People drink alcohol due to the influence of physiological, psychological and social factors. The first two of them form dependence on the product. Separately, female and male cravings for alcohol are distinguished. According to statistics, per capita of the average resident of the Russian Federation and the CIS there are from 15 to 17.5 liters per year. In addition, geographically, countries always take first place in the ranking of the most drinking states.

Why do people drink alcohol

The main reasons why people drink alcohol include: social factors. A secondary reason is taste preferences. A person may like the organoleptic properties of low-alcohol drinks. But most often it is the environment that contributes to the desire to drink alcohol.

The culture of the Slavs is closely connected with strong strong drinks: moonshine, home brew, mead, herbal tinctures. There was always enough raw materials for making alcohol. Hospitable hosts greeted and escorted guests with glasses of vodka; they were used to brighten up unfamiliar companies or boring feasts. Drinks were consumed by adults almost every day, even “for appetite” before lunch or dinner. Alcohol was never diluted; according to tradition, healing tinctures for ailments were prepared from it. Cahors was and continues to be given to children at home “to increase hemoglobin,” forming teenage addiction.

It was ethanol that at times tested a man’s strength; it was necessary to drink a few glasses on a dare. If a person refused, then this was done with reason. Sometimes, when such a guest was refused, respect was lost, since it was believed that he did not want to wish the hosts health. These customs have been preserved in the regions to this day. Alcohol is a universal substance that people take during both joyful and sad events.

Causes of alcohol addiction

People become alcoholics throughout their lives. But the following population groups have a greater predisposition to loss of control and addiction:

• patients with genetic prerequisites for the development of alcoholism;
• female individuals;
• hedonists (people with a desire to live irresponsibly, for their own pleasure);
• people with intestinal disorders;
• patients with a labile psyche, weak-willed individuals.

Research has shown that there is a gene that makes a person predisposed to drunkenness. Its specific location has not been identified.

If a person with this gene does not abuse alcohol throughout his life, then he will not become addicted. In addition, the development of pathological cravings is influenced by intestinal bacteria that produce endogenous ethanol from glucose and fructose. If there are few of them, the tendency to alcoholism with constant consumption of drinks increases.

Features in men

Men drink more often for social reasons. They are less prone to alcoholism physical level than women. Their ethanol begins to be processed in the stomach, and a large number of the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase helps eliminate toxic substances and softens hangover syndrome.

Alcoholism develops in men mental reasons. A person may feel unfulfilled and drink to forget most of the problems that lie on men’s shoulders. Also, silent individuals feel more confident and relaxed in company when they drink alcohol. From social reasons the principle of “not drinking at feasts” is a sign of weakness, according to the majority of male representatives.

Men categorically deny their addiction, but rarely hide it from strangers. The body depletes more slowly than in women due to great potential energy resources. At the physiological level, dopamine is produced, and also in the initial stages of the disease, adrenaline is activated, which makes a person aggressive along with testosterone.

Then the amount of testosterone and adrenaline drops and drinking man grows old, becomes like a weak child. Awareness of one’s own weakness creates a repeated desire to drink, creating a vicious circle. Asking for help from others is more difficult for a man; it means admitting his insignificance and the mistake he has made. Nevertheless, male alcoholism is considered a treatable pathology.

Features in women

Women become drunk faster than men. This is explained hormonal changes, as well as a tendency to be guided by emotions. The weaker sex is more strongly affected by stress factors, so women drink to get rid of nervous tension and the pressure of serious issues, as well as vice versa, from a boring and measured life. Often the cause of alcoholism is the desire to support drinking husband or dissatisfaction with your own partner.

Women who suffer from a craving for alcohol immediately become aware of the shamefulness of their actions. Therefore, such individuals begin to behave secretly, masking traces of ethanol use. This is reflected in behavior in increased silence, secrecy, sometimes swagger and a feeling of impunity.

At the physiological level, the release of dopamine is accompanied by the destruction of neural connections in the brain faster than in men. The weaker sex has a more fragile blood-brain barrier; acetaldehyde penetrates faster into the central nervous system. The structure of the liver also suffers faster, the cells transform into fibrotic or cirrhotic due to the weakness of the enzyme systems. The production of sex hormones decreases. The only one quick way increasing the level of dopamine, and therefore mood, by drinking alcohol.

False reasons

Social causes of alcoholism do not form dependence on alcohol. Drinkers are often justified by arguments according to which they cannot refuse company from their comrades:

• the need to maintain a conversation;
• for career advancement;
• to improve friendships;
• to maintain tradition and future success of the business.

Traditions can be sacrificed for the sake of health. Behind these pseudo-reasons lie lack of independence and infantilism. And the respect of colleagues and friends is not formed by the amount of drink in the company. These are problems and fears that can be resolved at an appointment with a narcologist or psychologist.

In addition, alcoholics can hide behind physiological needs and use “for clarity of thinking”, “smooth functioning of the body”, “relief of stress and relaxation”. This is self-deception, since the stage of euphoria or relaxation occurs 10-15 minutes after the first drink. The amount of alcohol in the blood does not exceed 1 ppm. And then the body suffers exceptional damage, the ability to think is lost, memory deteriorates, stress and fears come again. Severe intoxication develops.

People often confuse cause and effect, saying: “I don’t have friends, work, or a loved one, so I drink alcohol.” But in fact it's the other way around. It’s correct to think: “I drink alcohol, that’s why I don’t have friends, a job, or a soulmate.” As soon as a person realizes that most of the problems in his life were formed precisely because of addiction, which he needs to get rid of, from that moment on, specialists are already able to help him.

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Drunkenness and the need for intoxication are a systemic, multifactorial phenomenon. Any answer examines only one of the many answers to this question. At one logical level it would be correct to say “there is nothing to do”, at another it would be “an attempt to fill the existential vacuum.” But there appear to be even more fundamental reasons for the need for intoxication. After all, our animal ancestors also drank alcohol. They say that a troop of monkeys, having found fermented fruits, pounce on them with pleasure, and then the animals lie around drunk.

So why do we drink? Today's partial answer is perhaps this.

Because we need a holiday. Because a holiday is an opportunity to break out of the everyday circle of worries and fears and, at least for a short time, feel the fullness of life, the integrity of oneself. Let go of masks, obligations, thousands of “cannots”, thousands of “musts”. “A man must achieve a lot”, “a man must have a wife, a mistress and a car”, “one cannot look unprestigious.” Send it all to hell, be yourself - yourself and no one else, feel real unity with the Other, feel human brotherhood, enjoy real being, stop hearing inner voices, who constantly pull back, demand to “meet demands”, nagging about dangers. “Relax”, “stick out”, rush along with the flow of time and not notice it.

Ancient civilizations paid their tribute to the riotous holiday. Bacchanalia, Saturnalia, Dionysian holidays - you can do anything, with anyone, anyone. To be naked psychologically and physically, to throw away all taboos - and “the devil go to hell.” To go through chaos and be reborn to order, to experience rebirth. And intoxication is an indispensable attribute of such holidays. Intoxication that helps free the beast inside us. Once a year. Once. And again everyday life, again work, again dangers: foreign peoples, tribes, cruel nature, harsh life.

Berne has a rather paradoxical statement that a hangover is the true goal of an alcoholic. This seems to be partly true. For a heavy alcoholic, binge drinking is a decline into oblivion; getting drunk is like “dying a little.” And then there is a rebirth to life. For some reason, a person needs these dramatic experiences; it is not for nothing that dying and rebirth are a favorite theme of pagan holidays. An alcoholic has Saturnalia 2 times a month. Rebirth to life after heavy drinking, sincere vows to change, live, never drink again, be good. And this, oddly enough, is a moment in the life of a drunkard, not without a fair amount of self-deprecating sweetness.

The need for a holiday is multiplied by the discomfort that we experience living in the unnatural conditions of modern civilization.

Psychophysiologically, we are Cro-Magnons. We still have the same fundamental needs. But they became overgrown with restrictions. And not only those necessary moral principles, without which we would turn into a herd of animals killing each other for a banana, but also other artificial restrictions imposed by society - levers to control us. We have learned to keep ourselves in a prison of neurotic beliefs and limiting attitudes. We have forgotten how to experience harmony with nature, with the Other, with ourselves. But our body still needs it. And I really want to escape as opposed to all this - on a holiday.

We live in a world adapted for humans. The social roles we are forced to play do not coexist with deep psychological needs. We become so imbued with obligations to live up to something that, as we grow up, we forget who we really are. The need to love, to give birth to children, to be with others has been replaced by the obligation to demonstrate a connection with a woman made according to the patterns of a Barbie doll (prestigious), to be “in the zone”, to have more than a neighbor. We become so imbued with the demands of society that we accept these socially approved aspirations as our true nature; we take what comes from the demands of a sick society as the call of the soul.

Some needs given to us by nature are suppressed, others are exaggerated and turned into caricatures. The need for possession, for territory turns into irrepressible greed, the need for recognition turns into lust for power, and so on.

It is impossible to drink poisoned water and remain healthy. The distortion of our psychological nature backfires on us. Life without ecstasy, without inspiration, without a sense of the importance of life, the integrity of destiny - is the price to pay for adapting to a sick society. We vaguely understand, we experience dark sensations that something is wrong, we live in a state of dissatisfaction. And since most of us do not dare to realize that this dissatisfaction is the result of our way of living and thinking, few of us understand that we should change ourselves, change our lives in order to be simply happy. Most people think that this is “life like this”, and it is impossible to change anything for the better.

A harmonious, comfortable state is the natural state of an animal, including humans. It is worth looking at a child who is raised by wise parents. When he doesn't feel bad, he feels good. He is in a state of celebration if he is not disturbed.

Holidays are about being yourself. A holiday is the ecstasy of being yourself. We are given ecstasies: admiration for the beautiful, loving fusion, creative ecstasy, ecstasy of creation. We are capable of spiritual soaring. We have an innate ability to celebrate - real, sincere, enthusiastic. We can experience the intoxication of love, creativity, dance, harmony, victory over the inertia of the material. It can be violent intoxication, or it can be quiet, calm, measured.

Come on, when was the last time you got drunk without drinking?

Such intoxication requires a lot internal work, high personality development, such intoxication is the lot of a self-actualized person

.

But I want a holiday right now. Personal growth, the intoxication of creativity - is it easily accessible? Even so: how many people strive for this? How many people understand that they are much smarter, more valuable, more complex than they think? Unfortunately no. But intoxication with a substance - it is here, it is nearby. Pour and drink. The only bad thing is that such intoxication is very quickly devalued. That the proximity of the divine in such intoxication is an illusion. And illusions crumble and melt.

The ancients had a ritual, there was a mystery, there were clear, mandatory restrictions. Today - and only. And the person obeyed this cultural requirement. Where are the obvious restrictions of this kind in our culture? On the contrary: our culture encourages unlimited intoxication. Moreover, in certain circles (you often met in Soviet power a sober plumber? I - very rarely; what can we say about drug addicts’ parties) without any restrictions. Drinking in this case is not part of the great ritual of a national holiday, a carnival, but in itself, just drinking. A person ceases to perceive himself outside of drinking. Intoxication becomes the only comfortable state. A person's life becomes a life for drinking.

And then it turns out that intoxication is a surrogate for a holiday, life is a surrogate for life. From the madness of the world (and our social world is indeed mad in many ways) a person tries to escape in the madness of chemical intoxication. And he is not saved. This is what addiction is.

As Paracelsus said, everything is poison and everything is medicine, only the dose is important. Not all substances can be dosed, for example, the use of “hard” drugs instantly becomes uncontrollable, so drugs are absolute poisons. Many people are able to completely control the amount of alcohol they consume. But others don't. Why? I will not go into the biochemical subtleties - they are not significant in today's context.

Significantly different. A person will limit himself in drinking alcohol, or will completely refuse it, either when the culture in which the person lives sets clear restrictions or prohibitions, and the person adheres to them, or when the person can, knows how, wants to use his ability to meaningfully , creative ecstasy, to mystical and higher experiences, and at the same time knows how to resist the pseudo-cultural alcoholic pressure that society puts on him. When values ​​are subjectively important, for the sake of which it is worth abandoning the momentary erasation, next to which alcoholic pseudo-joy, quasi-experiences fade.

Well, what if the main values ​​are consumption and power, money and prestige? Then life is just a set of fragments, a continuous rat race in which there is no place for mentally, spiritually important experiences. And the point is not whether a person is an atheist or a believer, but what values ​​he lives for: for the sake of high, creative values, or for the sake of grabbing something now, to experience momentary euphoria.

I, an atheist, affirm: values ​​of a high, spiritual order, such values ​​that pull a person out of the narrow Self, introduce essentially spiritual values ​​to the meaning of life - in their light the need for intoxicating oneself with chemistry, for intoxication-escape, dissipates. Universal human values, understanding the importance and productivity of one’s life are the best protection against addiction, best prevention drunkenness.

Why not have a proper drink once a year? For myself, I answer this question this way: because I don’t need it, because it will prevent me from enjoying the holiday of life, accepting it full brain, with all my heart, because the alcoholic fog will not allow you to see the festive world in all its glory.

I'm not against wine. I don't think alcohol is an absolute poison for everyone. Although there is large category people for whom any drop of alcohol is poison. Alcohol is safe for those people who, in general, have almost no need for it, just a small decoration for a festive dinner. The drama is that cultural restrictions on drinking alcohol in our society have been lost, and mass high development has not been achieved. What awaits humanity in the future, when most people will be highly developed and free individuals? (Dreaming is not harmful, not dreaming is harmful). Will alcohol take its humble place? Or will he completely disappear from a person’s life? We'll see in a few hundred years...

Alcoholism - global problem modern society. Oddly enough, most people feel the need to drink to one degree or another. Some try to drink alcohol only on holidays, while others do not shy away from drinking at any convenient time.

So why do people drink alcohol?

In fact, there are many reasons for this, for example, psychological, physiological, social. But be that as it may, we must remember that alcoholic beverages have a negative effect on human health.

Harm from alcohol

Many people think that alcohol will help them solve some problems. They try to escape reality through drinking. But in the end it turns out that there are more problems. Added to the unresolved difficulties is a hangover.

In some cases, it is the hangover that leads to binge drinking and ultimately alcoholism. It is known that alcohol addiction is practically untreatable. The only exception is stage 1.

If a person becomes dependent on alcoholic beverages, his life changes, and not in better side. As a rule, he becomes uninterested in his work, family problems. He only thinks about where to get the next portion of strong drinks.

A person drinks without thinking about anything. As a result, health suffers.

It should be said that alcohol affects all human organs. First of all, the heart, brain, liver, kidneys, and stomach are affected. The mental state of an alcoholic cannot be called normal.

He constantly experiences stress, becomes irritable, his memory deteriorates, and his condition becomes depressed. It is very difficult to communicate with such a person. He does not accept criticism and believes that he can stop drinking alcohol at any time, so he does not agree to treatment.

Why do people drink alcohol if there are other ways to relax and solve problems?

There are reasons for this that should be considered in detail.

Reasons why people drink

The reasons for drinking alcoholic beverages can be divided into three categories:

1. psychological;
2. social;
3. physiological.

Sometimes the reasons can be combined with each other. For example, if a person spends time in the company dependent people and has a genetic predisposition, he will in any case become drunk much faster. But a person does not always become an alcoholic due to several factors. Sometimes one reason is enough.

People start drinking because it is the most common and accessible means of satisfying their needs.

Psychological reasons why a person drinks alcohol

Psychological reasons for the development of alcohol dependence in to a greater extent determined by a person’s character, his personality type, mental abilities. Often these are creative people who are not able to solve serious problems.

But at the same time, such a person drinks because he cannot tell anyone sober about his problems, much less entrust their solution to someone else. When such people drink, their insecurity disappears, they become talkative and sociable.

In other words, to psychological reasons The reasons why a person drinks can be attributed to: the desire to relax, get rid of loneliness, “drown out” depression, and increase self-esteem. Many people start drinking for these reasons, not noticing that over time they become alcoholics, dependent on alcohol.

Social reasons why a person drinks alcohol

There are a great many such reasons. Often society dictates the traditions of drinking alcohol to a person. Again, advertising on TV, drinking establishments located on every corner, friends, colleagues who drink.

Sometimes it's better to agree to have another drink than to figure out why you don't want to drink. Meanwhile, each portion of alcohol consumed creates a craving for alcoholic beverages in a person.

The main reasons why a person drinks: lack of family, personal life, company, problems at work, instability financial position, problems with housing, in society.

Physiological reasons why a person drinks alcohol

The following are physiological: genetic predisposition, the presence of mental disorders, head injuries, features of intrauterine development, metabolism.

A person’s gender also plays an important role, since women are more prone to alcoholism, and it is very difficult to recover from it. It is also necessary to note the person’s age; if you drink from adolescence, addiction will arise earlier.

It is necessary to say something about genetics. It has been proven that children born to drinking parents are more susceptible to alcoholism. Therefore, when they become adults, they should stay away from alcohol.

Other reasons why people drink

In fact, there are so many reasons that it is simply impossible to list them all. But there are also such categories of alcoholism as: male, female, teenage. There are plenty of reasons for each category.

Male alcoholism mainly begins with the fact that a person has a habit of drinking with friends, or problems at work, loneliness and unsettled personal life. If a man has not completely drunk himself to death, he can be helped if he expresses a desire.

Female, according to psychologists and narcologists. Therefore we need strong motivation and the willpower to at least drink alcohol very rarely. Few people manage to give up alcohol completely. Ladies drink for various reasons: difficult divorce, death loved one, inability to give birth to a child, husband’s betrayal, depression and loneliness.

All these reasons force them to drink, despite the criticism of others.

No less scary. If a person drank with young age, then the chances of becoming normal person he has very little. Until the body is strong and mature, addiction to alcoholic beverages is simply rapid.

As a rule, teenagers drink because of problems with their parents, misunderstanding of others, poor performance at school, and also “for company,” because “that’s how it is” before a disco, for example.

Some people want to appear cool, thinking that if they drink and smoke, they will increase their authority in the eyes of their peers. Subsequently, when a teenager becomes an adult, he can no longer live without another dose of alcohol. This will interfere with his further studies, work, and starting a family.

Let's sum it up

The question “why do people drink” has a lot of answers. Everyone drinks alcohol for their own personal reasons. But it should be remembered that even a small amount of alcohol-containing drinks drunk regularly will lead to alcoholism. This is an insidious disease that you can quickly get used to. But it is very difficult to get rid of.

In some cases it is simply impossible. Drinking in Once again, you need to think: “why and why am I drinking, what will it do for me, and can I do without it.” If it is possible not to drink, it is better not to do so.

Psychology, sociology, medicine and other sciences have been figuring out why a person drinks alcohol for quite some time. There are many motives, the reasons are different, much depends on the specific situation. People often ask: “Why smart people drink alcohol? After all, everyone knows that this is harmful, and the consequences are destructive for the body as a whole, for the brain in particular. And yet nothing stops a person who decides to “take it to heart.” So why does a person drink a lot of alcohol? How to explain this?

Rhetoric or is there an answer?

Others believe that the passion for alcoholic beverages and its causes is much more a philosophical question than an aspect that actually requires study. social life. Why do people live? Why does the sun shine? Why does a person drink alcohol every day? However, from the point of view of psychiatry, as well as its specific section dealing specifically with alcoholism, the answer to this question has been known for a long time.

The most common case is following traditions. Rarely is a celebration complete without a bottle of wine or something stronger. Yes and religious ceremonies Most of the traffic is carried out using alcoholic beverages. Even the birth of a new person is greeted in our country with vodka, and the deceased is seen off with it. last way. It’s even strange: why does a person drink alcohol and not get drunk at such a holiday? However, there are simply lucky people who know their limits, as well as those whose bodies have increased resistance to the toxic effects of alcohol.

Culture and customs

Why does a person start drinking alcohol? Often the reason is in the established rules of life, in the characteristics of the community around us. This is the so-called pseudoculture: it is considered fashionable to drink with friends in adolescence, and it is easier for young people to accept into their narrow circle those with whom they can “take to heart.” An attempt to become part of a small society, to establish oneself in it, often becomes the cause of serious poisoning. The reasons why people drink alcohol in such groups are varied. As some say, this is often how people gather who simply don’t know how to entertain themselves, how else to take a break from the mundanity of everyday life.

Even schoolchildren often drink these days. Many do this in the hope of being accepted into a group of older friends. However, in adult communities this strategy of behavior occurs quite often. The reasons why people drink alcohol with colleagues are an attempt to get closer, which can affect their career and salary. Another option is a closer acquaintance, allowing (sometimes) even to start a family. But showing your love for expensive cocktails in a fashionable club is an attempt to partake of a secular lifestyle.

What if you try something new?

In psychology, the reasons why people drink alcohol are divided into several categories, and one of the quite common ones is experimental motivation. Most of our compatriots remember their first alcoholic experience for the rest of their lives. This is usually accompanied by fear, excitement, and curiosity. Such feelings are typical for a person at any age; they provoke the production of specific substances in the body, and such situations are assessed by our nervous system as pleasant. This encourages you to experiment again and again, constantly with something unknown.

If some expand their field of experimentation, these may be different types activities, then others go deeper. Once they realize that experimenting with alcohol can cause interesting emotions, they seek new experiences in this area, trying other drinks, other doses, concentrations and mixtures. To some extent, such curiosity is common to all of us, but it is important to be able to limit our desires for the unknown to the limits of what is reasonable. By the way, it was largely thanks to the desire to try new things that humanity learned about alcoholic cocktails and created many interesting recipes.

Hedonists are back in fashion

Psychologists can talk for a long time about why people drink alcohol. It is known for certain that many people find alcoholic drinks delicious, especially in the form of cocktails. When combining strong drinks and certain dishes, the products acquire peculiar shades of taste, which is highly appreciated by lovers. At the same time, a feeling of euphoria comes, drawing you to the glass over and over again.

Submission and alcohol

People with a rather weak will and a low level of independence are well aware of why people drink alcohol. As soon as they find themselves in a company where it is customary to drink, they cannot resist and join the team even in spite of at will. The reasoning is usually simple: if you refuse, they will misunderstand, conflicts and misunderstandings will arise. To avoid them, it is better to agree and not contradict the majority. People are afraid to feel different from those around them, so as not to be expelled.

Executive drinking is another reason why people drink alcohol. This term suggests drinking alcohol among colleagues. Currently, it is acquiring a simply colossal scope - almost any company regularly organizes parties and corporate events. They can't do without strong drinks. A business dinner or holiday banquet is always accompanied by a bottle of wine or several, and gradually many people switch to something stronger. However, it is not necessary to create such an atmosphere: even after a hard day of work in construction, repairs, or laying roads, colleagues gather to have a little drink and thereby break up the monotonous, difficult everyday life. So it turns out: why people drink alcohol is because they find themselves in an environment that promotes the development of a habit.

Stimulation and self-deception

Drinks containing alcohol are one method of stimulation. Their use relaxes, liberates, it becomes easier for a person to open himself and get rid of barriers. This makes it easier to make new acquaintances and strengthen existing contacts. This is especially true if someone wants to meet a representative of the opposite sex, but lacks the courage. A glass or two - and you can go into battle! Often, under the influence of alcohol, sexual activity also increases.

However, it is necessary to understand that everything has back side coins. Under the influence of these very glasses, you can make not a positive, but a deeply negative impression on a desired (desired) representative of the opposite sex. Disappointment encourages you to “drown your grief,” which leads to a gradual descent into drunkenness deeper and deeper.

Alcohol is the cure for all ills

This opinion is deeply erroneous, but among the masses, faith in it has been strengthened for a very, very long time. If a person, due to the nature of his work, often encounters nervous, complex, stressful situations, he is told that the best way to relax is to drink a little alcoholic drink. Many people “take it personally” in the evening, before bed, as part of the fight against insomnia. Others are convinced that a glass of wine is preventive measure against heart vascular diseases. And what if you have a cold? Here everyone will say that you need to “take a drink,” and in the morning anyone will be as good as new. But in reality, you shouldn’t test this recipe on yourself - it’s better to trust special medications. The benefits from them are much greater, and there will be no harm, which cannot be said about strong alcoholic drinks.

Deeper and deeper

Others use alcohol to combat depression. This is one of the most common cases when periodic drunkenness turns into quite confident chronic alcoholism. You shouldn’t drink, especially just like that, and if a difficult situation arises in life, you need to look for a way out of it, and not “drown your grief.” Otherwise, every morning will be accompanied by another big lump troubles, and the “cherry on the cake” will be a hangover with a headache.

Consequences: what to be prepared for

The most unpleasant result of constant consumption of alcoholic beverages is withdrawal syndrome. Many don't even know about its existence! Of course, doctors from time to time organize educational conversations with patients at risk, but most people, especially middle-aged and adult people, do not listen to them, and young people completely ignore such events.

In the classic case, drinking alcohol is accompanied by headache, hangover, decreased performance, and apathy. The next day after “taking it to heart,” a person feels overwhelmed, incapable of practically anything. Almost every one of our compatriots has been in this state at least once in their lives, so it is well known that within a day or two unpleasant symptoms remain in the past. But in fact, as doctors say, the consequences are much deeper and longer lasting, since every next glass or shot causes irreparable harm central nervous system. Indeed, from small amount alcohol and the damage is small, but when days turn into weeks, and those into months and years, an impressive dose of damage accumulates.

Withdrawal symptoms

With prolonged (even relatively small) alcohol consumption, followed by a period of complete abstinence, a person is forced to deal with a growing sense of anxiety. Many people report anxiety for no apparent reason, chest cramps and pain. The duration of such manifestations is from six months to a year. Quitting alcohol is often accompanied by depression, increased irritability, and unexplained tension. Many patients feel sorry for themselves, others claim that they feel that their life has gone wrong.

Faced with symptoms of withdrawal, many return to the treasured bottle just to get rid of such a depressed mental state. At the same time, people usually do not think that the cause of the syndrome is precisely the prolonged use of alcoholic beverages. In fact, the patient deceives himself, which leads to an increase in negative manifestations. Each subsequent breakdown when trying to quit drinking is an increase in the duration of the withdrawal syndrome. But if you endure it for at least a year, there is a high probability that there will be no more breakdowns in the future, since the unpleasant manifestations of the withdrawal period will exhaust themselves over time.

Episodic attacks

During the period of quitting alcohol, you need to be prepared for the fact that the symptoms of withdrawal syndrome appear unexpectedly, fall out of the blue, and then also suddenly disappear. The duration of such an attack usually varies from several hours to a full day. It is important to be able to distinguish real feelings from those provoked by quitting alcoholic beverages.

Along with the impact on the psyche, giving up alcohol is also important for physical condition. It is impossible to completely prevent the occurrence of such a syndrome, but if you realize the very fact of the symptoms, it will be easier and easier to endure them. If a person understands that he is faced with a temporary condition caused by quitting an alcoholic drink, he has enough strength to wait out the difficult period and then live again life to the fullest. However, you need to understand that the consequences of drinking alcohol are often very, very long-lasting. These drinks are toxic to the human body, and metabolic products can accumulate in tissues. In addition, alcohol has a destructive effect on the liver, leads to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques and can provoke other diseases, including life-threatening pathologies. Even after completely giving up “hot” drinks, the consequences will continue to impose restrictions on a person’s life for a long time if he wants to be active and healthy.

Why do people drink alcohol?

Why do people drink? – strangely enough, neither can they really answer this question themselves drinking people, nor those who are trying to treat them. Drinkers come up with various excuses, but an honest answer, if given, is very rare. Why? Because drinkers themselves have no answer. But we will try to understand.

The reasons for drunkenness are different, and the most common is a lack of hobbies and interests. It is human nature to strive for pleasure and for better well-being. But people who are passionate about something get satisfaction from their favorite activities, and alcohol only interferes with their activities. People are not born drinkers, they become drinkers, and quite slowly. This requires time, which a busy person simply does not have.

For many, going to a relative’s house for a birthday, wedding, or simply celebrating some holiday is simply a punishment. They want all this to end as soon as possible, and they will return to their favorite pastime. For some it’s a sport, others are fanatically and incessantly engaged in remodeling and improving their homes, others are obsessed with animals, and, in the end, business.

People climb mountains, go hiking, are captivated by the computer, etc. But all this, due to the significant difference between people in the structure of the psyche and level of intelligence, is not accessible to everyone. Not everyone. Probably everyone remembers their class, and the fact that there were excellent students, bad students, and good students, well, just like in any group of students.

I myself studied in five schools, so I have enough observations. And here are the conclusions I came to. The majority of good people don’t drink themselves to death. Only in isolated cases. And the risk group includes excellent students and hopeless poor students. The first, probably because they didn’t get what they expected from life, the second, because they didn’t expect anything from the very beginning. That's about it. I'm only talking about the trend.

People who stand firmly on their feet are, oddly enough, usually made from bad and average students. The bad ones, but not the completely hopeless ones. Although this does not mean at all that a great future awaits the unsuccessful student.

Conversely, excellent students rarely reach great heights. Again, there are no rules without exceptions. I'm talking about percentage here. Good and C students make up a larger percentage of independent, proactive people who are confident in their rightness than excellent students. Although it seems that everything should be exactly the opposite.

The reason for this paradox is that successful and diligent students, for the most part, are very afraid of condemnation and censure, often achieving knowledge by meaningless cramming, without understanding the meaning of the subject being studied. The main thing is to get a good grade. It's theirs the main objective. In the worst cases, the only one.

Of course, ingenuity and ingenuity, among students with “excellent academic performance,” may sometimes be completely absent. Their whole life follows generally accepted rules, and they can only act within the limits of the knowledge they have received, or frankly, crammed into their heads. They always “know exactly” what is possible and what is not.

Losers often care what they think about them. They study only what interests them and do what they enjoy. They can go against social norms and generally against the flow of life more often and more freely. Will someone judge? They are not used to this. I've been judged all my life. That is, the brake on condemnation does not work here. Boring? I drank and became more cheerful. Well, what obstacles.

Mostly, of course, they drink themselves to death in their youth, when the wind is blowing through their heads. Excellent students may be overwhelmed by vodka later, when they begin to realize that they will never get from life what they were spoiled for. The fact that like attracts like is also of great importance. Loser students are drawn to poor students, excellent students to excellent students.

Well, together, those that are already strength. And if a former excellent student decides to drink vodka one more time, he will face condemnation from his friends. But when a person who was a poor student in the past decided to screw it up, he will most likely find support for the idea in his environment. The environment is of great importance.

It is also necessary to keep in mind that excellent students usually life path they start from universities, and poor students from vocational schools, or from factories. Where drunkenness is more developed, I think there is no need to say. What's in the factory? I came home from work - there’s nothing to do, let’s go drink beer. On the weekend again - take a bottle, let's go to me. That's all there is to it.

Sometimes even enthusiastic people start drinking. This happens in cases where for some reason they are deprived of the opportunity to do what they love. One of my close friends was very serious about motocross at one time. Took second place in Ukraine in the late 70s.

One day, my friend fell off his motorcycle so “successfully” that he was barely saved; his face was smashed into pieces on a stone. Big sport was closed to him. He started drinking. Motorsports was his life. This is how forgotten actors and athletes drink themselves to death. There is simply no need for them to be sober.

When a person's friendship with vodka goes far, another thing begins to play a role. The fact is that our bodies constantly produce substances - endorphins. They are also called “joy hormones” or “happiness hormones”. We need them to maintain normality. vitality, to see life a little more rosier than it is. Their chemical composition and the mode of action is very similar to morphine.

There are people with a congenital deficiency of these hormones. They seem to be nailed down all the time, they are silent, you can’t get a word out, and when they drink, they just glow with happiness. The self-regulation system of our body strives to maintain a person’s mental state at the desired level by producing endorphins in a certain amount.

But when drinking man With the help of alcohol, the mood is almost constantly kept higher than usual, the production of joy hormones is suspended. How else? If it’s so good, why develop anything else? It is precisely because of the similarity of endorphins with morphine that it is so difficult for morphine addicts to “get off the needle.” They stop producing essential hormones altogether.

Over time, many drinkers, and especially those who have reached the point of alcoholism, begin to experience depression when sober. “Happiness is not produced inside”; it awaits input from the outside. And until the poor guy drinks, he simply cannot return to normal. The normal state is to be drunk. If you don’t drink at all for some time, for example a year, everything returns to normal. Again good without vodka.

Well, and of course, the most difficult case is the binge of an alcoholic. This option cannot be said in a fairy tale, nor can it be described with a pen. An alcoholic on a binge, as soon as he begins to sober up, often feels, without exaggeration, on the verge of death. Life appears in such a black light that it seems it couldn’t get any worse. I am well acquainted with how an alcoholic feels at this time, so I never judge those who find themselves on a binge. Well, a person can’t cope. It's really very difficult.

By the way, once I caught a condition that made me believe that it could always be even worse. I achieved this through reckless use of psychotropic drugs. I was twenty then. There is a draft in my head. I will definitely describe this moment sometime. When I remember what I experienced then, even now, thirty years later, I get goosebumps.

I put off writing this article for two months, it seemed so bad to me complex topic. But I re-read it, and it seems good. The main ideas are expressed. If you have any opinions, please express them in the comments. Any opinions, even complete disagreement.

So, let's draw the line. Why do people drink? I think we can draw the following conclusions:

From idleness, lack of vital interests.