- Hey everybody, today's video is about alcoholism.
And the DSM-5 came out,
and they changed a lot of the terms
when we talk about alcoholism.
And now it's called alcohol use disorder.
How do we diagnose it,
and what are our treatment options?
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There are a lot of different alcohol related disorders.
I'm gonna read as always from the DSM,
if I can get it off the table.
And it, there is alcohol use disorder,
which we'll talk about today.
Alcohol intoxication.
Alcohol withdrawal.
Other alcohol-induced disorders.
Kind of like part of the, like EDNOS,
or offset of eating disorders.
And unspecified alcohol related disorder.
So there's kind of two little buckets at the the end,
that we can see things might fall into,
if they don't quite meet the criteria for the disorder
we're talking about today.
Or the other two, intoxication and withdrawal.
Since this is a diagnoses,
and it's the DSM.
I'm gonna read to you a little bit from the DSM,
so we can get an idea of how it's diagnosed clinically,
and that may give you an idea of whether you,
or someone you love is suffering from it.
So alcohol use disorders is a problematic
pattern of alcohol use leading to clinically
significant impairment or distress as manifested
by at least two of the following
accrued within a 12 month period.
Everything in the DSM is gonna say it has to be,
to clinically impair your level of functioning,
or some phrase like that.
So always keep that in mind when you
think about diagnoses, diagnosis, or diagnosing yourself.
If you're impaired in your daily life,
chances are it's probably an issue,
and you should probably reach out for help.
That's like the base of how we know
that we need to get some support,
and some professional help.
So, with regards to alcohol use disorder,
we, like I said, we have to have at least two
of the following in the last year.
The first, and there are 11 of these.
So I'm gonna try to get through them as quickly as possible.
First is, alcohol is often taken in larger amounts
or over a longer period than was intended.
I like the word intended.
So we may always be wanting to have a beer with my buddies,
and it turns into like six.
And we didn't mean to, and we don't know how it happened,
and it's bad.
Two, there is a persistent desire or unsuccessful effort
to cut down on alcohol or control its use.
So we try not to have as much, and we can't.
Three, a great deal of time is spent
in activities necessary to obtain alcohol.
This is the same when it comes to like drug abuse.
People will spend a lot of time doing things
to either get money for the alcohol,
or spending time with people who they know
will have alcohol at their house at a party later.
And so everything we do in our life is kind of like
focused on on the one goal, getting alcohol.
Four, craving or strong desire or urge to use alcohol.
This isn't like, oh on Friday, a margarita would sound nice.
This is like, I need the margarita and I need it now.
I need like five of them.
That's, the cravings are intense,
and often can't be denied.
Five, recurrent alcohol use resulting in
a failure to fulfill major role obligations
at work, school, or home.
This goes back to that impairment, right?
We have an impair, it's impairing our functioning.
And that is something that we should all consider.
If we're having trouble maintaining friendships,
getting stuff done at work, or school.
It's a problem.
Six.
I have to let my other hand up.
Trust me, I know how many.
This is six.
Continued alcohol use despite having persistent
or recurrent social or interpersonal problems
caused or exacerbated by the affects of alcohol.
So we have trouble in our relationships.
Seven, important social, occupational, or recreational
activities are given up or reduced due to alcohol use.
I think this is important too.
If we can't get out.
If we don't, we used to go to yoga.
We used to go for walks.
We used to do things.
Maybe play intramural sports.
We used to do all sorts of things,
and we don't because of our alcohol use.
Either we're hungover,
or we're to busy drinking to do any of those things.
Eight, recurrent alcohol use in situations
in which it's physically hazardous.
That could be drinking and driving.
That could be jumping off the roof of a house into a pool.
It's really dangerous,
and it was because I was drunk.
If we're doing things that are really hazardous
to ourselves because of the drinking,
that's also really scary and definitely a problem.
Nine, alcohol uses continues despite
knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical
or psychological problem that's likely
to be have been caused or exacerbated by the alcohol use.
So, even though we know things are bad,
we really just can't stop.
10, tolerance as defined by the following.
Tolerance meaning a building-up
of the amount that we can tolerate.
That's why tolerance.
First is, a need for markedly increased amounts.
So like, oh it used to take me three beers to get drunk,
now it takes me six.
A marked diminished affect with continued
use of the same amount.
Same thing, right, so three beers used to get me
nice and buzzed, and yay, and now it's like six, or eight.
11, and our final is withdrawal.
And this is really scary.
And this is why before I even tell you about this,
I wanna encourage all of you.
Not even encourage just like please, please, please,
please, please push you if you worry that you,
or someone you love is struggling with alcoholism,
we don't want them to stop without the supervision
of a physician.
Go into a hospital to do detox.
There are actually detox homes around LA.
I don't know different cities and countries
will have different things.
But there like places that there are physicians
and a 24 hour
supervision,
where we can detoxify safely.
Because number 11 says withdrawal,
will have withdrawal symptom for alcohol,
or alcohol or closely related substances,
such as benzodiazepines is taken to relieve
or avoid withdrawal systems.
So we'll take it because we start feeling really shitty,
we'll drink more or take something else to try
to help alleviate the feelings of withdrawals,
Cause it can be really terrible.
And it's really scary.
There are things like delirium tremens.
Which you can look up if you're curious.
Things that are body can do as we're withdrawing
from alcohol can be really, really, psychically dangerous.
So please don't just quit cold turkey,
and think that's the best way.
Talk to your doctor.
Maybe we have to check into a clinic
for a couple of weeks until our body is okay.
And we're safe and we can start working on our recovery.
Now I know you don't need me to sit here,
and give you all the reasons why drinking is bad.
I like to drink socially.
I'll have a couple of drinks with friends.
Or a margarita or a glass of wine or whatever I feel like.
But that's all in moderation.
And within a reasonable amount.
And I want you just to be aware of the fact
that increased use of alcohol and alcoholism
can lead to complete organ failure.
All sorts of things.
Kidney, liver, it can lead to heart attacks.
A lot of people die from it.
I know you're aware,
and I don't believe in scare tactics.
But I just feel like in this video
I have to at least let you know that it's very dangerous.
And there's a whole bunch of pages in the DSM
dedicated to telling us how medically this can affect us.
Now the treatment options for alcohol use disorder
are very similar to drug addiction,
and also eating disorder treatment.
And the reason for that is because it usually
requires some kind of impatient or hospitalization.
Like I talked about initially,
if we're detoxing we're going to need to be
in a hospital or a detox house.
From there, we can be transported or moved
into like a hospital situation, or an impatient.
Where you sometimes you live in like a house.
There's like usually six or eight beds.
There's people 24/7.
You have therapy all the time.
Group therapy all the time.
They take you to and from A.A. meetings,
if that's something you want to do.
But that's usually kind of, I'm stepping down
from like the highest level, right?.
We start at detox in a hospital or a detox house.
And then we move down to like an impatient care.
Then we a lot of times do day treatment,
and live in like a halfway house.
Like they call them recovery homes,
or
therapeutic housing.
All sorts of different terminology.
It really just gives you like a safe place
to live with other people working on recovery.
So you aren't triggered, you know by others in your life.
That I'm sure if you were an alcoholic for a long time,
a lot of people in your life still drink.
And that can be really hard.
And so it kind of ties right down into outpatient.
Like just seeing a therapist like myself.
And regular checkups with our doctor like normal.
Other than that we go about our lives.
There are also things that we can add into this.
Like group therapy.
Like A.A.
And N.A. if it's narcotics.
But as far as alcoholism, A.A.
is something that a lot of people prescribe to.
That's totally your choice.
You don't have to.
I know a lot of programs push you to that.
But just consider the support that it could give you.
I really like the idea of having a sponsor.
Because that really helps us when we're having a hard time.
Have someone to reach out to
who's been there and knows it.
And there's no judgment.
I really like that fact, just like our community.
So look at the things that are available.
Also A.A. is world-wide which is awesome.
And if you yourself are in a relationship with someone
or have a family member who has
struggled with alcohol use disorder,
I cannot recommend Al-Anon enough.
Al-Anon is amazing.
It's like A.A. for the family.
Because the thing that a lot of people don't realize
is when we are in alcoholic relationships,
even if we don't drink,
we have our own set of characteristics and struggles
because of that relationship.
And we do certain things to kind of deal with it.
And so Al-Anon can be really healing for the family
and the friends who struggle with it
because of that person.
And there's Alateen if you're young.
So I'll put all of the resources down in the description,
but please, please, please reach out for help
sooner rather than later.
Like I said, it's really hard on our bodies,
and it can be really detrimental to our health.
And I love each and every one of you,
and want you all to be healthy and happy, right?
Healthy mind, healthy body.
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Bye.
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