such an atrocity must be found. What this means is that public attitudes must be dispelled in order to achieve a greater good. This refers to the fact that the public should help alcohol addicts become better in their lives as opposed to just seeing them as outcasts throughout their lives. If and when society decides to collaborate and come together in order to be a lending hand to every single individual in need of help, it will be then that humanity will be able to be catapulted into success. If this is not opted for, then, invariably, society will not be able to progress because there will always be individuals who are being left behind (in this case, alcohol addicts). There are numerous methods through which individuals can avoid a life that involves alcohol, they must simply be willing to put in their best efforts to seek out such a lifestyle. (“Alcohol Addiction.”)

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