Referat Addicted To Death
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Addicted to death
“Drunkenness is temporary suicide: the happiness it brings is merely
negative, a momentary cessation of happiness†(Bertrand Russell,
“The Conquest of Happiness")
I consider that the abuse in consuming alcohol is one of the biggest
problems of the society we live in. Though it is a problem of our every
day life and it spreads like a plague, environing us no matter what we
do. This black hole in the society is its own product, and with every
day that goes by it becomes more and more incontrollable. Living has
become a struggle and each one of us find different means to win the
contest of life. Not all of us succeed in doing that. The first step is
making the difference between the good and the bad choices we have to
make in order to thrive. I presume that there are few persons who wonder
why some people direct their attention to the bottle. There is more than
one answer to this question. The response stands hidden deep within our
minds, in the arts of psychology.
We walk pass them each day and we feel either repulsion or pity, but we
never think about what exactly makes a drunkard of a sane person. It
never occurs to us that one out of ten persons sitting next to us may
die because of this very reason. Whether it is an inherited bad habit or
simply a means of sedation, drinking is the worst dependency there is.
Beggars lying on the cold pavements of the street, asking for money just
to get a little more alcohol revolt us, and make us angry, but we
don’t usually see this situation from the right point of view. People
selling everything they have, betraying every little crumb of the
humanity they’re left with are left lying in misery, having nothing
else to face but the same filthy bottle of gin. How can they get out
from this horrible situation if they get no help from us, the reasonable
people? But only leaves me to wonder: are we not the ones who can
distinguish what is right and what is wrong? Yes, we are… That means
we are the ones in power to understand what a drunkard has to go trough
each day, having the bottle of vodka as his only friend, his only
confident. We get scared that we will “catch†some illness of some
kind from them, but we should know better. A little research in this
domain would automatically make us realize what those poor people are
going through.
Since the beginning of all times, man used different substances with the
purpose of mutating his own of consciousness, of stimulating or relaxing
himself, of inducing sleep or preventing it, of intensifying usual
perceptions even of producing hallucinations. The taught of facing the
drastic reality each day scares people, and that’s what they feel the
urge to cut themselves off from all their every-day problems. Some
substances have the property of “tricking†people’s minds,
separating it from reality, taking it away from the real time and space.
The substances that affect the behavior and the psychical disposition
are called psychoactive. These include not only drugs like “crackâ€Â,
“speedâ€Â, “marijuana†or “angel dustâ€Â, but also alcohol.
These sedatives, as they are called, sometimes produce a state of
tranquility to the user, setting his mind away from concern, making his
body float into a dreaming state. It may be pretty hard for the nowadays
students to understand the major changes, concerning the behavior models
involving the use of drugs, that intervened in the past 40 years.
Although in 1950 few people used any form of drugs, we changed into a
relatively drug-free society. Many parts contributed to this
metamorphose.
Alcohol is some kind sedative, and the most frequently used of them.
Sedatives reduce the activity of the central neuronal system. The
consuming of alcohol is considered by most of the students to be a part
of the social life. That’s where they go wrong. Though they are
convinced that alcohol does no harm, they are terribly wide of the mark.
Sedatives favor sociability, calm tensions, free us from inhibitions,
and in all, they generally add to what we tend to call “funâ€Â. Even
so, the use of alcohol in the social life caused problems. A lot of time
is being lost in the disfavor of learning, not to talk of the low
performances at exams. The worst of all is that accidents may occur
while being under the influence of alcohol, sometimes even fatal. A
survey shows that most of the car accidents occurred because of alcohol,
involving people between 15 and 24 years. Another survey shows that
approximately 2/3 American adults consumed alcohol. At least 10% from
them have social, psychological or medical problems as a result from
using sedatives. Probably 10% from them are physically addicted to it.
The use of alcohol is widely spread between the youths under 21.
Starting at a party, “just for funâ€Â, lasting until the victim
realizes the strong implications of the use of sedatives, alcohol kills
you slowly, but for sure. Drastic measures were taken, concerning this
problem. In New Jersey, The Rutgers University made up a rehabilitation
program for the youths. The efforts of the universities and colleges
were intensified in 1989 beginning with “The Drug Free School and
Campuses Actâ€Â, a law that forbids the use of alcohol and obliges the
institutions to have a reconciliation program for the addicted students.
But students are not the only ones affected from this sickness of the
society. The use of alcohol is forbidden to pregnant women. The mothers
who drink much are vulnerable to the alcoholic syndrome of the fetus.
The child could be born with a mental retardation and multiple
malformations of his face.
The addiction to alcohol is called alcoholism. Alcoholism is one’s
incapacity of retaining himself from alcohol. Usually, alcoholics “cry
for help†before reaching 40. If the problems caused by it persist, it
is possible that the life of the person is shortened with 15 years. They
think that their last alternative is alcohol, and whenever they are
confronted with some problems, they treat them in the most inefficient
way. In the attempt to elevate their self esteem they consume more and
more alcohol. The intense use of alcohol on a long term leads to
physical addiction (one’s tolerance of alcohol rises and the consumer
has to use more alcohol to get the same pleasure) and the individual
suffers great pain while trying to put a stop to the consuming of the
substance. The restraining symptoms vary from irritability to intense
anxiety and shaking. In some cases, these symptoms include
hallucination, confusions and convulsions. This syndrome called delirium
tremens(DTs) usually takes place in the case of chronic alcoholics who
stopped the use of alcohol after a long period of practiced this unusual
“sportâ€Â.
After all, why do people start drinking? There are many theories
supporting the fact that alcoholism occurs in 70% of the cases in
families with a low social support, in the lower classes of society.
Probably one of the basic factors that influence alcoholism is the low
level of education that some of the children of our society get. Even
though we are equal in rights and obligations, we do not have the same
background and we are not always able to distinguish the good from the
bad. That is actually the reason why most of the alcohol consumers are
under the legal age of 18. Teenagers tend to be rebels. They don’t
always listen to adults, trying too many times to go up against the
adults. That may be one of the reasons. Another theory sustains that
people find a refugee in drinking when they have problems. This
situation also occurs in families with problems. As much as people think
alcohol is going to solve their problems, the reality is the contrary.
Another hypothesis is that alcoholism is a genetically inherited habit.
This is terribly wrong, because it is a proven fact that habits are not
normally inherited this way.
In all, I guess we finally reached the conclusion that alcohol has no
use and no benefits other than in medicine. As Thoreau said in
“Waldenâ€Â: “Water is the only drink for a wise man.â€Â.
Millions of people died until now because of it, and millions are still
going to die. We are the only ones that can make a difference: “All
excess is ill, but drunkenness is the worst sort. It spoils health,
dismounts the mind, and unmans men. It reveals secrets, is quarrelsome,
lascivious, impudent, dangerous and bad.†(William Penn).
Bibliography:
Rita L.Atkinson, Richard C.Atkinson, Edward E.Smith, “Introduction
into psychologyâ€Â, Tehnica, Bucharest, 2002
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