Ryan Lauterbach, Cameron Vander Wal
Ryan Lauterbach, Cameron Vander Wal
Mrs. Renaud
College Comp
1 March 2019
The Trap of Alcohol
I needed something. I needed alcohol. I needed a way out. Being only in my twenties, I
have been overtaken with the addiction of alcohol. This did not just happen overnight, rather
over my whole life. I started drinking when I was just in my early childhood, because I needed
something to cop with when I was depressed. Alcohol seemed to help at the time until it became
something I depended on. Without alcohol, the shakes and sweats would come over me. This
happened every time I didn't have a regular drink. I needed more alcohol to stabilize and
function properly (THE TRUTH ABOUT ALCOHOL page 1). People who are addicted to
alcohol usually have drank alcohol more than once. High school and college are prime ages for
kids to begin drinking heavily and become dependent on alcohol. This leads to a separation and
dysfunction of families. Sin has allowed alcoholism to take over society through temptation,
mental illness, family inheritance, and peer pressure.
Coping is normal today. People recover from difficult things that occur in their life with
help in today's society. Today people have found more ways to cope with sin other than just
alcohol. “The three leading causes of death among adolescents -- accidents, suicide and
homicide -- have all been linked to alcohol use” (Laurent). At bars and parties there is often
some type of alcohol present. Because alcohol impairs the ability to think logically, drunk
driving is not uncommon after parties. Drunk driving kills innocent lives. Fear and depression
can result in looking for something to suppress these emotions. Alcohol appears to be the
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answer until the effects become serious and suicide seems to be the best answer. Drinking
impairs your ability to think clearly. One may possibly be more acceptable to getting into a fight
or losing a temper, which in turn can lead to homicides. Mental illnesses have been known to be
more common among teenagers and younger adults today. Due to these illnesses, younger people
are more likely to want to feel good or to feel nothing.
Alcoholism is not only used as a coping mechanism, but another cause of alcoholism
could be from family inheritance. Research says “sixty percent of alcoholics have at least one
alcoholic parent” (tight pair of genes). Because of this, the child is raised having a mother or
father that is an alcoholic, which in turn influences the child for the worst. Alcohol has a way of
interfering with one's ability to maintain a stable behavior. To a child this can lead to horrible
behavior such as aggressiveness or even depression. Because of this, the child goes into a self
defense, which leads to the use of something to cope with. Alcohol is already present in the
house, because of the alcoholic parent, which makes this easy to get hands onto this substance.
Some ways of coping lead to depression. “Depression affects an estimated one in 15
adults (6.7%) in any given year. And one in six people (16.6%) will experience depression at
some time in their life” (Warning Signs of Mental). Depression can influence people differently.
The ways to treat depression are usually antidepressant drugs, but some people fall back on
alcohol. Depression can start in many different ways; in fact there does not have to be drastic
event to stimulate depression. Depression can be stimulated in perfectly good conditions.
Depression and anxiety can cause teens or adults to cope. Sometimes the stress and
anxiety become overwhelming. People like to escape from the stress of this world and drink their
pains away in hopes that these negative emotions will never come back. Getting drunk is just
another way to feel good in the moment, but rather in the end, drinking makes life worse. Instead
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of using alcohol or drugs, research has shown that naps or reading have been good and healthy
ways to escape the daily work, social, or educational lives. Or maybe just praying to God about
the issues helps most of the time. Alcohol is one of the worst ways to cope with mental illness
and starting with this might not lead to a happy ending.
Stress or anxiety can lead to being influenced by others. The human mind will do crazy
things when under pressure. Peer pressure is a big issue today because teenagers are always
being sucked in by what others think of themselves, this causes an adrenaline rush. Some
people have the capability to contain their energy, which comes from the adrenaline rush, and
maintain consciousness. The mass majority do not experience adrenaline rushes too often
causing a negative impact on their logistical thinking skills when adrenaline is pumping. Peer
pressure is mind over matter. Peer pressure can be dangerous because the peers/crowd can
manipulate anyone to do anything if given the right situation.
Peer pressure can also cause people to drink and drive or to make unhealthy decisions.
People can convince others to drive home or to do things that the normal and sober mind would
not attempt to. Alcohol doesn’t just make the body numb and high, it causes damage to the brain
and could possibly cause damage to someone else who didn’t deserve it. Alcohol also causes the
body to crave nicotine. So not only can the brain become addicted to the alcohol in but it might
also become addicted to smoking or other drugs at the same time.
There are many reasons as to why someone would begin drinking alcohol. All of these
causes can be treated prematurely before the mind begins to crave alcohol or other drugs. The
best thing to prevent addiction, is to create healthy habits. Getting healthy amounts of sleep and
eating a healthy diet are good habits to prevent alcoholism or addiction of any kind. Also, to
prevent mental illness, early diagnosis is important. Depression medication can also prevent
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addiction. Creating good habits and maintaining a healthy lifestyle early can prevent addiction or
other serious conditions later on in life. Alcohol is a trap that engulfs lives every day.
Work cited
"A tight pair of genes?" Psychology Today, May-June 1992, p. 16. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A12145441/GPS?u=5166pchs&sid=GPS&xid=455f1
1e1. Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.
Laurent, Jeff, et al. "Stress, alcohol-related expectancies and coping preferences: a replication
with adolescents of the Cooper et al. (1992) model." Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Nov.
1997, p. 644+. Health Reference Center Academic,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A20124895/GPS?u=5166pchs&sid=GPS&xid=9a0a6
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be2. Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.
“THE TRUTH ABOUT ALCOHOL, Real Life Stories – Effects of Drinking Alcohol
Addiction.” Foundation for a Drug-Free World, www.drugfreeworld.org/real-life-
stories/alcohol.html.
Warning Signs of Mental Illness, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/what-
is-depression.
