In our society alcohol is a common and socially approved habit, it is associated with celebrations, parties, meetings of friends and as a means of relationship with others, in our country there are many people who are addicted to alcohol and do not. even know it.
Alcohol dependence is one of the most serious and difficult to overcome because of the ease with which it can be found, the number of bars that exist and consumption by the majority of the population.
- Alcohol has serious consequences for people who abuse its consumption.
- In many cases.
- The consequences are irreversible.
- Alcoholism is a serious disease that.
- If left untreated.
- Can have serious professional.
- Personal and health consequences.
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, which means it blocks its functions. Alcohol contains ethanol, which is absorbed into the bloodstream; its molecules are small and easily cross the blood brain barrier, which protects the brain from toxic substances. When alcohol reaches the brain, it increases the level of Serotonin and Dopamine in the blood.
Being a substance that depresses the nervous system, it affects the gabaergic and glutamatergic neurotransmitters, causing relaxation and sedation of the consumer, affecting the parts of the brain responsible for movement, memory and breathing.
Alcohol inhibits glutamate, which plays an important role in memory and cognition, causing the death of neurons responsible for social behavior, self-control, judgment and inhibitory control; it also affects mesencephaly, which is related to motor coordination, speech, vision and alertness.
According to Nahas and Trouvé, alcohol has several effects on people who abuse their consumption:
The hangover we experience after drinking alcohol is most important because of dehydration of the brain, as the body tries to expel it through urine and sweat, dizziness, headaches and blurred vision are the consequences of this dehydration.
Some alcohol-related mental disorders last a period of time and are called “acute mental disorders. “For example, we have delirium tremens, alcoholic hallucinations and partial amnesia.
Symptoms of delirium tremens begin to appear between the second or fourth day of withdrawal and can result in death, causing anxiety, insomnia, tremors and tachycardia, in cases where this episode survives ends in deep sleep for several hours.
During the tremens delirium, the person disorients, with a fluctuating level of consciousness, hallucinations, intense fear, paranoid delusions, tremors and seizures. Hallucinations can be visual, auditory, tactile, and scary.
Psychotic symptoms of alcoholic hallucination appear after poisoning; generally high doses of alcohol for several days. Hallucinations are auditory with threatening and accusatory content, and are sometimes accompanied by delusions.
Partial amnesia (blackout) is partial or total forgetfulness of everything that happened in drunkenness, which usually lasts a few hours or even several days, the person may remember isolated incidents, but there are time intervals when they do not remember who they saw, what they said or did.
After alcohol abuse or long-term addiction, the consequences can be irreversible, causing several mental disorders such as: