If you are a sufferer of alcoholism, you are probably cheating yourself into thinking that you are just a consumer of alcohol, whereby the reality is that alcoholism is consuming you. That includes the consumption of your salary, your physical energy, your time that could be better spent and the one that tops the list is your health.

If we are going to describe what alcoholism is, it would be a person who knowingly consumes alcohol while being aware of the negative physical and social consequences that it implies. Medically it would be described as somebody who just can't say no to consuming alcohol. So as a whole we could describe alcoholism as being the tendency to compulsively consume alcohol, while being unable to recognise its negative effects.

There is another type of person who although has problems with consuming alcohol, is able to suppress its characteristics and symptoms. You could classify this type of conduct as alcohol abuse, which would imply that while alcohol is consumed in large quantities, the abuser is in some way able to have certain control over its use. We would have to conclude then that an alcohol abuser is not fully dependent on alcohol as is an alcoholic.

Just to highlight the seriousness of the disease in the US, statistics from the National Council of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence show that over 18 million Americans abuse alcohol. The more serious consequences include more than 100,000 American alcohol related deaths and on the road, 50% of deaths are alcohol related.

Unfortunately even the hardest of alcohol drinkers will try and refuse that they are addicted to the stuff. They will have a certain drinking pattern which will allow them to drink in different places throughout the day and this becomes like a daily routine. It will be difficult to maintain though, as their urge will make them drink more and faster.

Social commitments in their life will begin to take second place as their memory deteriorates and then begin to form 'blacking out'. Any form of social activity or pleasurable entertainment will no longer appear to be of interest as their mind will only be focusing its energies on the next shot. They will begin to appear extremely irritable if they are unable to consume their next dose and they will turn their backs on anyone who is close to them in their lives. They will become very tolerant to the effects of alcohol and will have the urge to drink larger quantities in order to feel the effects again.

Alcoholism or in other words, a physical dependence on alcohol can be described as a disease that will slowly but surely take over the body. Brain chemicals like gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) will suffer an alteration in balance due to an increased alcohol intake, but although this can help to keep impulsive behaviour under control, the presence of glutamate will only excite our nervous system. Excitable behaviour is also provoked by the increased level of dopamine in the brain. The habit of drinking alcohol will have an effect on the levels of these chemicals in the brain and will just cause the body to crave for more alcohol.

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