How long it takes to become addicted to alcohol is different for each person. Certain risk factors make it more likely for a person to become addicted to alcohol than others. In addition, how long it takes to become addicted to alcohol depends on a person’s drinking habits as well as the presence of underlying mental health disorders.
North Atlanta Behavioral Health specializes in treating mental health disorders as well as co-occurring addictions. Our treatment programs can help you overcome the underlying causes of your addiction to alcohol for a better life in recovery.
What Is Alcoholism?
Alcoholism is a term used to refer to alcohol addiction or the clinical term alcohol use disorder (AUD). Alcoholism, alcohol addiction, and AUD refer to the same type of substance use disorder. Simply put, alcoholism means that you cannot function normally without alcohol nor can you quit drinking without professional treatment.
Signs of Alcohol Addiction
Alcohol addiction is a disease that affects a person’s mental, physical, and behavioral health. Therefore, they will show signs of addiction in each of these areas of their lives.
Mental Signs of Alcohol Addiction
- Difficulty concentrating
- Obsessive thinking about alcohol use
- Using alcohol to manage a mental health disorder
- Blacking out
Physical Signs of Alcohol Addiction
- Cravings and urges to drink
- Changes in appearance
- Appetite changes
- Fatigue and hangover
Behavioral Signs of Alcohol Addiction
- Loss of interest in activities that don’t involve drinking
- Isolating from friends and loved ones
- Spending most of your time drinking or recovering from drinking
- Engaging in reckless behaviors while under the influence
In addition, if you become addicted to alcohol, you will have withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop drinking. These symptoms can be dangerous and even deadly. Therefore, you need to get help from a professional detox center to manage withdrawal safely.
While many people drink alcohol, not all people who drink are alcoholics. According to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 84.1% of adults aged 18 and older reported drinking at some point in their lifetimes. However, only a small percentage of adults who drink become addicted. So, what causes a person to become addicted to alcohol?
How Does Alcohol Addiction Develop?
The main reason alcohol is addictive is because drinking produces pleasurable effects in your brain. Alcohol also numbs negative emotions. Thus, you drink to gain pleasure and to reduce negative feelings.
Over time, if you drink regularly or heavily, you continually reinforce the connection between drinking and feeling good. After a while, your brain cannot feel good unless you are drinking alcohol. That means during the times between drinking, you could feel even worse than you would normally if you never drank in the first place.
So, you drink alcohol to cope with these worsening feelings. This is the beginning of the cycle of addiction. Drinking at first helped you cope with stressors and bad feelings. However, now you feel even worse than you did before, and the only way you know to cope is by drinking even more alcohol.
Risk Factors for Becoming Addicted to Alcohol
Of course, not everyone who drinks gets addicted. Many people keep their drinking limited and under control. Certain underlying risk factors make it more likely that you will become addicted than others.
Risk factors for alcohol addiction include the following:
- Unresolved trauma, especially from childhood
- Underlying mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder
- Lack of coping skills for everyday stress
- Family history of alcoholism, drug addiction, or mental illness
- Chronic pain
- Stressful living environments
- Starting to drink at an early age
Oftentimes, people drink to cope with issues related to their emotional and mental health. For instance, on-the-job stress can cause a person to drink after work to cope. Or, a person in an unhappy marriage could spend their time at the bar to be out of the house.
Regardless of the specifics, if you drink to cope with stress or emotional problems, it won’t take long to become addicted to alcohol.
Does It Take Long to Become Addicted to Alcohol?
Again, it depends on the person and their drinking habits. But, when you drink to cope with life or self-medicate for underlying issues, you could become addicted quickly. This is because the brain seeks solutions to achieve a balanced emotional state—and alcohol is a quick fix.
In other words, when you allow stress to build up over time and then resort to drinking to cope, your brain reinforces this quick fix to balance your emotional state. This could take weeks, months, or even years to develop.
But, if you notice that you are prioritizing drinking over everything else or drinking alcohol is the only thing you have to cope with stress, then you need to reconsider your relationship with alcohol. Otherwise, you are going down a path that will inevitably lead to alcohol addiction.
How Do I Stop Drinking?
Quitting drinking is not always as easy as you might believe at first. Many people assume they can simply quit any time that they want to. And yet, they don’t. Usually, this is because they have used alcohol as a crutch and are fearful of letting go of their only coping mechanism—even if it’s unhealthy.
In addition, withdrawal symptoms make it difficult to stop drinking. These symptoms can be unpleasant and even deadly if your alcohol addiction is severe. That is why many people don’t quit for long when they try to stop drinking without professional help.
So, to stop drinking, you need to go through withdrawal successfully and then find better ways to cope with the underlying issues driving your addiction. First, you need to get into a detox program. That way, you can safely manage the withdrawal symptoms with the help and support of professionals.
After detox, you need to find new ways to cope with stressors. During dual diagnosis treatment after detox, you can learn more about the underlying causes of your addiction. Once you know the cause, you can start finding healthy coping skills so that you can give up drinking—for good.
Get Help for Alcohol Addiction Today
North Atlanta Behavioral Health can help you cope with underlying mental health disorders that drive your addiction to alcohol. We offer psychiatry, psychotherapy, and holistic approaches as well as dual diagnosis treatment options to help you overcome the primary issues causing your addiction.
Contact us today to begin your recovery from alcohol addiction.
