What constitutes being an alcoholic?

[Guest]

 

[lavender]

 

[lobito]

an alcoholic is someone who has a problem, but thinks they don't.

 

[alexandraaah]

You can be an alcoholic and have no drinks a day.

It's usually a combination of family history and behavior. You don't need a history of alcoholism in your family to become one, but it increases the likelihood by about 80%.

One of the easiest, yet least scientific ways to determine this: when you go out drinking...and drinking...and drinking some more, most people will hit a point where they simply cannot stand to even look at another drink. Alcoholics don't have that point.

My best friend is an alcoholic. We could both drink copius amounts of alcohol for one month straight and I still wouldn't be an alcoholic and he will. Sad, I tell ya. It's a horrible disease.

 

[alexandraaah]

an alcoholic is someone who has a problem, but thinks they don't.

Sure, Lo, but define the problem. There are also a lot of people who think they don't have a problem....and they don't.

 

[Laurel]

I'm not sure if it's the frequency of the drinking as much as the relationship to the drink and how it affects your life. I read an article about Obsessive-Compulsives in which the reporter asked how you tell an O/C from a normal person. The doctor said something to the affect that if you wash your hands repeatedly during the day, but it doesn't make you uncomfortable, then you're not O/C. If the handwashing interferes with your ability to be happy, then more than likely you are Obsessive/Compulsive. I think that goes with all compulsions.

From the AA homepage:

Am I an alcoholic?
If you repeatedly drink more than you intend or want to, if you get into trouble, or if you have memory lapses when you drink, you may be an alcoholic.
Only you can decide. No one in A.A. will tell you whether you are or not.

http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/english/E_Pamphlets/P-24_d1.html

 

[notenufsx4me]

when you HAVE to have a drink.

when you start drinking and cannot stop with out getting drunk and/or blacking out.

when your day/night or anything else cannot work without a drink.

when any excuse is every excuse for a drink.

say hi to bill w. for me.

 

[freescorfr]

I'm an alcoholic and Luscious if your SO were an alcoholic, you'd be in no doubt. Alcohol would be the only thing in his life.

However, no alcoholic ever got there without a lot of work, so it's always worth checking that your consumption isn't in a state of constant growth. It can creep up insidiously.

On the other hand, if in the end you want RELIGION and the Dr. Doolittle effect, being a recovered alcoholic is a qualification.

 

[Laurel]

You can be an alcoholic and have no drinks a day.

Exactly. It's a personality issue. Before he died, my grandpa hadn't drank in 30 years, yet he still exhibited all the personality traits of an alcoholic. My dad's an alcoholic, and having been raised with one I can sometimes detect traces of alcoholism in personalities of people I meet.

Addiction is a human problem. Alcohol, pot, cigarettes, etc. may contain addictive substances, but addiction is a problem within us, not with the drugs themselves. Some people can drink and never become alcoholics. Some people are alcoholics before their first drink. This is important to realize because it affects the way we - and our legislators - should look at addictive substances and addicts. Criminalizing addictive substances does NOT stop addicts - it only penalizes the vast majority of responsible non-addicts.

 

[Guest]

 

[lobito]

Sure, Lo, but define the problem. There are also a lot of people who think they don't have a problem....and they don't.

then you didn't see my point in my post.

 

[alexandraaah]

then you didn't see my point in my post.

I did understand you...but you said people who *do* have a problem and think they don't.

I'm asking you how you define "having a problem."...and not just "thinking you don't." What exactly do you think it is that makes someone an alcoholic?

 

[freescorfr]

Duly noted...


But isn't ironic how judgmental a non-drinker becomes of a social drinker? I mean, if alcohol isn't the norm in your presence then when you see others with it in their lives daily... the first response is their an alcoholic! My SO has always never changed his drinking habits since I met him in 1995. I've never questioned his habits... they have never been out of the norm.

Laurel is absolutely right on this one
"The doctor said something to the affect that if you wash your hands repeatedly during the day, but it doesn't make you uncomfortable, then you're not O/C."
The hassle seems to be your mum's fear and it's probably important to confirm to her that you hear her fear, but also affirm that you have a very different position and that you do not accept that your SO has an alcohol problem.

And when you run away with me, Luscious, I have no problem with opening the champagne for you.

 

[angelika]

L. L. perhaps your mother is reacting simply because of the alcoholism she has experienced as an affected family member.
She may not be able to differentiate between an alcoholic and someone who drinks. Alcoholism is considered to be a family disease.

I have heard alcoholics as being described as people who don't have a drinking problem so much as a stopping problem.

It's not a matter of how much you drink but what drinking does to you. I have personally known people who could have one drink and their whole personality changes.

Anyone who is or has been concerned about a loved one's drinking is welcome to check out Al-Anon whether or not they are actively drinking.
They also welcome anyone who thinks that someone elses drinking may have affected them in any way.

 

[April]

Good question, Luscious. One I have been wondering about very recently.

I killed my first bottle a few days ago. Food for thought.

 

[Guest]

I am actually the case manager at the best residential AODA program in the country next to Betty Ford.

Everyone here has some great entries, so I won't step on any toes, but regarding frequency, that really has nothing to do with it.

It is all behavior. You would know.

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

 

[BrownEyes26]

There really is no way to measure alcoholism. There are those people who drink daily, and there are those who go on binges. Alcoholism is when the person cannot stop, even if he or she wanted to. Their psycholgical and/or physical dependence keeps them drinking. They may only "need" one drink a day or one a month, hell, only once a year. But they "need" that drink. I have known people who cannot stop after one drink, and those whose "shakes" or whatever, stopped after just one drink. Alcoholics cannot stop. Or they cannot resist.