These stories of transformation celebrate the organization\u2019s achievements and inspire continued support and involvement from the broader community. Therapy is likely to form a key part of rehabilitation, although there are some medications that might also be used to help mitigate cravings, like acamprosate, or to act as a deterrent to alcohol consumption, like disulfiram. In the most severe cases detox can be fatal without the proper clinical help and support. Delirium tremens are comparatively rare, affecting around five per cent of patients. However, without intervention and management it can be fatal, starting suddenly and relatively late in the detox process. Although alcoholism is a commonly used term, even among the medical community, it is not actually a clinical term.<\/p>\n
In part this is because the general understanding of the term is of addiction. Alcohol addiction is when an individual has formed a dependent relationship with alcohol. Now more commonly recognized as a disease, the addiction is actually formed by changes in the brain\u2019s neural pathways. In an addict the brain becomes habituated to the constant presence of alcohol, meaning that withdrawal can cause significant and unpleasant symptoms. While most addicts are a victim of their addiction, which causes them to seek the addictive substance, the potential severity of withdrawal means that some addicts will actively choose addiction.<\/p>\n