Is there a difference between these two?? Or is it just the same thing with a different name?
As i am coming up on 100 sober days i have been reading up a lot to reinforce my knowledge base, i see these two phrases come up a lot in the articles i Google........ not necessarily in the same sentence or section of the page, which makes me wonder if there is any difference between the two. A lot of the articles i read seem to describe these two separately, which is why I thought i would make a post and ask about it.
Can a person simply have a temporary high tolerance (physical) that goes away on it's own or returns to the normal range with a multi-week or multi-month break from the stuff? Or is it just another word for alcoholic? Are they mutually exclusive?
So far, from what i have been gathering on SR and from various random Google research i have the following generic and basic understanding of this whole alcohol thing:
Alcoholic 1. drinks with a high frequency, every day or every other day......... in some cases, all day long
2. drinks in high to very-high doses compared to non-alcoholic or "casual" drinkers
3. gets "heavily drunk" fairly frequently
4. has no particular reason to drink heavily or over-indulge, simply does it to get buzzed or to "feel good"
5. lack of control; they "just cant help" but to turn into the liquor store parking lot, buy another round, drink the whole box or bottle
6. subtle changes in behavior like hiding booze bottles, lying, deception, loss of motivation
7. drinking interferes with their life in some way, usually in a negative way
8. may experience or has experienced legal troubles or run-ins with "the law" involving alcohol in some way
9. hangovers and lack of energy are a regular thing
10. unusual amount of time spent thinking or obsessing about alcohol, "looking forward to" the next drink
11. when the alcohol is suddenly not available or taken away, they experience noticeable withdrawal symptoms
12. suffers from PAWS long after the initial break-up
Normal or "casual" drinker 1. drinks mostly during holidays like Christmas, special dinners like thanksgiving or business-meeting type dinners, Super Bowl party, or other special occasions like weddings and graduations........... might drink once a week at the MOST, usually on a Friday or Saturday
2. 1-3 drinks at the most when they do drink
3. only gets "heavily drunk" very rarely, once in a blue moon kind of thing....... typically these kinds of binges happen when younger or during college years
4. subsequent "heavy drinking" incidents are usually in response to a LEGITIMATE stressful/traumatic event such as divorce, death in family, loss of job, getting "wiped out" financially by a sudden downturn in the economy, etc etc etc
5. it is not a habit, maybe temporarily during younger/experimental years as mentioned above, but it does not continue once adult life begins
6. rarely experiences a hangover except maybe after one of those "heavily drunk" episodes
7. no constant 24/7 thinking about alcohol or "looking forward to it"
8. when alcohol is suddenly not available or is taken out of the picture, nothing happens
9. no long-term effects or symptoms
"High tolerance" drinker 1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
...
10. ???
Help me out with this SR, i am a little confused?
Perhaps someone can chime in on this and provide some clarification?
