Is it true that you may be an alcoholic, not just an abuser, even if you don't have the "normal" habits?!
Answers: Even if you can go several days w/o drinking and don't have to have some alcohol in the morning to get over the jitters.
There have been studies that show that Alcohol effects the chemicals in certain individuals brains differently .
Which creates a true addiction......
Then there are habitual drinkers that drink out of habit...or boredom..
I guess the reason doesn't matter.Alcohol can be destructive if abused....but,it does explain why some people have physical symptoms to drinking and to withdrawal.
This is what is called binge drinking. It can be just as harmful.
Alcoholics do not necessarily drink every day. Some people are weekend alcoholics. Some symptoms are: not remembering what you did, change in personality, negatively affecting work or relationships, lying or stealing to get alcohol or money for alcohol.
I don't think so. I've heard this before from alcoholics. It reminds me of this guy who was on the street preaching and making judgments about people he doesn't even know.
Edit: I suppose if you have to have a drink when you are with friends. I suppose if you drink beyond your limitations. I suppose if other people say to you that you have a problem. If someone I didn't know says anything to me then I usually just disregard what they say because what do they know. I know myself better than they do. But if a friend were to say something or my husband then I would take it seriously and look at my life. I wouldn't be defensive or be in denial. I think someone with a problem would be defensive and deny.
If you ever really anticipate drinking before you do it, you're considered an alcoholic. If you don't have an alcohol problem it won't be that big of a deal when you drink. Even if you only drink once a month, but you're like " Oh I can't wait until the 15th, the 15th is gonna be so awesome, I'm gonna get so trashed" ... you're still an alcoholic. They told my mom that at her AA meetings...
Absolutely. Some alcoholics are bingers. I personally could go for long periods without a drink but when I drank it would be a 2 - 3 day binge and it was not fun, it was business. I never lost a job, rarely missed work but when I drank it was to get drunk, nothing social about it. It was awful. People seem to think that alcoholic's must drink everyday and that is simply not true. Alcoholism is not about drinking (that's a sympton of the disease), it is a thinking problem. We don't think like normal people, our brains don't function like normal people and it is the self talk that kills us.
I am in recovery and loving it but I know I have to be vigilante in how I think and recognize when my thoughts are alcoholic or normal. On bad days I laughingly tell people that "my brain is trying to kill me" and that's the truth.