Someone who can't go for more than 24 hours...
... (many often even less)...
... without their 'liquid fix'.
... (many often even less)...
... without their 'liquid fix'.
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Someone who asks themselves whether or not they might be an alcoholic. It wouldn't even occur to anyone else.
Just remember...someone doesn't "become" an alcoholic. They already are. Even if they never take a drink in their life.
When you think you see someone "becoming" an alcoholic, it just means the disease is progressing.
Sometimes when people are young, like college students, everybody is partying and an alcoholic doesn't really stand out from the crowd.
But as time goes on and the disease progresses, it eventually becomes obvious that the person is an alcoholic. To those around them, anyway. They may be totally immersed in denial, which is part of the disease.
Just remember...someone doesn't "become" an alcoholic. They already are. Even if they never take a drink in their life.
When you think you see someone "becoming" an alcoholic, it just means the disease is progressing.
Sometimes when people are young, like college students, everybody is partying and an alcoholic doesn't really stand out from the crowd.
But as time goes on and the disease progresses, it eventually becomes obvious that the person is an alcoholic. To those around them, anyway. They may be totally immersed in denial, which is part of the disease.
Wrong. People CAN become alcoholics by excessive binge drinking.
The body has a certain enzyme that assists in the breakdown of alcohol. If a person drinks too much and reduces that enzyme to a certain point, they cease being able to process alcohol normally and then become alcoholic.
One of the reasons that many say "one's too many, and a thousand ain't enough". The lack of that enzyme is what sets up the craving.
Just remember...someone doesn't "become" an alcoholic. They already are. Even if they never take a drink in their life.
When you think you see someone "becoming" an alcoholic, it just means the disease is progressing.
Sometimes when people are young, like college students, everybody is partying and an alcoholic doesn't really stand out from the crowd.
But as time goes on and the disease progresses, it eventually becomes obvious that the person is an alcoholic. To those around them, anyway. They may be totally immersed in denial, which is part of the disease.
Just remember...someone doesn't "become" an alcoholic. They already are. Even if they never take a drink in their life.
When you think you see someone "becoming" an alcoholic, it just means the disease is progressing.
Sometimes when people are young, like college students, everybody is partying and an alcoholic doesn't really stand out from the crowd.
But as time goes on and the disease progresses, it eventually becomes obvious that the person is an alcoholic. To those around them, anyway. They may be totally immersed in denial, which is part of the disease.
It's a matter of dispute among the medical community whether it's actually a disease.
ANYBODY..that drinks in excess will become an alcoholic. Alcohol is addictive.
When i start looking for a new roomie again, I plan to word it very bluntly. "No drugs, no drug use and then coming in my home, no sneaking booze, no games.Been there, done that, know every trick in the book so don't think you can get away with it".
Just remember...someone doesn't "become" an alcoholic. They already are. Even if they never take a drink in their life.
When you think you see someone "becoming" an alcoholic, it just means the disease is progressing.
Sometimes when people are young, like college students, everybody is partying and an alcoholic doesn't really stand out from the crowd.
But as time goes on and the disease progresses, it eventually becomes obvious that the person is an alcoholic. To those around them, anyway. They may be totally immersed in denial, which is part of the disease.
It's a matter of dispute among the medical community whether it's actually a disease.
ANYBODY..that drinks in excess will become an alcoholic. Alcohol is addictive.
I don't think that will hold up. Many people drink to excess and never become alcoholic. And that is why I think it is a disease--a genetic or physiological deficiency in which even people who do not drink to excess can become alcoholic. It's just like most people can gamble responsibly with no problem and shrug and walk away when the money they have allocated for the activity is gone. Some people are predisposed to gambling addiction, however, and they can't do that. Gambling becomes a compulsive obsessive behavior over which they have little or no control.
An alcoholic is a person who doesn't know the meaning of self control. They say it's the first drink that gets you in trouble not the second, third or fourth but i don't think that's true. Self control is a big part of life that us human beings need to learn.
It's not about self control. It's EASY for a nonalcoholic to stop at one or two drinks. It doesn't take a lot of self control. Because they're not ADDICTED to alcohol.
That's another sign of an alcoholic...if you have to struggle to keep from drinking too much, you're probably an alcoholic. Nonalcoholics can take it or leave it. No big self-control needed.
It is a fact that many who start AA drop out. In fact most. Statistically the success rate of in house or outpatients treatment programs is pretty grim. As you illustrated, the alcoholic manages drinking through a clever web of deception, lies, manipulation, and pretense--whatever it takes to give him/her access and ability to alcohol. And yes, the alcoholic will have one drink or a half drink just to PROVE to others (or sometimes himself) that he is okay; he doesn't have problem; he can stop anytime he wants to. But he is already planning how he will get his next drink. He thinks about that next drink a lot even when he is not drinking. He arranges his life to make that next drink more accessible
Alcoholics are just like other people. Most are above normal in intelligence, sociable, personable, funny. Many never get a DUI or lose a job or a relationship because of their drinking. Or apparently because of their drinking. But they will drive drunk. Their work will suffer. Their relationships become as sick as their addiction because their loved ones will try to manage the alcoholic's addiction just as the alcoholic does.
The one thing that sets alcoholics apart from non alcoholics is that alcoholics are addicted. And like all addicts, the addiction becomes the number one most important thing in their life. Getting clean and sober does not cure the addiction. But it does remove it from priority.
Millions who do not get clean and sober from rehab/treatment or their first AA meetings, etc. do go on to get clean and sober later. The main advantage of rehab or AA or similar programs is that once the addict has been through them, they are much less able to lie to themselves about their addictions. Their addiciton will never again be as much 'fun'. And then you hear many success stories of people who eventually just quit on their own. But in truth, there is almost always a lot of history in that quitting.
In your eyes only, your opinion, what do you consider an alcoholic??
Someone who drinks every day??
Someone who drinks more than twice a week?? Someone who when they first wake up, they grab a beer??
Or is an alcoholic someone who maybe only drinks a couple of times per week, but they get so wasted, they pass out, forget where they are, miss work and end up sick for 2 days??
Just what is an alcoholic??
I'm a strange character in that respect. I drink when I'm on a mission......building or designing something........after the project is complete ? I lose all interest.
A quick way to diagnose someone as alcoholic is when they are physically and/or mentally dependent on alcohol as a way to make them feel normal.
Some who are physically addicted can end up going into convulsions if they quit.
Binge drinkers don't "feel right" unless they are celebrating (or mourning) something and they have a drink in their hand.
Basically, alcoholics drink because of something in their past that they feel pain over, and alcohol is the only anesthetic that they've found that works.
Which is why the 12 steps work so well, it gives you a framework to discover the truth about yourself and take appropriate actions to fix the problem (other than drinking).
I was a Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor for the U.S. Navy for over 8 years.
Oh please. The 12-Steps don't work any where near what it's hyped out to. Only about 5% of those who use it stay sober past the first year. About the same amount that do so without any treatment program what so ever. It doesn't teach you how to discover any sort of truth. All it does is get you addicted to a religion cult. If you were a Alcohol Program Advisor in the Navy, you probably lied to sailors about it not being religious "but spritual" and forced them to attend religious activities, which didn't do them any damned good.
They drink because of something in their past that they feel pain over?
You don't know what the hell you're talking about. We all feel pain over past events.
Feel normal? From drinking? Are you out of your mind? Binge drinkers don't feel right unless they're celebrating? WTF are you talking about?
I'm with the majority I think...an alcoholic is someone who's drinking causes problems and who knows it but doesn't/can't quit.
I'm not a person who thinks drinking alone is the hallmark of an alcoholic. I rarely drink any more and when I do, it's a couple of toddies late at night in my own house.
Anyone in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Otherwise..they are drunks.
But if they are in AA, doesn't that mean they are trying to get help??
And it could quite possibly mean, they can quit drinking, if they haven't already.
I knew of a man who went to AA for 10 years after he quit drinking, just to keep himself on the right road as he called it
A drunk is someone who just doesn't give a shit, who they hurt, themselves or others...no regards for anything else. Their drinking is the number one thing in their life.
I think if someone is going to AA, they might be considered an alcoholic at one time, but if they can totally quit, I think it can then be said they were ONCE an alcoholic, but not one anymore.
An alcoholic is a person who doesn't know the meaning of self control. They say it's the first drink that gets you in trouble not the second, third or fourth but i don't think that's true. Self control is a big part of life that us human beings need to learn.