Alcohol Consumption: A Case Study on Alcohol Dependence and its Effects on Physical and Mental Health

A CASE STUDY ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DISABILITY A CASE STUDY ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DISABILITY 1 A CASE STUDY ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DISABILITY Author Note: Introduction 2 Discussion 2 Conclusion 8 References 10 Introduction Alcohol consumption has severe impact on the physical and mental health of an individual. Individuals with a history of binge drinking are often found to be affected with stroke, alcoholic liver disease, cancer, partial paralysis, tuberculosis, Parkinson

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A CASE STUDY ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DISABILITY
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1A CASE STUDY ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DISABILITY
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................10

2A CASE STUDY ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DISABILITY
Introduction
Alcohol consumption has severe impact on the physical and mental health of an
individual. It is one of the potent psychoactive compounds that induces host of diseases and
create socioeconomic deprivation in a community. In a population, where people have
adhered to the habit of regular alcohol intake have been engaged into frequent domestic
violence. Individuals with a history of binge drinking are often found to be affected with
stroke, alcoholic liver disease, cancer, partial paralysis, tuberculosis, Parkinson’s disease,
cognitive malfunction and a wide range of disorders that are directly and indirectly associated
with alcohol consumption (WHO 2014).
This case study focuses on Eddie Pascoe, an indigenous individual with leadership
characteristics, who had successfully achieved a proper job and was living a sustained life
with his family, lost everything due to his tendency of alcohol consumption including a range
of health problems that arose with it. Eddie was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and was
unable to walk freely, became dependent on wheel chair. However, medical professionals in a
multifunctional healthcare facility helped him and now he is spreading awareness against the
hazardous effects of alcohol (YouTube, 2016).
Discussion
Drinking is one of the leading factors of disease propagation, including disease
causing mortality and accidental death, accounting almost 5.9% globally, for total mortality
cases every year (Rehm and Shield 2014). Alcohol production and available ease of transport
have significantly contributed in distribution of alcohol worldwide. Industrial scale

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manufacturing of alcohol has increased in an unprecedented rate to cope up with the demand
of alcoholic beverages. Sufficient supply of alcohol has greatly affected the socioeconomic
conditions of middle-income to low-income families, hindering the stability of the social
peace along with overall public health of a particular region. Countries like UK, has taken
preventive measures to control the amount of drinking patterns by setting a limit for the
citizens at a weekly basis. Individual with higher number of drinks compared to the
regulatory limit is often advised to visit intervention sessions as a primary strategy to remove
dependence over alcohol (WHO 2018).
Effects of alcohol have a proportional relationship with disease and disabilities. More
than 200 diseases are related with volume and prevalence of alcoholism among men and
women. Drinking pattern and quality of alcoholic products are additional factors that promote
disease causing symptoms and various health issues. Amount of alcohol consumption on a
daily or weekly basis has been found to be directly linked with cardiovascular risk, increased
chances of cancer and liver cirrhosis. Higher the consumption rate, greater the possibility of
developing these diseases (Rehm et al. 2017). Study suggests, occasional and low-volume
drinkers have reduced likelihood of health problems compared to heavy drinkers. This idea
may be biased from the viewpoint that heavy drinkers generally develop increased risks of
complex disorders mentioned above (Stockwell et al. 2016). However, a recent study by
Burton and Sheron (2018) stated that minimal volume of alcohol consumption has no
beneficiary effects on human health, arguing with the previous idea of cardiovascular
amelioration of atherosclerosis by nominal drinking pattern (Thompson 2013).
This case study examines the experience and trauma of Eddie Pascoe, an indigenous
man from Cape York, Australia, who had been dependent entirely on alcohol for a long time.
Despite of having leadership qualities, and a respectful career of community police officer,
major drinking caused him multiple health difficulties. He exhibited violent behavior and his

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wife was the victim. It resulted into separation of Eddie from his family and children along
with losing his daily job. He was further diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, with intense
tremors and physical breakdown. Parkinson’s disease affects central nervous system and
causes movement disability along with bradykinesia and vigorous trembling of the whole
body (Smits et al. 2014). His locomotive ability was lost eventually as conditions deteriorated
and he was enrolled into a residential community rehabilitation center for aboriginal people.
Later, he was shifted to a hospital as tremors worsened his physical and mental health.
Although, the community rehabilitation centre and hospital caregivers were very supportive,
which helped him strive through difficult times (YouTube, 2016).
Alcoholism has inflated as a primary concern globally arising as the fifth singular
reason related to accidental and untimely death, clinical depression and deterioration of
psychological health. Uncontrolled drinking and dependency over alcohol consumption is
one of the major malpractices that have proliferated, affecting population and communities
all around the world. Impact derived from direct and consequential use of alcohol has
perplexed lives of countless families, contributing psychological and financial instability. Yu
and Stiffman (2007) had predicted the impact of cultural and environmental factors that
contribute alcohol abuse by implementing Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. This study
elaborated, substance abuse, social and domestic misbehaviors and association of alcohol
with cultural and religious ethnicities play a key role in promoting drinking behavior among
adolescent population. Men of 25-34 years of age showed highest level of binge drinking,
while 34-68 years aged men liberated a significantly steep increase in binge drinking
connected with increased rate of neighborhood deprivation (Fone et al. 2013). Partial effect
of social media and economic strength induce indirect consequences on binge drinking
patterns on lower socioeconomic society correlating with lower income status among native
male population (Tucker et al. 2015). Civilians living in a location of lower alcohol price and

5A CASE STUDY ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DISABILITY
higher number of alcohol outlets have depicted increased allosteric association with drinking
behavior in communities with low SES (Pollack et al. 2005; Huckle et al. 2008). Inter-
community acceptance and social trust also plays a crucial role in regulation of drinking
patterns, as men devaluated by neighboring community confessed to consume excessive
amount of alcohol at a regular basis. Perception of society in heavy drinkers has worsened
further by decreased participation in normal social activities and overwhelming feeling of
exclusion (Murphy et al. 2014). Alcohol consumption is significantly associated with risk of
stroke in men with lower economic status.
A study by Brown et al. (2005) consisted of sample population from New Zealand,
attributed that lower socio-economic background increases the risk of stroke in communities,
including obesity and excessive alcohol consumption, leading to higher frequency of
ischemic stroke. Another study focused on northern Italy found that lower socioeconomic
status is prevalent for occurrence of stroke, adjoining with diabetes and an increase in body
mass (Veronesi et al. 2010). SES, health condition and alcohol consumption have an
overlapping relationship, which is also known as alcohol harm paradox (Bellis et al. 2016)
suggested mortality in lower socioeconomic areas are higher than in average SES
communities, despite of having similar levels of alcohol consumption in both cases.
Ignorance about personal health and unavailability of cash jointly exacerbate the multiplicity
of the disease, also putting lives of the family members in grave danger. Meta-analysis on
epidemiological studies elucidated that almost 20% to 25% of liver cirrhosis and hepatitis C
virus infection in men who have been drinking 50g/day for at least 5 years, are due to
excessive alcohol consumption in United States (Singal and Anand, 2013). Hepatocellular
carcinoma and chronic liver disease is also associated with socioeconomic disparity among
non-Hispanic white male, having at least 3 drinks or more per day, are likely to be the sole
victim of chronic liver disease that results into death. 29% of population had suffered from

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liver cancer due to economic recession contributing to disintegration of individual lifestyle
(Major et al. 2014). Daily consumption of one drink or 12g/day enhances risk of liver cancer
by 1.1 times. Even after reassessing the data with the variable factors of lifestyle and medical
awareness, cohesively working with social support and lesser socioeconomic difference,
derived results were almost same (Myint et al. 2015). Moderate reliance over alcohol
promotes vulnerability in normal lifestyle, especially in male, who are unemployed or cannot
acquire sufficient income for betterment of their livelihood. People who feel excluded from
their neighboring community are highly depressed and among those with a previous exposure
of alcoholic beverages at an early age, have higher chances of developing binge-drinking
behavior. Binge drinking, as proposed by National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism (NIAAA), is an individual having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08
grams/dL or consuming five consequent drinks in just 2 hours are marked as binge drinkers.
Individuals of 21 years of age or younger are most prone to develop binge drinking (Esser et
al. 2017), as reported to U.S. department of Health and Human Services. Drinking patterns
correlating with these standards have implied that such massive consumption at a regular
basis are connected with oral, esophageal, hepatocellular and colorectal cancer in male
candidates (WHO 2018). Drinkers are frequently involved in car accidents, alcohol poisoning
and several other health hazards, which passively influence the number of mortality cases per
year (Stahre et al. 2014).
In a recent study, Noble et al. (2015) illustrated, Australian Aboriginals and Torres
Strait Islanders are greatly affected by alcohol usage. Minority groups have higher prevalence
rate of episodic drinking patterns (46%) along with occasional binge drinking (56%). Another
study by Rao, Schofield and Ashworth (2015) inferred that 21.4% of older adults are biased
towards heavy drinking due to age-related mental depression, socioeconomic depression and
sustained health problems, using alcohol as a way of coping to these lifestyle difficulties.

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These people are highly vulnerable to alcohol abuse disorders, as biological senescence
decreases strength and physiological immunity. A randomized control trial involving 759
American adults with 66 years of age or more, has anticipated that neighborhood induction
certainly reflects alcohol consumption and encourages drinking capacity of the population,
especially in men, compared to women who were unaffected by neighborhood influence
(Assari and Lankarani, 2016). Socioeconomic deprivation and lack of literacy were
responsible for greater psychological depression and promotion of oppressive behavior
among communities comprised of greater SES variability. Income insufficiency has major
impact on volume of alcohol consumption per week. All these factors were found to be
affecting male populations in a significant rate, compared to females, who were reluctant
towards these influences (Veronesi et al. 2010).
Heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease (Liu et al. 2013).
Researchers claimed, alcoholic beverages contain ethanol, which induces oxidative stress in
human body and facilitates as a precursor of inflammatory response. Anti-oxidants and
essential vitamins are absent in these products, which increase the risk of PD.

8A CASE STUDY ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DISABILITY
Conclusion
Alcohol consumption has become a massive burden across global population, directly
influencing financial disturbance in millions of families and massively affecting
socioeconomic stability. Consumption of alcoholic beverages have contributed heavy
drinking patterns among deprived SES (socioeconomic status) groups, in comparison to
wealthy groups which have higher frequency of drinking tendencies. Binge drinking actively
effects mortality along with morbidity of an individual and therefore hampers social
behaviors and triggers domestic violence. This study has oriented on a Torres Strait
aboriginal person, namely Eddie Pascoe, who despite of being a community police officer,
lost almost everything including his professional career and family and developing PD. He
was transferred into a residential rehabilitation center for aboriginals and had to relocate
further, into hospital care due to breakdown of his physical health and he was unable to walk.
Amount of alcohol consumption on a daily or weekly basis has been found to be directly
linked with cardiovascular risk, increased chances of cancer and liver cirrhosis. 34-68 years
aged men liberated a significantly steep increase in binge drinking connected with increased
rate of neighborhood deprivation. Moderate reliance over alcohol promotes vulnerability in
normal lifestyle, especially in male, who are unemployed or cannot acquire sufficient income
for betterment of their livelihood. Social influence and lower income group of male
populations had contributed significantly in developing risk factors among men, compared to
natural reluctance expressed by female groups. Three possible mechanisms have been
postulated to increase these risk factors regarding alcohol consumption. Firstly, exchange and
practice of social behavior in a community greatly influence the use of alcohol among non-
drinkers and occasional drinkers. Secondly, people with low socioeconomic status (SES) are
much more vulnerable to alcohol due to mental stress and absenteeism utilizing alcohol as a
mediator of coping mechanism. Thirdly, sub-cultural footprint of a society greatly enhances

9A CASE STUDY ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DISABILITY
individual overview of a substance, applicable for alcohol or any other drug, which provides
a temporary sense of assertion; even it has harmful effects on a broader perspective. Lastly,
an ecological map showing macro, meso and microscopic aspects of alcohol abuse, has been
incorporated to illustrate the hierarchy of harmful drinking patterns and concomitant effects
in a native society.

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