Answer to Question 1
Answer: Medications can make quitting easier by reducing the craving for alcohol. They are not addictive and don't make a person sick who drinks while taking them. Medications can be combined with counseling or support groups. Alcohol counseling or talk therapy can focus on individual or group therapy, alcoholism support groups, or lectures and activities. Specialized counseling may focus on the individual or the family and may involve multiple or occasional sessions. Brief interventions have gained recent popularity. Unlike the traditional counseling approach, this method encourages sensible drinking at healthy levels rather than abstinence. Brief interventions require minimal follow up and can be quite effective. Self-help groups such as 12-step involve attending meetings and mutual support. Intensive treatment programs are 14 to 28 day residential programs that combine a 12 step approach with individual and group counseling in a strictly scheduled abstinence environment as well as longer term programs and halfway houses.
Answer to Question 2
Answer: Alcoholism is defined as exhibiting at least three of the following symptoms during a one-year period:
Increasing alcohol tolerance
Physical withdrawal symptoms of sweating, nausea, shaking, tremors, seizures, and anxiety after stopping drinking
A desire to quit or an inability to quit
Spending an excessive amount of time buying, using, and recovering from alcohol
Interference with life activities due to alcohol use
Continuing to use alcohol despite physical or psychological problems
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