Alcohol Abuse And Depression

Research has shown that up to ten percent of depressed people also abuse alcohol. Many people abuse alcohol when depressed because it makes the sad feelings go away. However this is only a temporary fix. People abusing alcohol think they are treating their depression when in fact large amounts of alcohol can actually worsen the illness.

Depressed people do not realize that the more times they drink alcohol, the more they are increasing their tolerance levels to alcohol. This then requires even more alcohol to induce the same feelings of relative happiness that the first few drinks used to achieve. This is how alcohol can become addictive and gets to the abuse stage.

Unfortunately both depression and alcohol abuse are more common than ever before. While 10% of depressed people also abuse alcohol, up to 40% of alcohol abusers show signs of depression. These numbers are growing every day. These numbers keep growing as more and more people become addicted to alcohol and/ or become depressed due to the increasing levels of stress in todays world.

Often the symptoms of alcohol abuse and depression can be interchanged. Both illnesses show changes in behavior such as becoming increasingly impulsive, increasing acts of violence and aggression, increasing isolating tendencies, and impaired judgment. Both illnesses can lead to problems in the marriage and result in the breakdown of the family. One must also be concerned with the fact that depressed people are more likely to cause accidents within the home. There is also an increased link between alcohol abuse, depression and suicide. This is really a cause for concern for these individuals.

Research also indicates that the abuse of alcohol can be genetic. Children of alcoholic parents are much more likely to suffer from alcoholism themselves. Their alcohol tolerance levels are much higher than the average child the same age. The same research indicates that alcohol abuse affects chemicals in the brain. These chemicals affect the way the brain processes information. Depression is also immediately inherited from parents to child, as well as from relatives.

Trying to determine if an individual is depressed, abusing alcohol or both is difficult. Many of the symptoms are the same for each illness. Insomnia, waking up frequently, poor appetite, sleepiness, and feelings of disorientation are symptoms of both illnesses. To complicate the situation, many people who abuse alcohol become depressed over time. Doctors will first treat the alcoholism and see if the persons mood improves; if it does not then they will treat the depression.

Alcohol is in a set of drugs known as sedative hypnotics. Other drugs in this category are tranquilizers. Many depressed people, especially young adults, abuse other drugs as well as alcohol. Some of the antidepressant medications on the market today also contain a sedative. Thus if combined with alcohol, the person becomes severely sedated and can even stop breathing.

The danger of combining alcohol with drug treatment for depression is one doctors know well. This is why they tend to treat the alcoholism before the depression.

Acquainting Yourself with Bipolar Disorder

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding bipolar. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about bipolar.

A person with bipolar disorder experiences the best and worst of both worlds. Like two – face from Batman. It can be a psychological disorder that progress without warning.

Imagine being confronted by a person with the happiest personality and then suddenly, without any reason, he diminishes to a lower aura and starts to cry.

The extremes that are associated with someone who is bipolar are ranging from an attitude of recklessness to listlessness. This kind of instability of moods can grow into a poker-faced problem that greatly affects the person who has the disorder and the people around him as well.

Other terms for this lucidity boggling disease are manic – depressive or manic – depression illness. Both extremes are experienced and exhibited by the person suffering from it.

Mood swings that are caused by this disorder can last for a couple of weeks or even months if not sold care of. This big of behavior can cause monster disturbance to the lives of friends, family and whoever is close to the person.

According to researches, there is a major occurrence of this uncontrolled behavior across variety of symptoms and can affect almost everyone in the group.

Sadly, this disease is not diagnosed accordingly which is not very helpful and most often, people misconstrued this kind of behavior as somewhat ordinary. Untreated, this attitude complication worsens and results to high tendencies of suicidal rates.

Although, if diagnosed and treated at an early stage, people who suffers from this disease can enjoy a life worth living.

What is the create of bipolar disorder?

Nowadays, the exact cause of the mood disorder is unknown. Although there are beliefs that it can be connected within the family down from their bloodline.

Usually, people who are diagnosed with the sickness tends to have a relative who further suffers from it as well or somewhat complementary conditions. Voguish science believes that other probable causes that can enter on someone to experience the disorder are:

Environmental effects. In some way, the persons environment can take the blame for suffering the psychological disease. Factors may include severe problems with peers, family, and the conforming; other elaborates the stressful situations that are surrounding the person. A loss of a loved one can also be unequaled of the environmental causes.

Chemical effects. Studies have shown the indications of chemical within the body made the power function differently. Significant changes may still be uncertain but in an final process, may help in pinpointing the causes. Hormonal imbalances and neurotransmitters are also being accepted as one of the chemical causes.

Based on statistical findings, there are about three million Americans who suffer from this psychological disorder. Individuals who experience this illness will experience humour swings that are extreme joined with multiple behaviors and symptoms. Mood swings are oftentimes categorized as depressive episodes, manic episodes and mixed episodes.

Depressive episode symptoms are:

Extreme feeling of sadness or emptiness Lack of cardinal energy Lack of interest in important things Decreased concentration Imaginary thoughts about suicide or dying

Manic episode symptoms are:

Elevation of extreme mood swings Extreme anxiousness and irritability Talking in a fastmanner Unusual energy increase with a reduced need to sleep

Mixed episode symptoms are basically the combination of the depressive and manic episode symptoms.

Bipolar disorder can be evident in teenagers although, licensed are studies showing cases prevalent in children and adults.
The day will come when you can use something you read about here to have a beneficial impact. Then you’ll be glad you took the time to learn more about bipolar.

Protect the Children from Alcohol Abuse

If you have children in the home, you must protect them from alcohol abuse. These means that they have to be protected form the alcohol and the alcoholic that may be abusive. Kids are very impressionable and learn from what they see or what is done to them. You have to be the one to break the cycle. If you do not protect the children from the abuse no matter if it is physical or because they see a parent drinking, they could grow up with the same tendencies. As a parent or even a friend, you must step in and prevent any problems before they start.

Kids will follow in the footsteps of a parent if they do not understand the consequences. This is not always true, but in most cases, it is what happens. Even if a child does not take after the parent, they may grow up to accept this type of behavior and put their own lives in danger or have nothing but heartache. You have to protect the children so that they know that this is not the way to live. However, sometimes this can be hard to do if you want to remain in the home.

If there is abuse in the home because of alcohol, you need to shield the kids from this abuse. If the abuse is physical, mental or verbal, kids should not have to live with it. it the abuse is watching their parent drink themselves into a drunken state, they need to know that this is not how people should live. As a parent, you have to make a decision whether to stay or take you children somewhere else where they will not be subjected to the abusive behavior or have to watch mom or dad drink themselves to death.

Never tell the kids that drinking is just something you do. It is not something that you just do. They need to understand that alcoholism is a disease that can have devastating affects on the person the family. This is important for children to understand. This does not mean that telling them that their parent is a loser or a bad person. You have to be truthful without being demeaning to the parent with the problem. Children are smart and will know that other families do live as you do.

You may need to leave the home for a while if the drinking leads to abusive behavior. This is the only way to protect the children and make sure that they do not grow up thinking that this is acceptable behavior. You also do not want to keep them in an abusive home. Not all alcoholics drink all the time, but even so, the kids should not be subjected to any abusive behavior from a parent. They also should be told that drinking is all right. As they grow up, they would stand a good chance of following in the footsteps of the alcoholic parent.

Take the kids to Al-Anon so that they have someone other than you to talk with. This is very important so that the kids have someone to talk to and listen to other kids in the same situation. If they have somewhere to go with others their age, it could help them understand what is happening and how to cope with their home life. It can also help them understand if you have to leave the home.

Talk with the kids if they have questions. You have to be honest without being judgmental. The kids will understand more if you talk to them instead of trying to hide the problem. Kids today, know more than what parents knew when they were kids and they see and hear things that they probably should not. This is the reason that you must be honest. Never badmouth the alcoholic parent because the kids could resent you.

When you are talking to the kids, ask them if they have questions and try to answer them the best you can. You can also expect to be asked why mom or dad yells at them or why the person has to do the things that he or she does. Answer honestly and try to help them understand.

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