History of Alcoholism on Society

History of Alcoholism on Society

  • Submitted By: cmells40
  • Date Submitted: 06/28/2010 4:17 PM
  • Category: Psychology
  • Words: 3261
  • Page: 14
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Alcoholism and Society

Alcoholism and Society
Charlesetta Mells
Capella University

Alcohol is an organic chemical created naturally by the fermentation of sugar, starch, or other carbohydrate (Inaba, 2007). An alcoholic is someone that has a constant craving for alcoholic beverages and finds it compulsive to drink them, and even to buy them. It is overwhelming for them to try to go without alcohol. Alcohol dependence is a chronic disease that is often progressive and fatal. Prolonged, heavy use can lead to addiction. Sudden cessation of long term, extensive alcohol intake is likely to produce withdrawal systems, including severe anxiety, tremors, hallucinations and convulsions. Long term effects of consuming large amounts of alcohol, especially combined with poor nutrition, can lead to permanent damage to vital organs such as the brain and liver (NIAAA, 2005).
Six millennia ago at the Sumerian, one of the earliest known historic civilizations, trading post of Godin Tepe, in what is known now as western Iran, people were drinking beer and wine. In 1992 a chemist identified a residue in pottery jars as wine and beer. The Sumerian were among the first people to develop a complex, literature society of prospering city based on irrigation, agriculture and widespread trade.
There is evidence that alcohol goes back at least to Paleolithic times, the second part of the Stone Age. This is derives from etymology as well as from studies of Stone Age cultures. Available to Paleolithic man, presumably, were fermented fruit (wine), fermented grain (beer), and fermented honey (mead). Etymological evidence suggests that mead may have been the earliest beverage of choice. The association of honey, rather than grain or fruit, with intoxication may indicate its greater antiquity as a source of alcohol (Goodwin, 2006).
Alcohol has been used medicinally and in religious ceremonies for thousands of years, but it has a...

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