A Deadly Disease: Discussing Alcohol Use Disorder
The 2013 updated version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) reclassified two previously separate issues—alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse—into one diagnosis, termed Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). With all of the technical jargon, information, and misinformation on the Web in relation to this subject, one may find themselves wondering what is the difference between AUD and alcoholism, or if there is really any difference at all?
Defining Alcohol Use Disorder
AUD, or Alcohol Use Disorder, is broken down into three subsections: mild, moderate, and severe. If one presents with a certain number of
Should I Worry About Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?
Fetal alcohol syndrome is an alcohol use disorder that is classified as the most severe type of the disorders on the fetal alcohol spectrum. While the condition is relatively rare and affects approximately 200,000 babies annually, the consequences of the disease can be lifelong and widespread. As with other spectrum disorders, fetal alcohol syndrome affects each child differently. Available treatments provide symptom management, but the damage caused by the syndrome cannot be reversed.
Causes of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Fetal alcohol syndrome occurs when a mother consumes alcoholic beverages during pregnancy. While alcohol use during
Sober but Angry: What Is a Dry Drunk?
The idea of recovery is a profound one. It is someone choosing to take the steps necessary to create an entire new life for themselves. It’s more than simply quitting. Much more.
You can stop eating unhealthy foods. You can stop seeing a friend who is bad for you. You can stop doing just about anything. However, there is always the possibility of starting back up again. Getting back in the bad habit. Going back to all the wrong places. Returning to who you once were.
Addiction Recovery: More Than Sobriety
This is
Helping Someone Stop Drinking
It’s an uphill grind to be sure. The romanticized picture of the glories of alcohol and the people who imbibe is one of the major players in the fight for sobriety. Here in Southern California, the problem is as big as anywhere. The commercials, the rows of bars, the West Coast IPA beer culture. As well, there is a growing market for alcohol being pushed towards women. T-shirts that talk about drinking wine all day as well as other campaigns that encourage women to have a drink because they deserve it as their
How Sobriety Is Beautiful
As we have discussed previously, getting clean from drugs and alcohol is a whole-life transformation. There are plenty of concrete benefits to finding lasting recovery. With those things in mind, as well as being a drug and alcohol detox located in Orange County, California, we are very aware many other benefits of recovery. One of them being an overall attractiveness that comes with sobriety. More than just a pretty face, though your body displays your overall health. And health is beautiful. Here are a few ways your healing will affect your looks once you decide to get your body
The Problem With Dry January
You have probably at least heard of it, if not taken part in it. Dry January, or Drynuary. The idea is to spend the whole month of January without alcohol in order to make up for the indulgences of the holiday season. So nearing the end of the first month of the year, the question has to be asked: Does it work? Well, according to the New York Post and psychologist Ramani Durvasula, Drynuary is just “one more thing for people to fail at.”
Why Dry January Has Pitfalls
Of course, failure can happen on multiple levels for a person trying
Alcohol and a Social Life
There is no way around it, drinking is a social activity. If that’s not obvious to you, just try telling your social circle you have quit (or are thinking about giving it up). Their response will reveal what’s going on here. Silence. Subdued encouragement. Passive alienation. Hidden resentment. Open aggression. What’s going on here? The problem is easy: you giving up booze messes with their lives.
False Social Life Foundation
It actually has very little to do with you or your decision. Never mind the fact that alcohol was killing you and alienating your family and bringing you to the brink of
What Is Substance Use Disorder?
Language is important. How we see things, their importance, and their influence is directly connected to what we name them. Where addiction is concerned, the stigma of the disease is often enough to keep a person from seeking treatment. Admitting to struggling with addiction means a person is akin to putting themselves at risk of losing their job, their family, the respect of their community, and more. Even though it is a disease, the possible disgrace of being labeled an “addict” is a heavy burden. This one reason to begin to change our language. Beyond that, the better we define addiction, the better
Mommy Juice: Heavy Drinking and Women
There is nothing new about targeted advertising. It’s been happening for years. In fact, the alcohol industry is fairly adept at it. Most likely the very first full-page beer ad had a beautiful woman on it—a subconscious way to encourage men to connect their virility to having a cold one. So we are used to it.
The interesting thing is that the traditional audience for booze has been men. But some of that is changing. And it’s coming from all sides.
Maybe you’ve seen the shirts that say “Rosé all day.” Or the Instagram
What You Should Know About Alcohol Poisoning
The commercials on TV of attractive people throwing a few back, movies of people taking shots until they fall down, the weekday contention amongst friends that, “I can drink you under the table”—it’s these things and more. A major reason alcohol poisoning is so prevalent is the common misconception that alcohol is pretty much innocuous. But alcohol poisoning proves the immediate dangers of alcohol, and it can hit anyone at any time—the kids at the weekend party, the weekly dinner with friends, the guy at home alone with a bottle of bourbon. Alcohol poisoning happens when a person imbibes large
