I drink too much
 

for my own good, but don't care.

I rarely get drunk and Iwork hard. up at 6:30 every day. Treat family and friends with respect and have never been accused of belligerence.

I have goals and can't stand sloppiness or drunkenness.

Am I paranoid, or in denial?

How often do you drink and how much? I drink quite a bit to, but not so much as of late since I'm trying to lose some weight.


You know you have a problem when you can't stop.

I'm starting to find as I'm dealing with more stress that a scotch at the end of the day is like OMG I'm done.:D

I think one thing that you need to answer is drinking really a choice for you in the sense can you truly choose to stop drinking if you want. One the best ways to test this is try to stop drinking for a month and see how it feels. If you have an uncontrollable urge to drink then you may have a drinking problem otherwise it is simple a decision on how you want to live or not live as the case may be. One question I would also ask is do you ever drink and drive.

Sorry to hear that. Myself I probably don't drink enough. But I have very little stress,no job,and all the time in the world. If I do get into stressful times/situations I deal with it through the miracle of modern medicine.

Personally, I think habitual drug use is less offensive to your psyche than purposeful drug use.

When you find yourself using/ craving / wanting/ thinking / desiring of a drug during repeated emotional states I think it begins to get dangerous.

The problem is deciphering between the two uses without denial or bias.

Sounds to me like you're good to go. I wouldn't worry about it.
I don't have a drinking problem either- I can drink 36 cans of beer without barfing.:D

first address the reason you drink,then the amount. if you think it is too much then perhaps you already know this.

What makes you say that?

I find myself thinking about foods, candy, coffee, soda, desserts, cake, ice cream, candy - equally as much if not more than alcohol.

I think I have a problem with any food/drink intake, if that's the criteria.

I enjoy the heck out of a couple (2) ice cold beers and a Margarita. Just as I enjoy the heck out of a pot of coffee, hash browns, and fried eggs 'n orange juice.

The only thing I was ever addicted to has been tobacco - that (for me) was some mean stuff to stop using - took me years to get off the stuff.

Ehhh, its better than smoking.

Denial. If you worry that you may be drinking too much, you probably do. There is such a thing as functional alcoholism. I don't like being drunk, but adore beer. It's a food group. When I stopped working, I quickly realized that I'd have to start following some rules of my own, otherwise I'd be having beer for breakfast and not getting much done during the day. Try limiting yourself to two alcohol units a day. Two beers, two glasses of wine or two shots or mixed drinks. Follow this rule and then when you're out socially it's no big deal if you have 3 or 4 once in a while. I don't know how old you are, but once you reach middle age, if you still drink like you did in college, there's probably a problem. You can ruin your liver without ever appearing to have a problem.

I have had many beers with thief, and I can tell you guys that he can out drink me any day. :cool::D

Denial.

- Peter.

I wish I could drink more. I love wine with dinner. I must have very little alcohol dehydrogenase because just a couple glasses makes me loopy. I love those meals where all the courses are paired with flights of wine but you end up drinking at least a bottle and a half of wine. Too much.

I was over at thief's house last summer and he let out a beer burps that was so powerful it shattered out two windows in My Clk 320. :D

If one leaves the world of psycho-babble and step programs and such, the actual clinical definition of alcoholism is the best one, IMO. A person has become afflicted with alcoholism when he has episodes where he loses control over his consumption of alcohol to the point it takes him to places that he did not intend it to take him - jails and car accidents are the most common when it comes to actual drinking episodes - divorce court, getting fired, etc are the others that follow as a result of these episodes becoming more and more frequent and occurring closer and closer together as the disease progresses.

In addition, it is also marked by certain identifiable symptoms of psychopathy. Psychopathy is any condition where the sufferer breaks with reality. Alcoholics manifest this symptom in the form of denial. As alcohol abuse takes them to places they did not intend to end up, and leads to life consequences that did not intend to have, a person suffering from alcoholism always has a counter-explanation to why his life is becoming progressively worse. It is the actual killer mechanism in alcoholism.

Another psychopathic symptom is the inability to learn from the consequences of acute intoxication episodes. A normal person, who over-embibes and has a car accident or is jailed as a result, tend to do the same thing people who have been hit by cars when not looking both ways as they cross the street do, the next time they cross the street, a normal person tends to now look both ways, several times - he has learned from his bad experience. Normal people who have negative experiences with alcohol do the same - they watch their intake, arrange for designated drivers, etc. A chronic alcoholic, who acts like a person who has been hit by a truck that continues to wear a blindfold when they cross, exhibits true insanity in this regard. A person who has had multiple DUI's, divorces, job losses, etc because of alcohol, is, in a nut shell, f**king crazy to take another drink, yet he does - he has had a true break with reality.

If any of this describes you, you might want to check in down at the local AA.

That's the old way of looking at it. In truth, many alcoholics stop drinking for months on many occasions throughout their lives, and often times it leads them to conclude they are ok, and it's back on the merry-go-round. But the truth is, craving alcohol matters little and in truth only a small percentage of alcoholics suffer from heroin-like cravings, because alcohol addiction is not heroin addiction. Uncontrollable craving comes much, much later in the process of the disease. People conclude that that is what alcoholism is because the late-stage alcoholics stick out like sore thumbs, after their lives are already ruined. The alcoholic, and society in general, benefit much, much more if it is caught early before it reaches that stage.

Craving, for many, is not the problem. The real problem is what happens when an alcoholic starts drinking. People who are alcoholics, are alcoholics from the first drink they take. They simply react differently to alcohol, and they show symptoms of alcoholism very early on - it is only a matter of degree. As they get older, it gets worse.

For a normal person, one drink can lead to a fun night at the pool hall. For an alcoholic, he could have a fun night at the pool hall, or he could wake up in a drunk tank, or in a hospital after parking his car in a tree in Nebraska. The real problem is, he has no actual control over what happens to him the moment he starts drinking. It could be ok, it could be real bad, who knows. That's alcoholism. Craving or no craving, if the person's use of alcohol is marked by episodes of that nature, where the use of alcohol frequently leads to consequences the person did not intend - and as it progresses, those episodes get closer and closer together, until they become his day-to-day life. Modern therapy revolves around discovering if this process is at work - and discovering it early if possible, and then convincing the alcoholic that their only hope is to never drink alcohol again, which is the only known cure. If the therapist, or AA, cannot convince the alcoholic of this, there are only three other possible outcomes: jails, institutions, and death.

1 is to many,10 not enough.

I always liked the joke about the alcoholic who discovers a lamp, rubs it, and a genie appears and grants him three wishes. The drunk says "I'd like a cold beer!". A cold one appears in his hand, and as he drinks it, it magically refills itself. The genie asks him what his next two wishes are. "Two more beers like this one!" he says.

One interesting theory of the cause of alcoholism, which is still utterly unknown, is that the alcoholic continues to drink in an attempt to gain that control that he simply does not have, sort of a "it's got to be over the next hill if I just keep climbing" syndrome.

Man, all this talk of alcohol is making thirsty. Time for a beer.


(never until work is finished and I'm home for the night)

Behaviour
 

Interesting discussion. My dad was a serious alcoholic whose life was stunted in many ways (including his lifespan) by the disease. I drink a considerable amount on weeknights, late in the evening in front of a movie or TV program, but rarely any other time.

I tend to evaluate whether someone has a drinking problem by their behaviour. I have known people who were most definitely alcoholics, but whose behaviour while drunk was perfectly acceptable both in interpersonal relationship terms, and in their actions (no driving, for example). And they were able to function normally in their jobs, in fact one in particular went on to become a senior bank exec while maintaining a mind-blowing consumption pattern every night.

OTOH I have a friend who after four beers or so at the end of the day (this is Canada, so we're talking stronger beer) becomes argumentative, insolent, loud and verbally abusive to friends, his dog and sometimes even customers at his business.

Even when sober he refuses to acknowledge that this behaviour has cost him in terms of his business and his life in general. It's a standard story you'll hear at AA meetings: He has to drink because his customers are all stupid and place undue pressure on him (oh yeah, he's a mechanic) so this is all he can do to cope, etc. When drunk he constantly rattles on about how things used to be when he got into the trade, etc. etc. etc. He digs up the same, tired old stories over and over, in particular disputes where he has ended up at the wrong end. It's awful as when sober he's pretty much a great guy.

So whether you drink too much isn't just a matter of quantity, but quality.

Just my $0.02

My undergrad degree is in Social Psychology, alcoholics are kind of like the white lab mice of the psych business, they are easily available for study, and one of out ten people suffer some form of it so there is plenty to go around, and most Pysch majors, myself included, end up doing their internships in alcoholic treatment facilities because alcoholics are usually as poor as $hit when they finally end up in a nut ward or a rehab, so these facilities need all the free help they can get.

Your Canadian friend is a classic case.

Were the windows up or down at the time

They were up, and after the windows shattered I looked in my car and noticed that my stereo system was missing. :confused::confused::confused::confused::eek::D

So, since you are degreed in psychology, can I ask you why you believe alcoholism is a "disease?"

Your first post above described it as a disease. If it is a disease, then it must necessarily be contracted without the victim doing anything to contract it.

If this is true, can one get this disease by bathing in, but not drinking alcohol? How about thinking about consuming alcohol? Would one then be at risk by thinking about alcohol?

If you can possibly answer how this is a disease, are we then not also at-risk by eating Hostess Twinkies, Hostess Cupcakes? Or by thinking about consuming Hostess desserts?

I believe alcohol can be addictive, or an acquired disorder, but I do not believe it is a disease contracted because of consuming it.

I don't have a drinking problem, my dog has a drinking problem.

X 2!!!!!

Uh--are all diseases contracted by consuming something? Is spina bifida a disease? If so, then alcoholism can be a disease.

Uh--how is drinking alcohol is a disease?

I forget who said it but I always laugh at this quote:

Sobriety is good if taken in moderation.

I believe that almost all addictions are diseases.I also think that they are somewhat genetic.Most alcholics/drug addicts that I've known have had some kind of family history of addiction.My best friend is a doctor and we have had this discussion many times. I also think the potential to become an addict is in everyone.Then there are those out there that can't do anything in moderation.

I remember in my Psychology class (years ago) that having an alcoholic parent meant you are 4 times more likely to be alcoholic.

I always thought that seemed somewhat arbitrary. 4 times? why not 2 times? or 8 times? sounded like BS But hey aren't psychologists full of it?

Like I said in my other post and others said before me,it's a disease.My mother was an alcholic and we attended a lot of AA/Alanon meetings,I remember alcholism being referred to as a disease.High blood pressure,heart disease,respitory problems,and so on are all diseases and are all proven to be affected by genetics.That being said I think they were right in your Psych classes,how they determine the risk numbers are beyond me though.

My grandfather on my moms side was an alcoholic, although since then it hasn't shown up in the family. Still I'm careful.

It seems like a pretty simple statistical analysis; just ask a bunch of alcoholics about their parents and crunch some numbers.

I always thought this was a powerful song and video about alcoholism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRv0jVZtdbY

On a much lighter note. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjVfc8-Y7sQ

Someone should tell the sax player he's white. :D

Alcoholism is addiction to the chemical ethyl alcohol. Addiction is a psychiatric disease, that's why people are sent to treatment centers and to hospitals - where would you suggest we send them? It leads to death as surely as small pox. If you had read what I actually posted, the symptoms are psychopathic - alcoholics have distinct breaks with reality that do not occur in "the norm" of individuals, and while the rest of the world sees the individual's drinking problem for what it is, the alcoholic has a mental illness which manifests itself in he not seeing what is plain to those around him - that he has lost control of himself in regards to the use of alcohol. What exactly do you think it is, a moral failing of some sort? A weakness of character? I suggest you volunteer your time somewhere working with them, you will find out soon enough that alcoholics are very, very, sick people.

It is an area of intense debate. I tend to side with those who think it just looks genetic, because a parent usually has it - when it just might be that the parent is actually passing on a form of post-traumatic stress disorder and dysfunctional fatalism to his/her children by psychologically abusing them, or perhaps by changing their mental frame of reference in some other way. Alcoholics tend to all be "oh what's the use" people, it is a profound commonality. It is as if on some level convinced that life isn't really worth living. But I am still open to being proved wrong, and it turns out to be genetic, at least we could get some closure on all the moralizing over the issue. Much of the work being done on cocaine and heroin addiction is pointed to a possible genetic pre-disposition to it caused by the pleasure neurons in the brain being wired different from "the norm".

It is no accident that most of those who attain a B.A. in psych and never go into graduate work, become extremely successful car salesman.

Like I said, they are the white mice of the psych business, they have been analyzed a million different ways in a million different grad papers. We know that they have a much, much higher degree of anxiety than the norm. We know that they tend to have a much more negative view of the world, especially of their fellow man, and that they are much more likely to commit suicide and homicide than average. They also tend to have slighter higher IQ's as a whole, and that many of them suffer from blood sugar disorders, especially hypoglycemia. Contrary to most stereo-types, they are not mostly bums under a bridge, they actually are more likely to be the opposite - hard working stiffs, until they enter Stage III alcoholism, which is essentially a total loss of control over alcohol - they essentially lose the ability to be sober. At that point, they began to exhibit the lifestyles most of us associate with alcoholics- homelessness, severe brain damage ("wet brain") and various necrotic liver diseases. It's a $hitty way to die.

Your last sentence in the above post is what I was trying to put into words when I said that everyone has the potential.

Bill Wilson, the founder of AA felt that way. He said all people are alcoholics, it's just a matter of degree, and that at some point any person just drinks themselves over some imaginary line. I myself don't agree, because it occurs as such a distinct syndrome ( a group of symptoms that always seem to occur together - which points to some specific cause) but research in this area is still uncertain.

I second that motion. :D

I said that!! the last time we got drunk, remember? :D

Hey.

The existence of an alcoholism gene has been the subject of much debate. You can say that the child of an alcoholic parent is 4 times more likely to become alcohol dependent but environmental factors must play a role also.

Imagine if you lived in an alcoholic home and all you saw was people using alcohol to cope with life....it is only natural that you would then go on to copy that behavior and perhaps become alcoholic yourself regardless of any so-called genetic factor.

Sounds like you have talked to Werner Erhard, of the 1960s and 70s lol.
Do the Wiki on him and est and the Forum.

What a mess his life turned out to be, after telling everyone he had the secret to a happy life. Sued into penury by the IRS, smeared and vilified by his own children, who knows whatever happened to him. I remember back in the 70's his book was on every hippie's book shelf. I thought it was all a bunch of crap. Myself, I would describe myself as a an Adlerian, and also a bit of a Jung-ster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Adler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung

Jung had a direct role in laying the foundation for the current conventional "AA" style treatment for alcoholism:

Adler may have had the better diagnosis, that alcoholics and a variety of other social mal-adjustment diseases are all just one type of disorder he would call "an ego maniac with an inferiority complex:"

To the original poster> If you are an alky, and you decide to give up the booze> That would show that you have a huge set of nuts. As far as drugs are concerned> I believe they are there to keep Americans stupid.