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Um, no they're not. And I'll tell you why in a second.
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Originally Posted by imcurious
Some of them say that certain things "trigger" them to drink - that means their drinking is situational.
Then if that were true, all the alcoholic has to do is get their ducks in a row and then they can abstain... which turns into this thing we folks in A.A. call the mental obsession that we can one day control and enjoy our drinking like normal people, people who can drink alcohol with impunity. Ever heard of or seen an alcoholic who has been sober for 25+ years, gets retired, comfortable, settled in, no care or worries, no bills, etc., then out come the slippers?
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Originally Posted by imcurious
I know you see alcoholics as victims who have allergies - so no need to argue
That's insulting. Victims? Really? If I really thought that, I would condone folks just check themselves into a treatment center or hospital to get fixed, or just go to A.A. meetings and get institutionalized by meetings and become a head-nodding drooler and don't waste any time on those ridiculous steps.
Victim. That's rich. Truth be told, I know for a fact that alcoholics who both know that they are real alcoholics and also know that they really want to do something about it, aka go to any lengths to live and get sober, are anything but victims. In the book I follow, our greatest statement of hope in the whole book is this one, "So our troubles we think are of our own making." Where is victim in that statement?
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Originally Posted by imcurious
...and some of them have will power issues and lack of character issues
Thank you. I understand your misunderstanding of true alcoholics.
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Originally Posted by imcurious
that's just my take.
Fair enough.
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Originally Posted by NCN
It is not too many if a woman wants to get breast cancer according to a report I heard.
So do you believe that drinking a glass or two of red wine everyday will give a woman breast cancer?
What about the elimination of other activities (smoking) or addition of other activities (eating lots of green vegetables and other healthy foods, getting a lot of healthy vitamin C, b12, etc. and good exercise, sleep, sex, etc.)?
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Originally Posted by MOKAN
Nobody should drink every day. The typical recommendations are to go at least 2-3 days without drinking.
While we're playing doctor in here, could you state some sources on that? Thank you.
With regards to being an alcoholic, getting sober and staying sober and helping a very few other alcoholics to find a way to get and stay sober via the doing of the steps outlined in Alcoholics Anonomous, I speak only of my experience. So take my experience as fact or disgard it, makes no difference to me.
But to your comment, most folks won't even want to drink every day anyway. Aka, they don't need to be told by anybody to not drink every day. There are some non-alkies who do cross the line, like hard drinkers, but they can either back off on the amount or abstain totally, if given a sufficient reason... like health, job, friends and family, self-esteem, etc.
Where your theory falls apart, is that like "hard drinkers" who decide to "back off," alcoholics can also back off . . . supported by the sobriety some alcoholics attain.
We will have to agree to disagree - I base my conclusions on observations of many alcoholics.
I do admire those who get sober through A.A. or any other way.
Could you expand on how you think alcoholism is driven by serious emotional problems? Like with example scenarios or anything that will help me better understand your thinking. I tend to agree, so I'm curious.
It's just from my observations of the various people I know who are alcoholics. Some are super-sensitive people (highly sensitive people) and used alcohol to numb themselves - some are in denial about their own core issues and drink instead of dealing with their core issues . . . there are as many different emotional issue scenarios as there are people and alcoholics - they're all a little different in the way they manifest, but I think that they share the trait of not dealing with core emotional issues that are at the root of their need to medicate themselves.
To get back to the thread topic, I do believe many people are drinking way too much and I think it is a combination of being promoted as "fun" by the sports and college cultures - combined with the horrible realities in the world today. I think it's a quest to not deal with the horrors of the world.
The part I don't understand is why people continue to do things that hurt them (in other words, if you wake up with a hangover and feel like crap, most sane people would say "I drank too much and I'm not going to do that again. It's not worth it.") But these people seem to be super dense and don't get the relationship between not feeling well and actually making yourself sick and drinking.
I've been doing pretty much exactly 2 drinks of red wine a night, every night, for years (based on 1 'drink' of wine = 5 oz which barely fills the bottom of a glass. Sometimes I do wonder if its a problem but its been the same for years. I discussed it with my Dr. and she didn't seem to think so. Since she was pregnant and can't drink she actually said, have a glass of wine for me.
Still, I think I'll cut back to one or none on random nights, just because I'm getting older. It makes me a bit sad though. As you age every, even the tiniest vices and enjoyments seem to get taken from you.
She's not insulting. She just has a different take, one that I would imagine you'd be familiar considering your experience. Some people believe AA can have the effect of victimizing some in such a way that it enables them. I'm not going to go on to explain this, you can think about that angle for yourself.
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....While we're playing doctor in here, could you state some sources on that? Thank you....
No, I won't provide sources. You can look up the health guidelines yourself. This stuff should be common knowledge for anybody who has really looked into alcoholism, alcohol abuse, alcohol-related health, etc.
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....But to your comment, most folks won't even want to drink every day anyway. Aka, they don't need to be told by anybody to not drink every day....
You're right about that last part, but there's a little bit of AA rhetoric in how you said that, or in other words that's coming from the perspective of somebody entrenched in AA. There are health guidelines for drinking alcohol just like there are for anything else and they're there for anybody who is curious.
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. Sometimes I do wonder if its a problem but its been the same for years. I discussed it with my Dr. and she didn't seem to think so. Since she was pregnant and can't drink she actually said, have a glass of wine for me. 
