Dr Richard Soper on Alcohol Addiction

I, Dr Richard Soper, believe that the United States of America is now experiencing an epidemic not visible to most people. Besides the current concern for opioid addiction, there is a far more common health crisis that we tend to overlook. The number of people getting addicted to alcohol is rising each year. The Surgeon General reported in 2016 that binge drinking is the most common form of drug use in the United States of America.

Alcohol use disorder or AUD is the pattern of alcohol use that involves issues in controlling an individual’s drinking, continuing to consume alcohol knowing it has harmful effects, having to drink more to get the same effect, and having withdrawal symptoms when an individual rapidly reduce or quit drinking. Drinking any alcohol becomes harmful when it poses health or safety risks or leads to other alcohol-related problems. It also involves binge drinking, which causes significant health and safety risks.

It has been reported that excessive alcohol use has become the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.A., affecting more people than diabetes, producing more early mortality rates than heart disease, and costs as much as having Alzheimer’s disease. However, since drinking alcohol is widely socially accepted, this issue is not as alarming as it should be, and the treatment for AUD has been lagging.

Data show that there are 34 million Americans who suffer from AUD, but only 7% of them are likely to seek help for their addiction. This data means that the rest of the Americans suffering from AUD struggle with a wide range of severe health risks as a consequence of their AUD, and they do not have proper assistance.

Many people do not know that there science-based approaches to treat alcohol addiction. Several medications and behavioral therapy help with AUD, yet treatment usually happens outside the medical system. What could physicians do to help their patients suffering from AUD? Doctors should identify risk factors, use quick and effective screening tests, express concern and offer help by prescribing medications and pointing them to support groups, and most notably, raise awareness both in the public and medical communities.