Rainbowgirl128

"If you think you have a drinking problem/are an alcoholic, you most likely do/are?"

serenityqueen

Am I understanding this correctly? "If you think you're an alcoholic, then you probably are?"

I agree with that. I don't think someone who doesn't have an problem/addiction with alcohol would wonder if they do or not.

kj3880

Yes, it's true, you probably are if you wonder about it. there are exceptions to every rule, like hypochondriacs who think they have every disease, but if you don't have hypochondria, and if you are wondering if you are an alcoholic or an addict, you prolly are.

Love,

KJ

flutter

People who don't have a drinking 'problem' never wonder if they do.. they have no reason to think of it.

Rob B

Maybe it's the sign of a self reflective person trying to determine what their truth around booze is. Lots of people walk through the doors of AA, not all of them all alcoholic. I would suspect, that if someone was looking and wondering about this, then there probably was something worth investigating. I am not one to automatically suggest, If you are in a meeting of AA you are in the right place. An alcoholic properly armed with the fact about alcoholism can help an individual find their truth in a very short amount of time.

On a side note, everytime I go through the steps, I start off with the question Am I an alcoholic? I stay open throughout step one maybe I am alcoholic, maybe I'm not. By going through the Big Book and reconciling my experience with theirs I am able to find my truth. The practice of questioning and working with the path of consideration has been of value to me.

tiburon88

No I don't agree they just might be a heavy drinker.

tib

DayWalker

Personally I have always thought that was a bit of a weird statement every time I read it. Because if someone is asking themselves the question then there's obviously a reason why they are having to ask themselves.

Not to get off on a different subject but I perosnally don't see any difference between a "heavy drinker" and an Alcoholic. To me they are the same thing using different labels.

least

I was questioning my drinking long before I actually admitted the problem to myself. But yes, if someone's thinking about it they likely have problems with it cause normal drinkers don't question it, nor do they seek out recovery sites, imo.

Bamboozle

Same here.

Bamboozle

That's certainly true for people who don't have a problem, but there are those who do have a problem and it never occurs to them that they....well...have a problem.

Bamboozle

That's how I found SR.



I'm curious, Rainbowgirl. Are you simply curious as to what others think on this subject, or are you having doubts about yourself?

FightingIrish

I don't know...I thought I had a problem when I was 15, but it took me til the age of 35 to realize I had a problem. I sure wish I had heard that at age 15, even if it had been wrong.

yeahgr8

yeah i agree with that, holds true for other addicitions and problems in life too:-)

Rob B

There is a world of difference between a hard drinker and a real alcoholic. I am tired of discussing this concept in open threads as they always result in frothy emotional debates. I am done fighting anyone or anything.

If anyone would like to know the difference, feel free to pm me and I'd be happy to elaborate. (I'll give a hint, it's got a lot to do with choice, power and control).

shaun00

i know plenty of hard drinkers....

They can put away huge amounts of booze.....

But when things get tight.........or pressure from wifes.... they stop.

I believe that the alcoholic is a totally different beast from hard drinker..

RufusACanal

Yes

sarahmills

For me, if a person is always thinking of drinking alcohol on a daily basis, yes it would be considered as addiction.

gravity

My own experience:

As long as I rationalized my drinking as a "drinking problem" I believed that I could change my behaviour & learn to control alcohol. Actually, I used to think of myself as an "occasional heavy drinker."

It was all delusion. My drinking was "alcoholic" since I started (out of control, blackouts).

It finally got to the point where I just could not rationalize it anymore - I am an alcoholic. The obsession & the cravings. The three day benders. The swearing off only to drink again. The progressively worse drinking. Alcohol my #1 priority.

I'm sure that there are alcoholics that think they are problem drinkers just as I'm sure that there are problem drinkers who are wondering if they are alcoholics.

But honestly looking at my behaviour & mental state, the experiences of others, even the medical research - this was the starting point.

A question I often ask myself - am I rationalizing or seeing the truth?

navysteve

I don't think that is true. If you were to say if I think I have a problem with booze then most likely I do. I would say that is probably closer to true. I do not at all believe I am an alkie simply because I say I am. There is a test in the big book that I trust, even though it gets taken out of context often.

collinsmi

Rob hit the nail on the head. It's about lack of control. It's also true that alcoholics tend to deny their condition. I know I did, and for many years.