preview

Depression And Alcohol Abuse Research Paper

Decent Essays

Abstract

Alcohol use disorder (AUD), otherwise known as alcoholism, is the continual use of alcohol that eventually leads to becoming both physically and psychologically dependent. It is a chronic brain disease that occurs due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors (Delis et al., 2013). It has been proven that early exposure to alcohol increases the risk of alcohol dependence: those who started drinking before the age of fifteen are 1.4 times more likely to become dependent on alcohol than their counterparts who began drinking at a later age (Dawson, Goldstein, Chou, Ruan, & Grant, 2008). Exposure to alcoholics in the family also contributes to the likelihood of being dependent on alcohol. Nearly 1 in 4 adolescents are exposed …show more content…

Depression and alcohol abuse often occur together; the cooccurrence of these two disorders worsen each other and intensify the severity of the symptoms (Grant et al., 2004). Depression itself is the prolonged feeling of negativity and alcohol is a depressant (despite the common misconception that it is a stimulant), which explains why the use of alcohol exaggerates depressive episodes. In 1970, Winokur, Reich, Rimmer, & Pitts hypothesized that alcoholism and depression have many similar predispositions. Further research has shown that children of alcoholics have higher rates of having depressive tendencies than those offspring of nonalcoholic parents. It can be predicted that the children of alcoholics have higher rates of depression because of the "situational factors" associated with the alcohol abuse of their parent(s) (Sher, …show more content…

Recent studies in college students have shown that there is support of a link between alcohol use and “alternative healthy, rewarding behaviors” (Magidson, Robustelli, Seitz-Brown, & Whisman, 2017). Students who participated in heavy drinking in the last thirty days reported to have participated in fewer activities that are not related to alcohol than those students who are not considered to be heavy drinkers (Correia, Carey, Simons, & Borsari). When substance free positive reinforcement was decreased, students subsequently participated in increased heavy drinking. It has also been proven that students who drink heavily while alone as opposed to being in a social situation show higher tendencies of alcohol dependency and depression (Christiansen, Vik, & Jarchow,

Get Access