July 11, 2024 – Alcoholism Prevention Day
Alcoholism is a disease characterized by physical and psychological dependence on alcohol.
It is accompanied by an increased craving for alcohol, an inability to control the amount consumed, a tendency to binge drinking, the occurrence of a pronounced withdrawal syndrome, a decrease in control over one's own behavior and motivations, progressive mental degradation, and toxic damage to internal organs.
Systematic alcohol consumption leads to premature aging and disability. The life expectancy of individuals prone to alcoholism is 15-20 years shorter than the average. The main causes of death for alcohol abusers are accidents and injuries. People with alcoholism typically die not from alcoholic disease itself, but from co-existing conditions that develop as a result of reduced body resistance, and damage to the liver, heart, and blood vessels. Alcohol consumption increases systemic blood pressure regardless of age, body weight, or smoking status.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified three main problems associated with alcohol consumption.
Problems for the drinker. This includes the consequences of single episodes of excessive alcohol consumption – short-term functional disorders and loss of self-control, aggression, accidents, accidental hypothermia or hyperthermia, arrest for public intoxication, and alcohol poisoning. Furthermore, it also includes the consequences of prolonged excessive alcohol consumption – an increased risk of developing liver cirrhosis, certain types of cancer, and cardiovascular diseases, malnutrition, long-term functional disorders and loss of self-control, accidents, loss of ability to work, development of alcoholism and alcoholic psychoses, premature death, and suicide.
Problems for the drinker's family – family conflicts, failure to fulfill parental duties, loss of respect, financial difficulties, fetal damage in utero, improper upbringing, juvenile alcoholism, and crime.
Problems for society – disruption of public order, road traffic accidents, accidents, decreased labor productivity, absenteeism, economic damage related to healthcare costs, disability benefits, and law enforcement expenses.
Prevention of Alcoholism
Alcoholism prevention includes a comprehensive set of measures, the most important of which are regulating the marketing of alcoholic beverages and limiting alcohol availability, fostering motivation for a healthy lifestyle and disseminating information (especially among children and adolescents) about the negative consequences of alcohol consumption, as well as early identification of individuals abusing alcohol and providing them with appropriate medical and psychological assistance. For preventive measures to have the expected effect, they must be carried out simultaneously at several levels: at the family level, in educational institutions, and by the state.
In case of any alcohol-related problems, seek professional help. For issues related to the prevention and treatment of alcohol dependence, you can contact a psychiatrist-narcologist, a general practitioner at the district polyclinic of the Healthcare Institution "Rassonskaya Central District Hospital" or the Vitebsk Regional Clinical Center for Psychiatry and Narcology at the following address: inpatient facility: Vitebka village, Tsentralnaya St., 1a, tel. 69-29-60, outpatient clinic: Vitebsk city, Kommunisticheskaya St., 1\3, registry phone 61-45-80, psychonarcological department with anonymous consultations: Vitebsk city, N. Tereshkovoy St., 30 (polyclinic No. 1, 4th floor), anonymous registry phone 61-45-76.
State Institution "Rassonsky RTCGE", 2024