Bernardo Ruiz Victoria, Clinical Psychologist

FAQ

Below we provide answers to a series of questions related to alcohol consumption and its consequences for health and personal balance. This is not intended to replace the professional work of a qualified person.

If you would like any further information about our psychological treatment to stop drinking alcohol, or would like to discuss your personal case, you can do so without any obligation.

When can a person be considered an "alcoholic"?

We say that a person has "alcohol problems" when he or she continues to drink even though alcohol consumption is interfering negatively in his or her life, whether it be his or her health, his or her psychological balance, his or her work, his or her family life, his or her social image...

Are people born predisposed to alcoholism?

There is evidence to suggest that not all people react to alcohol consumption in the same way. However, this does not mean that alcohol dependence is determined by genetics.

Just as different people's skin reacts differently when they sunbathe, leading some to a nice golden color and others to burn at the same time, there are individual differences that make some people more sensitive to alcohol, and therefore more likely to develop a dependency.

However, anyone who drinks excessively can become addicted to alcohol in a short or long time.

¿Se puede curar la dependencia del alcohol?

Yes and No.

If we understand "healing" as the return to a situation like the one the person was in before having taken their first drink of alcohol, the answer is negative. Once alcohol has been abused and dependence has developed, there will always be physiological and behavioural alterations that will remain more or less latent in the individual.

However, with appropriate therapy, people can learn to live without alcohol in a completely healthy and balanced way. In other words, dependence can be overcome and the person can regain their freedom.

Since it is primarily a behavior that has gone from being a habit to being a dependency, psychological treatment is necessary to restore the person's ability to self-control in situations, whether of social pressure, emotional disturbance, or other types, in which they previously drank.

Is alcoholism a disease?

Alcohol dependence is, of course, a serious problem that affects the health of the person who suffers from it in the broadest sense of the word.
Furthermore, it is a problem that affects one of the essential elements of the human being: freedom.
The person who develops alcohol dependence loses his ability to decide whether or not to drink in certain situations, gradually losing self-control over his own behavior, in short: losing his freedom.
We can therefore consider it an illness, because it affects the personal balance of the person who suffers from it and of those around them, and because adequate treatment is necessary to recover from it.
However, it is not a common disease that can be "cured" by taking certain medications, by surgery, or by some other standard medical procedure.

What is "moderate" drinking?

Let's consider a "unit" of alcohol consumption to be the amount contained in a glass of wine, a beer, a glass of cava, sweet wine or sherry (approximately twelve grams of pure alcohol). Glasses of liquor: anise, whiskey, cognac, gin, etc. or mixed drinks of these drinks are equivalent to two "units" .

Various scientific studies establish the following maximum limits for alcohol consumption:

Sex Daily Limit Weekly Limit

Man 4 20

Woman 3 15

These data always refer to healthy people who have not previously had problems with alcohol and do not represent absolute assurance that one will not have health problems or develop alcohol dependence.

Every time a person exceeds these limits, they are subjecting their body to a negative effect that alters its functioning, and which can lead to the development of alcohol dependence, or other health problems derived from the toxic effect of alcohol on the human body.

Are all treatments the same?

Is it necessary to drink every day to be an alcoholic?

No.

Many people develop a form of dependency that manifests itself intermittently.

Sometimes the subject is capable of not drinking at all, perhaps for days or weeks, or even drinking moderately. But this does not prevent him from occasionally drinking in an uncontrolled manner and this brings negative consequences of all kinds.

No.

Over the last few years, different ways of addressing the problem have been developed, with very different characteristics.

It is one thing to enter a Detoxification Center and another to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous or Rehabilitated Alcoholics meeting.

Taking "Colme" or "Antabuse" is not the same as taking anti-anxiety drugs or naltrexone . Nor is undergoing psychoanalysis the same as undergoing acupuncture.

And all of these treatments are at the same time very different from the Victoria Program .

Before undergoing treatment, or recommending someone else to do so, carefully inform yourself about the characteristics of the working method followed by each entity, as well as the therapeutic results it has.

How can I help a family member who has addiction problems?

What symptoms may indicate that a person is abusing alcohol?

Below we show you some of the main and most common symptoms that people who have problems with alcohol present. The presence of any of them makes it advisable to consult the particular case with a specialized professional, such as those who make up the Victoria Program.

Physical symptoms

Drinking large amounts without getting drunk
Nausea or vomiting when getting up
Loss of appetite
Memory lapses (forgetting details of what has been done or said)
Slight tremor in the hands that is relieved by drinking alcohol
Elevated values for the Gamma GT enzyme or Mean Corpuscular Volume in a blood test.