2023-05-02 21:47:46
If alcohol is legal, it is considered a drug like any other by the medical profession. Its overconsumption can lead to cancer but also to mental illnesses. And it is all the more dangerous, as the addiction sets in insidiously. The point in the Dakar show of April 27, 2023.
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“Two glasses a day and not every day.” This is the World Health Organization’s recommendation for alcohol consumption. A moderate consumption which is however not without risks: “it just means that the risk is limited”, explains Dr Estelle Nataf, addictologist doctor. And consumption is to be watched anyway, she continues: “I think we have to get away from the image we have of the alcoholic person, it’s the one who drinks in the morning who has tremors, etc. This person, in fact, she has followed a whole path […]. It started with festive drinks and then more and more regular: a glass of wine, regularly in the evening, a beer regularly.
Because alcohol acts on the brain by causing a release of dopamine, a hormone involved in the brain’s reward system and which produces a feeling of euphoria. By associating this feeling of well-being with the ingestion of alcohol, the memory ensures that we repeat this behavior. But over time, this reward circuit is desensitized and less and less dopamine is released. It then takes larger volumes of alcohol to regain the feeling of euphoria.
However, alcohol has deleterious effects on health, it is also one of the main factors of cancer: “The three organs most affected by alcohol are the liver, heart and brain, explains Dr. Henri Schmitt, psychiatrist. At the psychiatric level, it will promote the appearance or aggravate almost all the psychiatric diseases that we know. Ultimately, alcohol can cause dementia, not to mention the role played by excessive alcohol consumption in car accidents and violent behavior.
It is all the more difficult to do without alcohol, as it is very present in our daily lives, whether it is a question of “party shots” or the cultural aura that surrounds the consumption of wine, in not to trivialize it. “There is a positive image of alcohol. In mainland France, for example, it happens that children aged 10 to 12 are given a taste of cider or champagne.
A trivialization that also leads to difficulty in identifying problematic behavior. “It is estimated that there is a delay in diagnosis of about 10 years”, notes Dr. Henri Schmitt. If in doubt about its consumption, do not hesitate to take stock with your doctor, he invites.
Depending on the case, treatment can reduce and control consumption, but sometimes abstinence is essential. “It’s a long-term job. indicates Estelle Nataf. It is true that for a large part of our patients who are unfortunately already at an advanced stage of addiction, abstinence is the only possibility, but with a different and often much more pleasant life than the previous life.”
The addiction center (Tel. 24 01 68) is located at 83 boulevard Joseph-Wamytan in Dumbéa, near the Médipole. Consultations, intended for those over 25, are free.
For those under 25, confidential and free interviews are offered at Déclic, 7ter rue de la République in Nouméa (Tel. 25 50 78).
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