Drunkenness: symptoms, causes and treatment

The action of drinking and eating is essential for survival, but as a type of behavior, it is also prone to lead to the development of psychopathologies. At the end of the day, where there is behavior, there is the possibility that it may transform into harmful behavior, as Clinical Psychology shows us.

In this article we will focus on an eating disorder in which both the behavior of eating properly and drinking excessively occur. It is about drunkenness, also called alcohorexia. Let's see what it consists of.

• Related article: "Anorexia nervosa: symptoms, causes and treatment"

Drunkenness: a combination of anorexia and alcoholism

Alcohol is a psychoactive substance that enjoys great popularity and social acceptance, to the point of being part of the idiosyncrasy of a large number of cultures. It is associated with socialization and disinhibition, and its use often begins in adolescence.

In this age too This is when some teens may start to have eating problems, often based on the group's seeking acceptance at a stage when they are still searching for their own identity. Sometimes, both elements can be associated in a very dangerous disorder for the life of the person suffering from it, and here drunkenness comes into play.

It receives the name of drunkenness or alcohorexia a dangerous eating disorder, which is characterized by the progressive substitution of food intake for alcohol consumption in order for the patient to lose or reduce weight.

People with this type of disorder suffer an intense fear of gaining weight and gaining weight, which appears along with a high level of body distortion that makes them appear extremely thick. This, together with the obsession and overvaluation of thinness, makes them decide to limit their intake or resort to purgative behaviors in order to lose weight.

In the case of drunkenness, the person decides to substitute the calories to be acquired through food for those obtainable from alcohol, something that means that in practice they stop eating to focus on drinking. In many cases, they also use other purgative behaviors after that, such as making themselves vomit to lose the calories that they may have acquired with alcohol.

On the other hand, the fact of using alcoholic beverages has to do with poor management of the anxiety generated by the development of the disorder: the consumption of this substance is used to try to alleviate discomfort, something that generates a feeling of guilt and regret righ now.

Generally this disorder, increasingly common and encompassed within other specified eating disorders, is suffered by young people and adolescents. Although there are cases in both sexes, it seems three times more frequent in women.

• You may be interested: "Anorexia nervosa: symptoms, causes and treatment"

Great risks and consequences

It is a highly dangerous alteration with mortal potential that combines the consequences and risks of eating disorders such as anorexia and those related to consumption, abuse or even dependence on food alcohol. The alterations can be both physical and neurological or even psychological, altering organs such as heart, kidneys, liver, brain or blood vessels.

In this sense, we find ourselves with excessive weight loss until reaching a clinically dangerous underweight, which can trigger amenorrhea, insomnia, dizziness, tachycardias, arrhythmias, hypopressure, anxiety, cyanosis, kidney and liver problems (even up to kidney / liver failure), pain, constipation, alopecia, fatigue, suicidal ideation or depression.

It also causes problems with attention and concentration, memory, physical capacity, irritability or decrease in libido, as well as a tendency to lie (especially in relation to feeding).

To this they join disorders typical of alcohol dependence such as liver problems such as cirrhosis, gastrointestinal problems, cardiovascular problems, hallucinations, confusion, inability to concentrate, memory problems, kidney failure, coma or even death. Also irritability, anxiety, depression and social conflicts with family, partner and friends.

In addition, performance problems appear at the academic and work level, and can even lead to dismissal. Legal and judicial problems can also arise.

In addition, it must be taken into account that the fact not eating causes alcohol to have a greater effect on the brain and body, something that makes it easier for negative consequences to appear with its use. For example, it is more likely that neurological or digestive problems may appear. It is also more likely that conditions such as Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome may appear.

Causes of this disorder

The causes of drunkenness are not completely defined, considering that this disorder has a multicausal origin, as is the case with all psychological disorders in general.

Among the different factors that can affect or facilitate its appearance are: the transmission and overvaluation of beauty canons centered around thinness. It is common for people with this disorder to have feelings of insecurity.

In many cases, they have been able to live experiences of rejection that have made them suffer greatly, a rejection that may have been linked to their body shape. These experiences can lead them to resort to elements such as alcohol to become uninhibited or feel more accepted. On a personality level, they often have a rigid and perfectionist personality or extremely labile on an emotional level.

Parental models can also have some effect, in the event that overvalued ideas about the body figure are transmitted or if the image of alcohol is transmitted as a way to solve or avoid problems.

On the other hand, it is estimated that there are also genetic predispositions that influence the chances of developing drunkenness. However, these are not clear, and in any case it would be many genes interacting with each other. In no case can a psychological disorder be developed solely by genetic factors, but these are related to the development of the organism in interaction with its environment.

Treatment

Treating drunkenness requires a multidisciplinary intervention that takes into account both eating disorders and possible alcohol dependence, as well as the importance of the person's social context.

In the first place, if the patient is in an emergency situation, a hospital admission may be necessary, in which the first will stabilize their health and help them regain a minimum weight, while their condition is monitored and their constant.

Another possible route of entry in the case of drunkenness is alcohol intoxication., or before the effects or alterations caused by the absence of nutrients and intoxication or the effects of alcohol consumption, in the multiple body systems.

Once the patient is stable, work should be done on developing a suitable diet and using strategies such as cognitive restructuring to combat dysfunctional beliefs.

Another useful strategy, both for the restriction of the intake and for the consumption of alcohol, involves exposure with prevention of response to anxiety-generating stimuli. Of course, first a deep work at the cognitive level is necessary.

Before doing so, it will be necessary to generate a desire for change, ensuring that the patient little by little becomes aware of the existence of a problem and its consequences and risks. Later it is possible to help make a decisional balance that allows us to see the need to make a change and leave behind the previous behavior, and little by little establish guidelines and plans to carry out and subsequently maintain the desired change over time.

Working on stress management and social skills can help. The practice of psychoeducation with the affected person and also with her environment can be useful so that everyone can understand the process that the affected person is following, as well as to offer various guidelines and assess possible complications in the treatment.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Madrid: Panamericana.
• Adam, B. (2012). Drunkorexia: Understanding the Co-occurrence of Alcohol Consumption and Eating / Exercise Weight Management Behaviors. Journal of American College Health. 60 (3): 236 - 243.
• Blackmore, N.P.I. & Gleaves, D.H. (2013). Self-induced vomiting after drinking alcohol. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 11 (4): pp. 453 - 457.
• Knight, A. (2013). Drunkorexia: an empirical investigation of disordered eating in direct response to saving calories for alcohol use amongst Australian female university students. Journal of Eating Disorders 1 (1), p. 6.
• Stoppler, M.C. (2008). Drunkorexia, manorexia, diabulimia: New eating disorders. MedicineNet.