Can anyone else tell if someone is an alcoholic just by the look in thier eyes?
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Pa
Posts: 225
Can anyone else tell if someone is an alcoholic just by the look in thier eyes?
I have noticed that I can tell if someone is an alcoholic just by the look in their eyes. I don't care how long someone has been sober the insanity in their eyes never really goes away. I have noticed that I can tell "normals" apart from us this way. Recovered alcoholics still have personality traits and behaviors that "normal" people do not. I can just tell if someone is an alky by reading their body language. It is almost a 6th sense. I was just wondering if anyone else has noticed this as well.
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Pa
Posts: 225
Originally Posted by jdooner 
lol, you need some help man. Do you see a therapist?
I need help because I can spot the ISM's of alcoholism and you can not? I need help because alcoholics tend to have noticeable personality traits that most people do not have? Even in recovery they still tend show traits indicative of alcoholism. I have also noticed that alcoholics tend to have a certain look in their eyes that other people do not seem to have.
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: LA - Lower Alabama
Posts: 5,068
An active alcoholic, I can spot a mile away. If they have recovered no I cannot tell.
Just this past July 4th weekend, after several years of knowing a customer who is fairly far away (~40 miles) I ran into him at an AA function. Neither of us had any idea the other was an alkie or in the program.
Just this past July 4th weekend, after several years of knowing a customer who is fairly far away (~40 miles) I ran into him at an AA function. Neither of us had any idea the other was an alkie or in the program.
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 3,293
As far as I can tell, the people at the AA meetings with some decent sobriety time don't look or act differently that anybody else I'd meet outside the meetings. If I didn't see them at the meetings and ran into them somewhere else, I'd have no idea they are alcoholics.
Grateful
Join Date: May 2013
Location: NC
Posts: 1,763
I may notice some of the physical symptoms of an active alcoholic (if they have any), but I know plenty of "normal drinkers" that behave similar to those in active alcoholism. The only other way I would be able to tell is if they used specific recovery/AA lingo when talking to them. I would be interested to hear how you can distinguish a recovered/recovering alcoholic from a non-alcoholic.
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: WA
Posts: 891
I'm usually really good at picking ex-service types if I talk to them long enough. Somethings never leave us. People who have served in the military or police or are serving. Pick a recovering alcoholic in a room fill of people? No chance. Could be anyone.
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Laconia
Posts: 813
Don't know that much about picking alky's, except the ones I
met in the gin mills I drank with.
One thing alky's like me have a great eye for is picking Al-Anonies.
However, they seem to be good at picking us, too.
met in the gin mills I drank with.
One thing alky's like me have a great eye for is picking Al-Anonies.
However, they seem to be good at picking us, too.
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Ojai, CA
Posts: 137
"I don't care how long someone has been sober the insanity in their eyes never really goes away."
That made me almost spit my tea out....funny stuff. Not sure if you meant to be funny however, but made me laugh, going to share that with my fellow recovered alkies.
That made me almost spit my tea out....funny stuff. Not sure if you meant to be funny however, but made me laugh, going to share that with my fellow recovered alkies.
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Bklyn. NY
Posts: 1,859
My parents speak fluent Italian, but never taught it to me or my brothers because they wanted to hold on to the ability to have conversations in our presence without us knowing what they were talking about. Which was usually us. Because of this, I developed a keen sense for reading into people's body language. When people converse with me I'm unconsciously ultra sensitive to the way they're talking, their eyes, and all the rest of their body language. I think it comes from just generally be a sensitive person also.
I cannot tell if someone is an alcoholic or not.
Not by a longshot.
Some people can see auras. Some people have psychic abilities. Some people claim they can communicate with the dead. I'm usually skeptical of people who make those claims. As I'm skeptical of your claim... but who knows? Maybe you can do this. If I were you, I'd try to figure out a way I could test it to be sure. And I wouldn't go telling too many people that this was one of my skills, even if I were certain it were.
I cannot tell if someone is an alcoholic or not.
Not by a longshot.
Some people can see auras. Some people have psychic abilities. Some people claim they can communicate with the dead. I'm usually skeptical of people who make those claims. As I'm skeptical of your claim... but who knows? Maybe you can do this. If I were you, I'd try to figure out a way I could test it to be sure. And I wouldn't go telling too many people that this was one of my skills, even if I were certain it were.
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