Delta-type alcoholism: symptoms and treatment

These are the characteristics and symptoms of the delta variant of alcoholism.

Delta alcoholism is a pathology with a great capacity to damage people's quality of life; this is so, among other things, because it is difficult to detect its presence.

Those who develop this addictive disorder can spend a long time without being aware that they have a problem, and likewise, the people around them find it difficult to see the first warning signs.

Are there different varieties of alcoholism?

At first glance, it seems simple to understand what alcoholism is, at least from the theory: it is the addiction to alcohol, one of the most commercialized addictive substances and present in practically all human societies.

However, under this definition lies a very complex set of psychopathological disorders. And that is why, for years, many researchers have proposed a classification of different variants of alcoholism, many researchers have proposed a classification of different variants of alcoholism.. In this way, it is possible to cover the whole phenomenon of alcohol addiction without losing nuances by focusing only on the general concept.

The most accepted form of classification of types of alcoholism is as follows:

• Alpha type drinkers: in this case, the person tends to drink excessively as a way of managing the discomfort generated by an illness. It is not considered that in these cases there is a consolidated dependence that can be called addiction.
• Beta type drinkers: in this case there is no addiction either, the person drinks excessively as part of a routine of meetings and leisure social dynamics.
• Gamma type alcoholism: this is a type of alcohol addiction, and it has the characteristics of chronic alcoholism, with drunkenness and loss of consciousness, withdrawal syndrome and increased tolerance to the drug.
• Delta type alcoholism: this is also a type of alcoholism, and its main characteristic is that the person does not become very drunk to the point of performing socially inappropriate behaviors or losing consciousness.
• Epsilon (or periodic) alcoholism: this type of alcohol addiction is similar to Gamma, but in this case relatively long periods of time pass without excessive alcohol consumption.

What is delta-type alcoholism?

With what we have seen so far, you can already intuit what delta-type alcoholism consists of. It is a form of alcohol addiction in which there are no "peaks" of very intense consumption that generate a high level of inebriation.However, it is still a pathology with very harmful effects on physical and mental health. Here we will summarize its main characteristics.

1. It generates tolerance to consumption, but very little by little.

The person with delta-type alcoholism must consume more and more alcohol in order not to feel bad.The person with delta-type alcoholism must consume more and more alcohol to avoid feeling sick, but this increase of the minimum intake threshold grows relatively slowly.

2. There is hardly any "binge drinking".

In delta-type alcoholism it is relatively rare to reach a state of clear inebriation.. Therefore, from the point of view of others it is difficult to notice that this person has a problem with alcohol.

3. The person needs to drink constantly

The person with this form of alcoholism needs to drink frequently throughout the day, even in the evening.. This causes, among other things, their sleep schedule to be altered. In addition, the person can enter a state of irritability and general discomfort due to abstinence if, due to social activities, he or she cannot stop to have a drink.

Treatment

The delta-type treatment requires medical and psychotherapeutic intervention..

First, the detoxification phase is performed, in which the person is helped to go through withdrawal and let his body eliminate all the alcohol. Then, psychological treatment helps you develop skills and competencies in the following areas:

• Detection of thoughts that increase the risk of consumption.
• Detection of situations and social contexts that increase the risk of consumption.
• Management of the discomfort caused by the urge to have a drink.
• Development of new hobbies and projects that offer incentives beyond alcohol
• Improving self-esteem so as not to have to avoid problems related to guilt, shame, etc.
• Questioning dysfunctional beliefs that were fueling the addiction.

Looking for therapeutic support?

If you are interested in starting a treatment process to overcome an addiction, whether it is an addictive disorder with substances or one without substances (such as pathological gambling or pathological gambling addiction), please contact our team of professionals.

At CITA Clinics we specialize in providing coverage to patients with addictions from both psychotherapy and medicine, and we have a fully equipped residential module for short, medium or long term admissions. You will find us in our centers in Barcelona and Dosrius.