Running Head: Alcoholism in Texas

Community Problem Report: Alcoholism in Texas

The University of Texas at El Paso

April 2, 2016

Jaime Avendano

Alcoholism in Texas
Abstract

Alcoholism is one of the most popular problems in the state of Texas, ranking in the top of the
country for several years in driving under the influence better known as Drunk Driving and
having a big number of binge drinkers which are commonly underage drinkers that are still in
their development. (13) This kind of problem is well known for the type of diseases that it
causes, were the most commonly know are the cardiovascular disease, cirrhosis, dementia,
depression, seizures, gout, infectious diseases, nerve damage and pancreatic Cancer. (10) This
diseases are the ones that really kill the consumer, but in a painful and slowly way. Besides the
physical damage that this disease can make, the physiological ones can damage even more, like
the people who grow in dysfunctional and alcoholic families. This people tend to reach alcohol
as their parents did since they saw them as a base model during their development, this causes
that the kids see violence and alcoholism as something normal. (4) The government can help by
implementing programs, but its the job the people in Texas to help against this problem by
helping people who suffer this kind of problems to overcome them.

Key Words: Binge Drinker, DUI, Heavy Drinker, Alcoholism

Alcoholism in Texas
Introduction
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a person that drinks more than 15
drinks for men or 8 drinks for women a week is considered to have a drinking problem. (8) There
are two concepts that you should know before start judging. One is heavy drinker which is
different from an alcoholic, since it is defined as a person who exceeds the amount 15 drinks or 8
drinks peer week, but doesnt have other symptoms and also they can stop whenever they want.
When the person cant control their impulse to drink they are considered to be alcoholic. (8) This
other concept deals with the kind of people that present symptoms besides the alcohol
dependency which are considered as dangerous as the physical ones since they can develop other
complex problems. The last concept is a binge drinker, which is defined as a person that
consumes a considerable amount of alcohol in a single session, this type of drinking is popular in
the people under 21, and this is different from the other two concepts since it happens during
certain occasions while the other ones happen more frequent. (8, 3)

Alcoholism how does it starts?

The causes of alcoholism can differ from individual to individual, since it can be an inherent
biochemical abnormality, genetic influence, family pathology, social learning process conflictual
emotions, social cultural influences, self- regulation failure, or personal choice. (9) The social
learning process and cultural influences are common in young people since they are willing to
drink in excess just to fit in society. And for adults the most common one is the self-regulation
failure and family pathology. This kind of causes are temporal but not many people overcome
this problems which lead them to alcoholism.

Alcoholism in Texas
Alcoholism in Texas
The average largest number of drinks consumed by binge drinkers is from 7.5 to 8.8 here in
Texas, which place us in the states with the highest ranking of the country. The national average
of drinks by binge drinkers is 5 drinks per session. (8) This tell us that we are above the whole
country in that aspect, which we should take action against this problem since most of the people
under this category of drinking is under age. (13)
We also are in the top in other alcohol related problem which is driving under the influence
(DUI), also known as Drunk Driving. DUI is when a person drives a vehicle while its blood
alcohol content is above the legal limit. (13)

One out of every drunk driving

occurs in Texas according to
the MADD (Mothers against
Drunk Driving). In 2013 Texas
had 1,337 deaths related to
drink driving, this is alarming
since another state, California,
had 1025 deaths and even
Figure 1 shows how many deaths related with DUI the
state had in the year of 2012

though its a 40% larger state, it

had less deaths than a smaller one like Texas. As we can see in the Figure 1 Texas ranked in the
top in the 2012 for DUI deaths. This is alarming since it pictures Texas as a state that doesnt
have regulation against this problem.

Alcoholism in Texas
Health problems related with alcohol abuse
Drinking alcohol can lead to series of various problems to your body. Starting with the most
common one which is cancer, this is caused when the body converts alcohol into acetaldehyde, a
potent carcinogen. The most common type of cancer is the cirrhosis of liver, this happens since
alcohol is a small molecule that is water and lipid soluble, thanks to this quality it permeates all
organs of the body and affect most of their vital function, mainly in the liver. (1) Most of the
people believe that the only disease caused by drinking in excess cancer in the liver, but there are
up to 60 diseases caused by the alcohol abuse. (10) One of them is cardiovascular disease, which
makes platelets more likely to clump together into blood clots that can lead to heart attack or
stroke. (10) As mentioned before the absorption of the acetaldehyde damage various organs of
the body including the brain. This is caused by the long lasting effects in the frontal lobe caused
by alcohol, which decrease the grey and white matter.
As you can see in figure 2, the frontal
lobe is the largest one of the brain and
it deals the emotion control, decision
taking, movement and the social
interaction. This explain why many of
the people that have a drinking
problem have a lack of judgment, have
a problem to walk and most important
why they cant maintain a normal
interaction with the people, even the
Figure 2 describes where the temporal lobe is and what its
functions are

ones that they appreciate.

Alcoholism in Texas
Physiological Problems related with alcohol abuse
Alcohol also creates psychological problems that can be as harmful as the physical ones. The
first group that can be reached is the young people, alcohol addiction in youth people is one of
the most difficult ones to overcome since they are in a transition where they are looking for their
place in the world and addictive substances can take a bad role during this times. (2) One of the
substance that can help them during this difficult time is Alcohol, since it helps them to get
confidence in order to gain the attention of people. This substance in todays world acts as a
social requirement, in a way that people that doesnt drink are discriminated and have difficult
times to make new friends or even maintain their old ones. The alcohol creates a psychological
dependency where young people believe they need alcohol to have fun, creating a state where
they are only happy while they are under the influence of alcohol, this leads to a common mental
problem in young people called depression and alcoholics are usually in this state when they
dont drink.
Physiological problems are also present in adult people but they occur for different reasons. One
can be self-regulation failure, this happens when the people are in constant alcohol abuse, they
develop like a repugnancy to themselves where they see every aspect of their lives as a failure.
(6) This is a serious problems since people that dont overcome this mental problem often choose
to commit suicide.
Alcoholism affects people that doesnt drink
People usually think that alcoholism is a disease where the only affected are the ones who drink,
but in some cases the people that cares about them will end up suffering even more than the ones
who have the problem. The most popular group can be an addictive family, living in this kind of
family means to live with psychological and physical damage. (4) The kids are the most

Alcoholism in Texas
damaged members in this situations since they are harmless and this environment takes a major
role during their development. In this type of families there is a 66% probability that the kids are
abused which leads to develop a higher tolerance with the violence. (2) This kind of treatment
makes that the kids consider that hitting to their loved ones as something insignificant, since their
parents do it without hesitation. The kids tend to imitate their parents conduct since they are seen
as base model, so by having a violent family as a model they tend to grow up as violent people.
The physical action isnt the only thing that affect the children, also the verbal one since they
make emotional scars that can alter in a big magnitude their conscience. This factors make that
the kids become alcoholics when they grow up since they saw it as something normal.
Most people when they hear a dysfunctional family they think about how the parents affect the
kids, but it can happen in the other way. Parents can be affected when they discover their childs
addiction, most of them dont find the correct way to approach them and in the moment of
helping them, the parents feel powerless since they try everything for their child

and

nothing

seems to work. This happens because youth people are in a transition when the hormones change
their attitude and tend to rebel to their parents, but when you combine this hormonal problem
with an addictive substance such as alcohol can be very lethal for the family, since the kids can
enter into a depth depression and the parents suffer a lot for seeing them in that state.

Alcoholism an incurable disease?

This disease is difficult since there isnt a treatment were you just take a pill and its over, its a
long and painful time of desointoxication where the mind acts the only treatment. There are two
necessary factors in order to overcome this disease. One is the help of their friends and family
members since people who have a drinking problems arent aware of what damage are doing to

Alcoholism in Texas
themselves. If the family show no interest for these problems, the alcoholics can easily stay in
that distorted belief system where they think that there is no problem for drinking. (5, 12)
The second factor is the people by themselves, this means that its the peoples actions that will
help to overcome the problem. It is difficult to know when people overpass the line of normal
drinking, every addiction starts with something small like an occasional beer that turns into an
entire 12 pack in one night. (11) To start an alcohol treatment the first step is to admit the
problem which is very difficult since most of the people cant admit it. The excuses are the ones
that stop this first step since everyone will have one for hiding their problem and not facing it.
(6)

Conclusion
Alcoholism in Texas is very present but in two remarkable ways, by driving under the influence
which is alarming since Texas has ranked in the top for more than one year and by the number of
binge drinkers which most of them are underage drinkers. This two problems make Texas seems
as a state that doesnt take precautions, which is bad since DUI causes an average of 1200 deaths
per year, so as mentioned before is not only about alcoholism also is about deaths caused by
alcoholism, which can be avoided by better prevention programs by the state. (13) Every person
can help to lower this number by helping people that have drinking problems, since this kind of
people need a little help from people that care about them in order to overcome their problems
and if you have a drinking problem, it is time that you admit it and start treatment. With this
actions everyone can help Texas to become a better state, where it will no longer be seen as an
alcoholic state.

Alcoholism in Texas

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Alcoholism in Texas
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