On the other hand, the research does reveal that people have different levels of biological risk, or trigger levels, for alcoholism. This means that if you drink enough alcohol often enough to reach your trigger level, you run the risk of developing alcoholism. Anyone can develop alcoholism. There is no single characteristic shared by everyone who abuses alcohol. An alcoholic can be any age, profession, ethnic group or social class.
Alcohol abuse can appear in several patterns.
You neglect people and events that don't involve drinking You use alcohol to relieve stress or sleeplessness. Since alcohol acts as a depressant on the central nervous system, it decreases one's judgment, control over impulses, and coordination. This makes drinkers more likely to be involved in arguments, violence, and auto accidents. In fact, alcohol is involved in half of all traffic deaths and one-third of traffic injuries, suicides, and crimes. Roughly 200,000 deaths each year are related to alcohol use.