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Alcoholism Information Today

The definition of alcoholism today is a disease and addiction where the use of alcohol is ongoing despite unfavorable health or social consequences. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – DSMV identifies alcoholism as continuing addictive consumption of alcohol despite persistent undesirable outcomes. The way the public perceives addiction to alcohol differs. The professional medical community treats it both a disease as well as an addiction.

Around 75 percent – 90% of people in the USA are reported to drink alcoholic beverages and yet only a certain percentage of these are suffering from alcoholism. There are numerous of things that seem to come into play such as stress, psychological wellness, genetics, age, and race. Quite simply, there are numerous factors but none are absolute predictors, simply risk factors for alcoholism.

Statistics indicate certain trends in the tendency to go on to develop dependency on alcohol associated with the age when drinking starts. Studies show that 40% of those that began consuming alcohol before age 14 developed alcoholism while people who start after the age of 21 showed only a 10 percent rate of alcohol dependency.