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Are you an Alcoholic?

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 55

Hey TS,

When I first read the article, I too thought about many friends who could easily be considered "severe". Isn't crazy how dependent people have become on alcohol to socialize. It was only a generation ago when alcohol was mostly present during special occasions (birthdays, weddings, Christmas, etc). Nowadays it is present anywhere anytime, especially on weekends. It has become part of the grocery list for many. Our younger generation see it as a normal requirement to socialize. Just look at some of the beer commercials on TV and the messages they send (young adults half naked dancing around with beer in hand enjoying the good life).

I agree with you TS, alcohol should be labelled the same way cigarettes are, and those tv commercials should also be banned like the cigarette commercials were.

Swig

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 345

Hi Swig Nomore,

Thank you for sharing the link. I too would have been classified as having a severe substance use disorder. Furthermore, I'm quite certain I have a number of friends that would also meet the criteria yet think they are just moderate drinkers. Personally, I really don't believe any amount of alcohol is "normal." Alcohol is a poison. You wouldn't eat rotten grapes or putrid grain would you?

I'm starting to believe that the concept of a certain amount of alcohol being good for you is simply propaganda put out by those who sell booze. Perhaps it's time to have alcohol labelled in much the same way as cigarettes are labelled. After all, there was a time when cigarettes enjoyed a reputation of having health benefits as well.

Profit doesn't care how many people it kills.

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 55

http://psychcentral.com/disorders/revised-alcoholsubstance-use-disorder/all/1/ I easily fit the SEVERE substance use disorder Swig

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 11226

Great discussion.

I thought I should share the term alcohol use disorder. The DSM 5 is published by the American Psychiatric Association. It offers a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders. They use the term substance use disorder instead of alcoholism. Check out this link from PsychCentral explaining the criteria for substance use disorder: http://psychcentral.com/disorders/revised-alcoholsubstance-use-disorder/all/1/

Ashley, Health Educator

Here to help :)

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 30

in my own POV, alcoholic is those who deal problems through drinking, not just once but always. And keep lying to themselves that they only drinking just for relaxation, or a temporarily flee in dark days of their lives. I admit, i am one of those, the moment i realized that i am an alcoholic is when i started to hiding bottles to my family. It sucks.

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1562

Here is from Alcoholic Anonymous:

In the preceding chapters you have learned something of alcoholism. we hope we have made clear the distinction between the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic. If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, and if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic.

**-***

The first part is the mental obsession (honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely), insanity that keeps the alcoholic to go back to alcohol knowing well, he/she can't drink safely. The latter part is the 'physical craving' (you have little control over the amount you take) that occurs after one takes one or two drinks.

An alcoholic may periodically be able to moderate, but slowly but steadily he/she will deteriate and always end up worse than before.

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1009

Hi swig,

That's a good question and I suppose it depends on who you ask. Based on my previous state, I behaved like the complete package for an extended period of time; binge drinker, alcoholic, obsessive drinking, etc, etc, a process that started in my teens and kept going for decades. So I guess that qualifies me to comment.....I'd say an alcoholic is someone whose primary maladaptive coping strategy to deal fear, anxiety, and stress is alcohol abuse due to a combination of trauma, under-developed life/ social skills, and whose dominant obsessive thinking patterns are negative and characterized by cognitive distortions, culminating in destructive lifestyle habits. It's a non-pemanent condition that can be resolved and is not a decease or permanent in nature.

All the best,

Dave

10 years ago 0 +0 / -0 55

I have been searching for a definition of Alcoholic, as I've been asking myself that same question "Am I an Alcoholic?" The best answere I can come up with is; "only when I'm drinking". The Medical News Today define Alcoholic as

A man or a woman who suffers from alcoholism - they have a distinct physical desire to consume alcohol beyond their capacity to control it, regardless of all rules of common sense.

Would be interesting to see how others here define it ???????

Swig

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