Alcohol-Related Deaths in 2020

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Deaths from Substance Abuse in 2020

With about 18 million Americans suffering from alcoholism in the United States today, alcohol-related deaths in 2020 were on the rise, especially with COVID-19.

But death by alcohol isn’t the only risk of excessive drinking.

It can also cause a number of different health problems.

And with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people from being able to socialize, many adults are finding themselves drinking more than usual.

This is expected to contribute to an even higher number of people with alcohol-related deaths this year.

That is why talking about alcoholism, as well as ways to treat it, is more important now than ever.

Understanding Alcoholism

Alcoholism, also called alcohol use disorder, is a condition where a person’s drinking is having a negative effect on their physical or mental health. There are three main symptoms of alcohol use disorder:

• Having cravings, or a strong need or desire to drink.
• Not being able to stop drinking once you have started.
• Feeling anxious or moody when you are not drinking.

Another issue contributing to the number of alcohol-related deaths in 2020 is binge drinking. Once thought to be a habit of only college students, today the number of people who binge drink is on the rise. One recent study found that nearly 26 percent of people over 18 admitted to binge drinking in the last month.

Binge drinking is when a man has five or more drinks, or a woman four or more, within a few hours. This raises your blood alcohol level very quickly in a short span of time. While not everyone who binge drinks will become an alcoholic, it does put you at a higher risk.

What are the Effects of Alcoholism?

Drinking too much alcohol is dangerous, which is why alcoholism has many different risks. These risks can be both short-term and long-term. Short-term risks of alcoholism include:

• Injuries from things like a car accident, falling, drowning, or burns.
• Being a victim of violence, such as family violence, homicide, suicide, or sexual assault.
• Having risky sex, including unprotected sex or having multiple partners, which can put you at a greater risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease, including HIV.
• For women who are pregnant, alcoholism can increase their chances of having a miscarriage or a stillbirth. It also puts your unborn baby at risk of having a fetal alcohol disorder, which can cause learning, speech, and motor delays.

The biggest risks of alcoholism, and the biggest contributor to alcohol-related deaths in 2020, are the long-term effects. Alcoholism can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and liver disease. All of these issues put you at a higher risk of having a heart attack or getting liver cancer. Alcoholism can also cause breast, mouth, throat, and colon cancer.

What is Alcohol Abuse?

Many people like to drink alcohol as a part of their social lives, to celebrate occasions, or to relax after a long or stressful day. It is when people do not know when to stop drinking, or choose to binge drink, that alcoholism becomes a problem. Alcohol abuse is a pattern of drinking too much alcohol too often. This can be either when you are with others in a social setting, or when you are alone at home.

With quarantine and social distancing rules in place across the country, more and more people are finding themselves abusing alcohol at home. Alcohol abuse affects your personal relationships, your professional relationships, and your health. And if you drink excessively, you are at risk of suffering from alcohol poisoning. This is a medical emergency, and happens when your blood alcohol levels become extremely high. Without treatment, alcohol poisoning can be fatal.

Mental Illness and Alcoholism

Much like many other addictions, alcoholism often goes hand in hand with mental illnesses. Some people use alcohol as a way to try and treat the symptoms of their mental illness. Alcoholism has been found to cause many mental health problems, including depression, mood swings, anxiety, and angry outbursts.

Others may find that drinking in fact causes a mental illness. The most common mental illnesses that alcoholism can make worse are major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and antisocial personality disorders. Alcoholism can also cause learning problems, short and long term memory problems, poor performance at work or school, family problems, and even unemployment. All of these issues can worsen a drinking problem, and further contribute to alcohol-related deaths in the coming years.

How Do I Know if I Have a Drinking Problem?

Sometimes a person is not aware that they have a drinking problem, or think that they can stop anytime that they want to. But alcoholism can sneak up on you, and be more difficult to stop than you realize. There are some questions that you can ask yourself if you are wondering if you have a problem with drinking. These include:

• Do you end up drinking more than you planned to, or for a longer period of time?
• Have you tried to cut down on your drinking, or stop entirely, but found that you couldn’t?
• Do you spend a lot of your time drinking, or recovering from the effects of drinking too much?
• Do you often feel a strong urge to drink?
• Have you found that your drinking has affected your family life, work performance, or school performance?
• Have you kept drinking even when you knew it was causing problems in your life or was affecting your mental health?
• Do you have to drink more than you used to in order to feel its effects?
• Have you stopped doing things you once enjoyed so that you can drink?
• Do you have withdrawal symptoms when you aren’t drinking? This can include anxiety, depression, insomnia, irritability, nausea, restlessness, shakiness, and sweating.

If you can answer yes to two or more of these questions, then you might be suffering from alcoholism. The more of these issues that you have, the more serious your drinking problem is.

Treatment Options

As alcohol-related deaths in 2020 have risen in comparison to the years before, so have the number of treatment options that you can take advantage of to get sober. At Resurgence Behavioral Health, we have many years of experience in helping people like you to overcome their drinking problems. The first step is getting you detoxed from alcohol.

While the symptoms can be very unpleasant, we have both social and medical detox treatment options available to make detox as comfortable as possible. Next, we can focus on your treatment. Depending on how serious your drinking is, there are medicines available to help you to stop drinking and prevent relapse. All of our patients participate in counseling, which can happen in both group and one-on-one sessions.

By talking about your drinking, we can help you find patterns in your alcohol abuse, and give you the tools you need to avoid your triggers and stay sober.

Getting the Help You Need

The first step in your journey to overcoming your alcohol addiction is simple: Call us. At Resurgence, we pride ourselves on building an affordable, personalized alcohol rehab recovery plan for each client – without sacrificing quality. Our free insurance verification allows us to help you figure out exactly what your insurance will pay for.

We accept most PPO insurance as well as private forms of payment for treatment. We will also communicate with your insurance provider to ensure that you receive every benefit that you are entitled to. You can complete a simple form right from our website, or call us directly.

At Resurgence, we believe that environment is just as important as treatment. That is why our rehab locations are in peaceful neighborhoods, with plenty of open space for clients to take time to themselves as well as participate in our supportive community.

Our warm, sunny weather, as well as our nearby beaches and parks, means that, when you are ready and able, you can enjoy being outside. And our specially prepared nutritious meals help to support your total physical recovery.

While alcohol-related deaths in 2020 were on the rise, you do not have to become a part of these statistics. Resurgence Behavioral Health’s team of dedicated addiction specialists can help you with every part of your alcohol rehab recovery process, from detox to therapy, for a lifetime of success. Let us help you with all of the tools and resources that you need to overcome your alcoholism issues.