{"id":12737,"date":"2024-01-25T17:22:23","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T17:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=12737"},"modified":"2024-01-25T17:22:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T17:22:23","slug":"alcohol-overuse-causes-140000-american-deaths-annually-why-is-it-so-undertreated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=12737","title":{"rendered":"Alcohol overuse causes 140,000 American deaths annually. Why is it so undertreated?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“There is something that kills more Americans every year than drug overdoses<\/a>, than guns<\/a>, than car accidents<\/a>. It\u2019s legal, doesn\u2019t require a background check to buy, is widely advertised, and if you\u2019re 21, you can probably buy it at your corner store. It\u2019s called alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While cold beers, glasses of wine, and hard liquor cocktails are often treated as end-of-the-workday or weekend indulgences, alcohol is technically a psychoactive, addictive drug<\/a>, one linked to over 50 fatal conditions, including heart disease; breast, pancreatic, and stomach cancers; liver disease; hypertension; and stroke. It contributes to the death of 140,000<\/a> people in the US annually, making it one of the leading causes of preventable death<\/a> in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More and more research supports the conclusion that even light drinking \u2014 that is, less than 15 drinks<\/a> a week for men or eight drinks a week for women \u2014 can contribute to an increased risk<\/a> for heart disease and cancers. More recent medical recommendations in countries like Canada<\/a> have increasingly tightened, moving toward the idea that there is no truly safe level of alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the dose is the poison, and those who are at the greatest risk are those who consistently binge drink. This group suffers from alcohol use disorder, a condition where someone consumes excessive amounts of alcohol to the point that it impairs their ability to stop or control their use despite negative social, occupational, or health consequences. And that group is larger than you might think: more than one in 12 people<\/a> in the US have AUD [alcohol use disorder], and it\u2019s likely that figure underestimates the real breadth of the problem.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

” For those with a concurrent diagnosis of AUD and another mental health diagnosis, some form of therapy is often needed to treat both conditions. Mild AUD can be treated with a short mental health screening and intervention in a primary care doctor\u2019s office. Meanwhile, for those with more severe cases of AUD, further treatment \u2014 cognitive behavior or motivational enhancement therapy \u2014 could help.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-highlight\/2023\/11\/6\/23931877\/alcohol-use-disorder-leading-cause-deaths-medication-therapy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“There is something that kills more Americans every year than drug overdoses, than guns, than car accidents. It\u2019s legal, doesn\u2019t require a background check to buy, is widely advertised, and if you\u2019re 21, you can probably buy it at your corner store. It\u2019s called alcohol.
\nWhile cold beers, glasses of wine, and hard liquor cocktails are often treated as end-of-the-workday or weekend indulgences, alcohol is technically a psychoactive, addictive drug, one linked to over 50 fatal conditions, including heart disease; breast, pancreatic, and stomach cancers; liver disease; hypertension; and stroke. It contributes to the death of 140,000 people in the US annually, making it one of the leading causes of preventable death in the country.<\/p>\n

More and more research supports the conclusion that even light drinking \u2014 that is, less than 15 drinks a week for men or eight drinks a week for women \u2014 can contribute to an increased risk for heart disease and cancers. More recent medical recommendations in countries like Canada have increasingly tightened, moving toward the idea that there is no truly safe level of alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n

But the dose is the poison, and those who are at the greatest risk are those who consistently binge drink. This group suffers from alcohol use disorder, a condition where someone consumes excessive amounts of alcohol to the point that it impairs their ability to stop or control their use despite negative social, occupational, or health consequences. And that group is larger than you might think: more than one in 12 people in the US have AUD [alcohol use disorder], and it\u2019s likely that figure underestimates the real breadth of the problem.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

” For those with a concurrent diagnosis of AUD and another mental health diagnosis, some form of therapy is often needed to treat both conditions. Mild AUD can be treated with a short mental health screening and intervention in a primary care doctor\u2019s office. Meanwhile, for those with more severe cases of AUD, further treatment \u2014 cognitive behavior or motivational enhancement therapy \u2014 could help.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-highlight\/2023\/11\/6\/23931877\/alcohol-use-disorder-leading-cause-deaths-medication-therapy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1203,53],"class_list":["post-12737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-alcohol","tag-deaths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12738,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12737\/revisions\/12738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}