The Components of Alcohol Addiction

Alcoholism is a powerful craving for alcohol which often results in the compulsive consumption of alcohol. The cause of this craving is heavily debated, but the most popular beliefs are that it is a chemical or nutrional imbalance, a genetic predisposition, a neurological effect caused by runaway learning mechanisms or an inability to curb one’s own desire for enjoyment.

Alcoholism is often a controversial subject. Some believe it to be a biological disease, but the inability to tie it to a specific biological causation makes this is a political debate and not a medical one.

Alcohol addiction has been identified as having various components.

* Psychological addiction involves those things which convince a person that they gain benefit from the use of the substance. For instance, if they feel that they are more socially adept while drunk or that it allows them to better handle stress, then they might feel that any problems caused were worth the benefits.

* Physical addiction (a.k.a., dependence) involves the physical adaptation of a person’s biological systems to the continued presence of alcohol in their system.