Analyzing Alcohol Abuse: Societal Attitudes & Health Service Pressures

This essay explores the pervasive issue of alcohol abuse and dependence, highlighting the detrimental physiological, emotional, social, and financial repercussions on society. It examines societal attitudes towards alcohol consumption, particularly the distorted perceptions and the pressures exerted on health services, drawing insights from Ross Kemp’s documentary on alcohol abuse in Britain. The essay discusses how societal norms contribute to increased alcohol misuse, including stress relief, loss of inhibitions, and the association of alcohol with social status. Furthermore, it delves into the significant financial pressures placed on health services due to alcohol-related incidents and the multi-morbid effects of excessive alcohol consumption, leading to increased healthcare costs and strain on resources. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for increased health promotion and educational strategies to combat alcohol abuse and mitigate its far-reaching consequences on individuals and the nation.

Running head: ALCOHOL ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE
ALCOHOL ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE
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1ALCOHOL ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE
Introduction
Alcohol abuse and dependence are one of the most challenging issues resulting in
detrimental physiological, emotional, social and financial repercussions on the society. Actor
Ross Kemp’s documentary on ‘Britain: Alcohol Abuse’ sheds light on the alarming rates with
which citizens of the nation are being drawn to the evils of alcohol.1 The following paragraphs of
this paper highlights the distorted attitudes society seems to possess on alcohol consumption and
the pressures exerted by the same on existing health services.
Discussion
Societal Attitudes towards Alcohol
Excessive alcohol consumption and its harmful effects have been a pressing societal issue
since traditional times. However, recent global and national trends reflect an unprecedented rise
in this behavior despite educational dissemination targeted at educating the public on detrimental
health impacts upon consumption of the same.2 As reported by the Irish Times (2019), findings
reflected from a recent study on adolescent health published in ‘The Lancet’ postulate that
adolescents residing in Ireland, especially females, have been classified as some of the heaviest
and highest engagers in binge alcohol drinking in comparison to global statistics. 3
1 Ross Kemp's Britain. 2019. "Ross Kemp's Britain S01E03 Alcohol Abuse Full Documentary". Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgezrOi2tC8&feature=youtu.be.
2 Popova, Svetlana, Shannon Lange, Charlotte Probst, Gerrit Gmel, and Jürgen Rehm. "Estimation of
national, regional, and global prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy and fetal alcohol syndrome: a systematic
review and meta-analysis." The Lancet Global Health 5, no. 3 (2017): e290-e299.
3 The Irish Times. 2019. "Irish Girls Ranked Among Top Binge Drinkers By Global Study". The Irish
Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/irish-girls-ranked-among-top-binge-drinkers-by-global-study-
1.3824115.

2ALCOHOL ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE
Such alarming statistics raise questions concerning the reasons underlying such a
substance abuse in the nation, which have been explored extensively by actor Ross Kemp, in the
documentary, ‘Alcohol Abuse’. Through extensive interview conductance and engagement with
the emergency paramedical services at odd hours, the documentary unfolds a stark reality
underlying the true cause of excessive alcohol consumption – the strong role of incorrect
attitudes of the society against alcohol intake. 4
As reflected in the documentary and related studies, alcohol, despite is proclaimed
damages, continue to draw attention, mainly due to its ability to relieve stress. The alcohol exerts
anti-depressant properties, resulting in drinkers feeling relaxed upon consumption – an effect
highly desirable, considered almost valid, and hence, misused, after a prolonged day of hard
work. Further, alcohol’s ability to administer delusions and encourage one to lose their
inhibitions are one of the key effects misused heavily by society.5 Alcohol distorts one’s ability
to think and reason logically resulting in an inability to halt at just ‘one drink’, an increased
tendency to reach out for increased amounts and hence, the vicious cycle of alcohol tolerance
and dependence. 6
Further, society has stereotypical attached a sense of glamour and pride in alcohol
consumption resulting in increased societal misuse by relating increased alcohol consumption
with commendable social status. Such a stereotypical attitude, as noted in the documentary, are
on the key factors influencing misuse among teenagers and socioeconomically privileged
4 Ross Kemp's Britain. 2019. "Ross Kemp's Britain S01E03 Alcohol Abuse Full Documentary". Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgezrOi2tC8&feature=youtu.be.
5 Begun, Audrey L., and John D. Clapp. "Reducing and preventing alcohol misuse and its consequences: A
Grand Challenge for social work." The International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research 5, no. 2 (2016): 73-83.
6 Schindler, Abigail G., Marta E. Soden, Larry S. Zweifel, and Jeremy J. Clark. "Reversal of alcohol-
induced dysregulation in dopamine network dynamics may rescue maladaptive decision-making." Journal of
Neuroscience 36, no. 13 (2016): 3698-3708.

3ALCOHOL ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE
population groups. Increased affordability and alcohol accessibility have resulted in comfortable
drinking at home without restrictions – resulting in misuse and addictions. 7
Health Service Pressure
As noted in the documentary, alcohol consumption exerts huge financial pressures on
health services, resulting in almost 21 billion pounds per year in Britain. The situation is strongly
reflected as Kemp guides the audience through one night of emergency medical and police
services where several alcohol associated brawls and injuries occur and are reported as almost a
regular by the concerned professionals.8
Indeed, alcohol exerts huge pressures on the medical and financial resources of the
society, due to its multi-morbid effect. Excessive alcohol consumption, has been associated with
increased risk of fatal hepatic disorders, coupled with cardiovascular and neurodegenerative
malfunctioning in the form of strokes, atherosclerosis, cardiac arrests, dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Hence, alcohol abuse predisposes one to acquire a host of physiological problems requiring
multidisciplinary care, resulting in huge costs to the individual as well as the concerned health
organizations. 9
Further, the emotional and physiological effects of alcohol consumption results in
increased conflicts and have been associated with increased rates of domestic, intimate partner
and communal violence resulting in hindrances in the psychological and social well being of the
citizens as well as misuse of the capabilities of the police whose services could have been
7 Laghi, Fiorenzo, Dora Bianchi, Antonia Lonigro, Sara Pompili, and Roberto Baiocco. "Emotion
regulation and alcohol abuse in second-generation immigrant adolescents: The protective role of cognitive
reappraisal." Journal of health psychology(2019): 1359105318820715.
8 Ross Kemp's Britain. 2019. "Ross Kemp's Britain S01E03 Alcohol Abuse Full Documentary". Youtube.
9 Barrio, Pablo, Jillian Reynolds, Anna García‐Altés, Antoni Gual, and Peter Anderson. "Social costs of
illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the European Union: A systematic review." Drug and alcohol review 36, no. 5
(2017): 578-588.

4ALCOHOL ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE
utilized in additional critical situations.10 The inhibitory and often emotional aberrations caused
due to alcohol increased rate of accidents and delay healthcare since associated violence and
aggressiveness among drinkers make it difficult for health professionals to perform their duties.11
Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded that alarming rates of alcohol abuse can be attributed to its
misuse by society and the prevalent stereotypical misconceptions. Increased health promotion
and health educational strategies targeting individual and community empowerment, are required
to combat this epidemic and hence, mitigate the increased financial and medical repercussions
alcohol consumption exerts on the nation.
10 Lila, Marisol, Enrique Gracia, and Alba Catalá-Miñana. "More likely to dropout, but what if they don’t?
Partner violence offenders with alcohol abuse problems completing batterer intervention programs." Journal of
Interpersonal Violence(2017): 0886260517699952.
11 Carfora, Anna, Carlo Pietro Campobasso, Paola Cassandro, Raffaella Petrella, and Renata Borriello.
"Alcohol and drugs use among drivers injured in road accidents in Campania (Italy): A 8-years retrospective
analysis." Forensic science international 288 (2018): 291-296.

5ALCOHOL ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE
References
1. Ross Kemp's Britain. 2019. "Ross Kemp's Britain S01E03 Alcohol Abuse Full
Documentary". Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LgezrOi2tC8&feature=youtu.be.
2. Popova, Svetlana, Shannon Lange, Charlotte Probst, Gerrit Gmel, and Jürgen Rehm.
"Estimation of national, regional, and global prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy
and fetal alcohol syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis." The Lancet Global
Health 5, no. 3 (2017): e290-e299.
3. The Irish Times. 2019. "Irish Girls Ranked Among Top Binge Drinkers By Global
Study". The Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/irish-girls-ranked-
among-top-binge-drinkers-by-global-study-1.3824115.
4. Begun, Audrey L., and John D. Clapp. "Reducing and preventing alcohol misuse and its
consequences: A Grand Challenge for social work." The International Journal of Alcohol
and Drug Research 5, no. 2 (2016): 73-83.
5. Schindler, Abigail G., Marta E. Soden, Larry S. Zweifel, and Jeremy J. Clark. "Reversal
of alcohol-induced dysregulation in dopamine network dynamics may rescue maladaptive
decision-making." Journal of Neuroscience 36, no. 13 (2016): 3698-3708.
6. Laghi, Fiorenzo, Dora Bianchi, Antonia Lonigro, Sara Pompili, and Roberto Baiocco.
"Emotion regulation and alcohol abuse in second-generation immigrant adolescents: The
protective role of cognitive reappraisal." Journal of health psychology(2019):
1359105318820715.

6ALCOHOL ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE
7. Barrio, Pablo, Jillian Reynolds, Anna García‐Altés, Antoni Gual, and Peter Anderson.
"Social costs of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the European Union: A systematic
review." Drug and alcohol review 36, no. 5 (2017): 578-588.
8. Lila, Marisol, Enrique Gracia, and Alba Catalá-Miñana. "More likely to dropout, but
what if they don’t? Partner violence offenders with alcohol abuse problems completing
batterer intervention programs." Journal of Interpersonal Violence(2017):
0886260517699952.
9. Carfora, Anna, Carlo Pietro Campobasso, Paola Cassandro, Raffaella Petrella, and
Renata Borriello. "Alcohol and drugs use among drivers injured in road accidents in
Campania (Italy): A 8-years retrospective analysis." Forensic science international 288
(2018): 291-296.