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I'm a "full-fledged alcoholic." I go to AA and have for a little over 3 years now. It has worked for me. I haven't had a drink in those 3 years. I can't tell you if you're an alcoholic. I've seen AA members try to label others as alcoholic. Our AA literature tells us only I can determine if I'm an alcoholic. I personally stay out of other people's diagnoses. I'm not qualified to make that sort of determination. I never drank every day but it was getting more and more often. I could sometimes control my drinking but that control got harder and harder as time went on. It wasn't about how much or how often. It was about how I felt about drinking. I could never seem to control and enjoy my drinking. It was always one or the other. AA has no monopoly on recovery. If you're interested in AA, a good idea would be to attend a speaker meeting and see if their story sound similar to yours. If not, I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do.
This is pretty much semantics, though. One person's "heavy drinker" may be an addict. Another person's "heavy drinker" may not. "Heavy drinker" is subjective, not particularly universally measurable criteria.
Yes, semantics are at play here. It doesn't matter if a person is a "heavy" drinker, a "light" drinker, a "daily" drinker, or an occassional "binger." The key factor is: DO THE FEEL COMPELLED TO DO IT? If I am merely drinking in any amount, I can stop at any time. But if I stop and then still think about it every day and have to fight with myself constantly to keep myself from picking up a drink, then I am not "just" a heavy drinker. I have an addiction problem. People who are not alcoholics don't think about alcohol every day.
Obviously, laughably wrong. Not even going to bother to rebut this opinion. You even contradict yourself.
This is something I would have written when I was still out there, wanted to clean up, and wondered if beer counted as alcohol-lol
How much time do you have?
I can only think, reading the totally outrageously wack stuff people have written here, that this thread has made a few hard drinkers reflect on their own habits, and are now lashing out as a defense--To justify their habit to themselves. Don't worry, when you come around, AA will be there for you, too
So your argument consists of "You disagree, it means you're an alcoholic and won't admit it?"
Talk about laughably wrong.
It shouldn't be too difficult with a couple brain cells to rub together to realize that if you have it drummed into your head that you cannot control your drinking, that if you drink, you are not capable of stopping, then it is entirely possible that is exactly what happens, because you've come to believe it.
Like the old saying, "Whether you believe you can, or whether you believe you can't, you're right."
Millions of Americans who partied hearty in their youth simply mature out of the overindulgence, without going to AA, without teetotaling, without treatment of any kind. That is undeniable fact.
Yes, semantics are at play here. It doesn't matter if a person is a "heavy" drinker, a "light" drinker, a "daily" drinker, or an occassional "binger." The key factor is: DO THE FEEL COMPELLED TO DO IT? If I am merely drinking in any amount, I can stop at any time. But if I stop and then still think about it every day and have to fight with myself constantly to keep myself from picking up a drink, then I am not "just" a heavy drinker. I have an addiction problem. People who are not alcoholics don't think about alcohol every day.
Yep, loss of personal control over one's actions is a BIG signifier of all kinds of problems, not just addiction alone.
It shouldn't be too difficult with a couple brain cells to rub together to realize that if you have it drummed into your head that you cannot control your drinking, that if you drink, you are not capable of stopping, then it is entirely possible that is exactly what happens, because you've come to believe it.
Your stance is that if someone cannot control his or her drinking, it's only because he or she has let other people convince him/her that it is so?
Your stance is that if someone cannot control his or her drinking, it's only because he or she has let other people convince him/her that it is so?
My stance is they simply DON'T/WON'T control their drinking. If they end up in AA, they may become convinced they CAN'T.
That is the factor that leads to worse relapses. If someone believes they are doomed with a single drink, they keep drinking. Someone with faith in their own ability to control themselves is more likely to exercise that control and get back to abstinence or moderation quickly. Because they don't buy into powerlessness.
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I know, so many "undeniable facts" about "millions of Americans!"
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Originally Posted by thunkerkat
I think it's funny how many times I have read: "thats a fact!"
Yes, FACTS.
The disease model of alcoholism is increasingly outdated. Most problem drinkers CAN control themselves, if they choose to. And most end up making that choice, with or without AA.
Drinking excessively can cause serious health risks and is responsible for an average of 88,000 deaths every year. But the vast majority of such excessive drinkers are not alcoholics, according to new government data.
Nine out of 10 excessive drinkers are actually not dependent on alcohol, revealed findings within a study released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The study is one of the first national, multi-year looks at alcoholism among excessive drinkers, and debunks the assumption that most excessive drinkers are dependent upon alcohol.
Research from the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) indicates that about 72% of people have a single period of heavy drinking in their life that lasts on average 3-4 years, and then they may mature out of it.
The transition to adult roles typically involves ending formal education and beginning employment; becoming financially independent of parents; establishing new living arrangements (alone, cohabiting, married); and getting married and starting a family. All of these events are associated with declines in problematic alcohol use. For some young people, the first transition to adulthood, however—leaving the parental home, whether to attend college or not—often coincides with an increase in heavy alcohol use (O’Malley and Johnston 2002). This sidebar first examines how leaving the parental home is associated with increases in heavy alcohol consumption, and then looks at two transitions of young adulthood that are strongly associated with declining heavy alcohol use among young adults: marriage and parenthood.
An alcoholic has no internal "shut off valve" that tells him he's had enough. For me, as I get toward the end of the 2nd beer in a restaurant, my body says "you're full," and at that point I stop drinking it and switch to water (which I have no problem drinking more of). Forcing myself to finish the beer is like trying to swallow a second glass of milk after you've just had one: not impossible, but unpleasant.
But the key to whether you're an alcoholic is whether your inability to control your drinking causes you significant problems in life--do you risk losing a job due to too many hangovers? Losing a relationship because you say / do terrible things to those you love when drunk? Do you end up driving drunk or impaired, risking your safety or that of others?
My stance is they simply DON'T/WON'T control their drinking. If they end up in AA, they may become convinced they CAN'T.
That is the factor that leads to worse relapses. If someone believes they are doomed with a single drink, they keep drinking. Someone with faith in their own ability to control themselves is more likely to exercise that control and get back to abstinence or moderation quickly. Because they don't buy into powerlessness.
Yes, FACTS.
The disease model of alcoholism is increasingly outdated. Most problem drinkers CAN control themselves, if they choose to. And most end up making that choice, with or without AA.
Binge drinking in college is a huge problem, but, these kids aren't alcoholics. There is a difference and having lived with one who was I have seen the difference. The kind of desparate drinking doesn't come from enjoying being tipsy at a football game it is a deep seated illness. Most adult men don't enjoy peeing the bed every night and falling on there heads....waking up bleeding.....
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