Alcohol Addiction Case Study

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Alcohol addiction and Risk Factors
Moderately consuming alcohol is not a danger to most adults. Nonetheless, nearly 18 million adults in the United States have an alcohol use disorder (Swendsen, Burstein, Case, Conway, Dierker, He, and Merikangas, 2012). The DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) criteria for the alcohol use disorder are a combination of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. The manual specifies this abuse of alcohol as mild, controlled, and with major subcategories. Alcohol addiction may alter a person’s social relationships, academic performance, and work. As a result, a revision and improvement of the DSM-IV in DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) …show more content…
The DSM-5 includes craving as a standard for the diagnosis of alcohol dependence. Another significant measure is the altering of criteria descriptions with modernized language. Spanagel (2009) identifies two key risk factors for alcohol addiction. Genetics is the first major risk factor identified. Particular genes might make some individuals more susceptible to alcohol addiction than others (Spanagel, 2009). Family history is an aspect of genes serving as a risk factor for alcohol dependence. Individuals with household history alcohol dependence are likely to abuse alcohol in the adult old. Individuals with alcohol addiction are six times more probable to have family members who also suffer from alcohol dependence than non-alcohol-involved families are. (Spanagel). The second risk factor is the individual’s age when first consuming alcohol. Swendsen et al. (2012) discovered that people who began drinking alcohol before 15 years old or more probable to have alcohol use disorders in their adulthood. A statistic that Swendsen et al. (2012) use to explore the risk factor of age is the number of underage drinkers. Swendsen et al. (2012) found out that 26.6% of Americans below the legal age consume alcohol regularly (Swendsen et al., 2012). Swendsen et al. (2012) further explain that some temporary measures are taken to decrease underage drinking, particularly among children up to 17 years. Nonetheless, this rate of drinking amongst individuals below the legal age is still high in the United States. Swendsen et al. (2012) take into account that 8.7% of drinkers aged between 12 and 20 in 2013 purchased the alcohol directly (Swendsen et al.). People, who start consuming alcohol at an early age, and particularly in a binge manner, are more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder. However, Swendsen et al. (2012) note that such a disorder often

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