Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome

Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome

The alcohol withdrawal syndrome consists of a change in maladaptive behavior associated with physiological and cognitive elements, which occurs when the concentration of alcohol in blood and tissues decline in an individual who has maintained prolonged heavy use of the substance.

In such cases there may be autonomic hyperactivity (sweating, tachycardia, etc..), Intense tremor, insomnia, nausea or vomiting, hallucinations, agitation, anxiety and even seizures grand mal (APA, OP. CIT., 2003).

Tolerance is the need for increasing doses to achieve intoxication (or the expected effect) or in a sharp decline in effect with continued use of the same amount of alcohol (IDEM, 2003).

Since the poisoning, which can occur even in non-dependent and only use alcohol sporadically, moderate drinkers, is to develop a reversible syndrome consequent to the recent intake of alcohol, leading to behavioral and psychological harm and clinically adaptive associated with intoxication, such as mood swings, belligerent attitude, cognitive deficit, impaired clarity, social activity and employment affected (IDEM, 2003).

Importantly, the risk for developing dependence varies with individual factors such as genetic, personality, behavior and related to the environment (IDEM, 2003).

The alcohol should not be seen as an individual with problems of character or moral deficiency, but rather as a sick person and requiring treatment in order to control their addiction (Ibid; VAISSMAN, 2004).

Initially described as a syndrome of disease in 1785 by physicians Benjamin Rush and Thomas Trotter, the evolution of the concept of alcoholism was important to desistigmatizar the problems of alcohol-related problems and to advance the understanding of the nature of alcoholism and how to best proceed to develop your treatment plan (RANGE, 2005).