What are the effects of alcohol?
The effects of alcohol impact the person in a serious way and at different levels, from the physical to the mental and psychological. Physical damage mainly affects the nervous system and liver, while mental damage can encompass the entire individual and relational sphere of the subject who has developed addiction.
- physical health, increasing the predisposition to develop injuries,the body
- the social aspect, undermining relationships with people in general, family and friends and compromising the stability of the behavioral sphere (increase in episodes of aggression and violence for example).
The psychological damage of alcohol
Alcohol abuse can cause psychological damage and progressively alter the individual’s personality. Obvious signs of an addictive condition are, among others:
- tendency to move away from one’s responsibilities.
- propensity for self-destruction.
- neglect of personal care. From a cerebral point of view, the potential brain damage due to alcoholism is manifested by:
- attention and concentration deficit.
- memory impairment.
- difficulty in problem solving skills.
- visible changes with neuroimaging tools (organic damage can be irreversible).
Long-term excessive alcohol consumption can compromise the mental health of addicted individuals. The damage caused by alcohol addiction, in this sense, can manifest itself with well-defined symptoms such as:
- psychosis
- delusions
- hallucinations
It should also be added that pathological mental disorders already present or latent in the individual such as depression, schizophrenia or bipolar syndrome can be aggravated by alcohol abuse.
Alcohol withdrawal: Delirium Tremens
Alcohol abstinence arises when the consumption of the addictive substance is abruptly stopped.
A manifestation of alcohol withdrawal is delirium tremens, a symptom that should not be underestimated and which must be treated in a hospital setting. The symptomatology of this condition includes microzoopsias, that is, hallucinatory phenomena of a visual type that have the protagonists of hallucinations in small animals.
The latter can generate a feeling of intense fear. The subject with delirium tremens can suffer from space-time disorientation, be extremely suggestible and manifest physical symptoms such as tremors, altered heartbeat, sweating and fever.
Effects of alcohol: Korsakov’s psychosis
Another effect of alcohol is Korsakov’s syndrome, now known as “anamnestic alcohol disorder”. It is one of the most serious damages of alcohol, which involves severe memory disturbances and, in particular, recent memories.
In fact, the subject, in addition to suffering from a severe deficit, can build non-existent memories to make up for the memory lapses caused by the syndrome.
- Patients with Korsakov’s psychosis forget contexts, situations and people even known for a few minutes.
- Timely diagnosis is essential to prevent brain damage from becoming irreversible.