alcohol paper
alcohol paper
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Alcohol
Alcohol is the common name for ethyl alcohol, the intoxicating element in fermented and distilled liquors. Contrary to popular belief, alcohol is not a stimulant. The noisy animation at drinking parties is due to alcohol’s effect as a depressant. Small amounts of alcohol reduce inhibitions and produce feelings of relaxation and euphoria. Larger amounts cause greater impairment of the brain until the drinker loses consciousness. Alcohol is also not an aphrodisiac. Rather than enhancing sexual arousal, it usually impairs performance, especially in males. As William Shakespeare observed long ago, drink “provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.”
Some people become relaxed and friendly when they are drunk. Others become aggressive and want to argue or fight. How can the same drug have such different effects? Some people drink for pleasure while others drink to cope with negative emotions, such as anxiety and depression. That’s why alcohol abuse increases with the level of stress in people’s lives. People who drink to relieve bad feelings are at great risk of becoming alcoholics ( Kenneth, Carpenter, & Hasin, 1998).
Also, when a person is drunk, thinking and perception become dulled or shortsighted, a condition that has been called alcohol myopia (my-OH-pea-ah) (Giancola et al., 2010). Only the most obvious and immediate stimuli catch a drinker’s attention. Worries and “second thoughts” that would normally restrain behavior are banished from the drinker’s mind. That’s why many behaviors become more extreme when a person is drunk. On college campuses, drunken students tend to have accidents, get into fights, sexually assault others, or engage in risky sex. They also destroy property and disrupt the lives of students who are trying to sleep or study (Brower, 2002).
Abuse
Alcohol, the world’s favorite depressant, breeds our biggest drug problem. More than 20 million people in the United States and Canada have serious drinking problems. One American dies every 20 minutes in an alcohol-related car crash. Significant percentages of Americans of all ages abuse alcohol (Figure 1).
Figure 1
Results from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k11Results/NSDUHresults2011.htm
(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2011)
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