No matter their socioeconomic status, people are more likely to obtain treatment for addiction if they perceive major consequences from their illness, according to a study involving UAB researchers and published in the March 2006 issue of Medical Care.
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Over a two-year period they studied 274 housed and homeless poor in the Boston area addicted to cocaine, alcohol or heroin. “It’s not how much a person uses,” said Stefan Kertesz, M.D., M.Sc., study co-investigator.
“It’s how much a person believes the drug or alcohol has affected their life and relationships that spurs them toward treatment.”
The study also suggests family responsibilities may compete with addiction treatment, and treatment programs may need to change to take family commitments into account.
Alcoholism is a chronic, often progressive disease that can be fatal. The condition involves a preoccupation with alcohol and impaired control over alcohol intake. You may continue to abuse alcohol despite serious adverse health, personal, work-related and financial consequences. Alcoholism usually involves physical dependence on the drug alcohol, but genetic, psychological and social factors contribute to this addiction.
It's possible to have a problem with alcohol, but not display all the characteristics of alcoholism. This is known as "alcohol abuse," which means you engage in excessive drinking that results in health or social problems, but you aren't dependent on alcohol and haven't fully lost control over the use of alcohol.
According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, about 18 million Americans abuse alcohol. Each year more than 100,000 Americans die of alcohol-related causes. Alcohol is a factor in nearly half of all traffic deaths.
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