Alcoholism Stages

There are socially acceptable amounts of alcohol consumption that do not pose any health problems. It is generally fine for healthy men to have up to two glasses of alcohol and for healthy non-pregnant women to have a glass, but they may later on develop a form of alcohol dependency otherwise known as alcoholism. Frequent small amounts of alcohol intake may be considered alcoholism, since alcoholics are not necessarily only those who are intoxicated all the time. There are three stages of alcohol dependency, categorized according to severity. These stages usually take years to develop, which may start from casual everyday intake of small amounts of alcohol.

It is sometimes hard to tell that a person is already in the early stage of alcoholism. Most of the people in this stage look like they are sober when you interact with them. In most cases, they are really not really intoxicated, since their alcohol intake is relatively low and can be handled by their bodies. Usually, the people who are in this stage take in alcohol as a way of achieving a certain feeling or mood, or to simply take relief in drinking alcohol. What they usually don't observe is that their body's alcohol tolerance level is changing, and they are beginning to drink more and more to continue in achieving the mood or the relief that they are after.

Next, people move up to the middle stages of alcoholism. People in this stage may already recognize that they have a problem with drinking, but may be afraid to deal with it. It is also in this stage that illnesses such as stomach problems, blackouts and hangovers are common. This is also the reason why many start to drink at the beginning of the day: to relieve a hangover. In this stage, the body may start to have a decrease in the alcohol tolerance level, so people in this stage get intoxicated faster. Most importantly, it is in this stage that some people totally lose control on the amount of alcohol they take in because they can no longer measure how much alcohol their bodies can handle.

The end stage of alcohol dependency is the most severe in all aspects. People in this stage are already obsessed with drinking, whether or not they are already experiencing all sorts of illnesses brought about by their excessive consumption of alcohol. Social problems may also arise at this point as other people can tell that people in this stage have problems with drinking. The extreme result of this stage, when not cured, can be death due to much deterioration of health, or it can be self-inflicted.

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