Have you ever been for a party and had a glass of wine?

Have you been in a club and had a beer? I hope that after that , you stopped immediately because alcohol consumption causes addiction and ends with alcoholism - a disabling addictive disorder. It is characterized by compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcohol despite its negative effects on the drinker's health, relationships, and social standing. Like other drug addictions, alcoholism is medically defined as a treatable disease The biological mechanisms underpinning alcoholism are uncertain, however, risk factors include social environment, stress, mental health, genetic predisposition, age, ethnic group, and sex. Long-term alcohol abuse produces physiological changes in the brain such as tolerance and physical dependence. Such brain chemistry changes maintain the alcoholic's compulsive inability to stop drinking . Alcohol damages almost every organ in the body, including the brain; because of the cumulative toxic effects of chronic alcohol abuse, the alcoholic risks suffering a range of medical and psychiatric disorders. Alcoholism has profound social consequences for alcoholics and the people of their lives. Often, alcoholics also are addicted to other drugs, most often benzodiazepines, which might require additional medical treatment. World Health Organisation estimates that there are 140 million alcoholics worldwide. To provide the "alcohol dependence syndrome" , the romanian law interdicts to sail alcoholics drinks to the teenagers but , my personal opinion , is that it isnt enought . To put into practise the penaltys of this law is very difficult . There is also a tv campain against the alcohol consumption

Alcoholism is the cyclic presence of tolerance, withdrawal, and excessive alcohol use; the drinker's inability to control such compulsive drinking, despite awareness of its harm to his or her health, indicates that the person might be an alcoholic.[14] Questionnaire-based screening is a method of detecting harmful drinking patterns, including alcoholism.[15] Alcohol detoxification is conducted to withdraw the alcoholic person from drinking alcohol, usually with cross-tolerance drugs, e.g. benzodiazepines to manage withdrawal symptoms.[16] Post-medical care, such as group therapy, or self-help groups, usually is required to maintain alcoholic abstention.[17][18] Often, alcoholics also are addicted to other drugs, most often benzodiazepines, which might require additional medical

treatment.[19] The alcoholic woman is more sensitive to alcohol's deleterious physical, cerebral, and mental effects, and increased social stigma, in relation to a man, for being an alcoholic.[20][21] The World Health Organisation estimates that there are 140 million alcoholics worldwide.[22][23] Moderate use is defined by The Dietary Guidelines for Americans as no more than two alcoholic beverages per day for men and no more than one alcoholic beverage per day for women.[24]

The term "alcoholism" is commonly used, but poorly defined. The WHO calls alcoholism "a term of long-standing use and variable meaning", and use of the term was disfavored by a 1979 WHO Expert Committee. The Big Book (from Alcoholics Anonymous) states that once a person is an alcoholic, they are always an alcoholic, but does not define what is meant by the term "alcoholic" in this context. In 1960, Bill W., co-founder of AA, said: We have never called alcoholism a disease because, technically speaking, it is not a disease entity. For example, there is no such thing as heart disease. Instead there are many separate heart ailments, or combinations of them. It is something like that with alcoholism. Therefore we did not wish to get in wrong with the medical profession by pronouncing alcoholism a disease entity. Therefore we always called it an illness, or a malady -- a far safer term for us to use.[25]

In professional and research contexts, the term "alcoholism" sometimes encompasses both alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence.[26] and sometimes is considered equivalent to alcohol dependence.

In psychology and psychiatry, the DSM is the most common global standard, while in medicine, the standard is ICD. The terms they recommend are similar but not