Types of Alcoholic...Which one are You?
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Types of Alcoholic...Which one are You?
The Department of Health has identified nine personality types of heavy drinkers who are at risk of liver damage and other alcohol-related illnesses. They are:
· "De-stress drinkers" use alcohol to regain control of life and calm down. This group includes middle-class women and men. The researchers said: "They typically have a pressurised job or stressful home life, which leads them to feel burdened with responsibility. Partners often supported or reinforced their behaviour by preparing drinks to help relieve stress";
· "Conformist drinkers" are driven by the need to belong and they seek a structure to their lives. They are typically men aged 45-59 in clerical or manual jobs. "They tend to have traditional values and attitudes, with regularly going to the pub being a core part of their weekly, habitual behaviour";
· "Boredom drinkers" consume alcohol to pass the time, seeking stimulation to relieve the monotony of life. Alcohol helps them to feel comforted and secure. "They are typically in the 35-50 age bracket and come from both genders, although the bias is towards women";
· "Depressed drinkers" may be of any age, gender or social/economic group. They crave comfort, safety and security. "Their lives are in a state of crisis and their drinking tends to increase steadily over the period of their depression. They tend to drink very heavily, often at home and alone, over extended periods";
· "Re-Bonding drinkers" are driven by a need to keep in touch with people who are close to them. They include men and women of all ages and social classes, who "drink most evenings as they catch up with different sets of people in their lives, including friends, family and partners";
· "Community drinkers" are motivated by the need to belong. They are usually lower middle class men and women, who drink in large social friendship groups, seeking stimulation and release from everyday life in the company of others. "If their friends are not in the pub in a particular evening, they would not stay on drinking";
· "Hedonistic drinkers" crave stimulation and want to abandon control. They are often divorced people with grown-up children, who want to stand out from the crowd. "They frequently drink to get drunk and could be doing this three or four times a week";
· "Macho drinkers" spend most of their spare time in pubs. They are mostly men of all ages who want to stand out from the crowd. But, unlike the hedonistic drinkers, they "want to control and be in control, albeit of others rather than themselves";
· "Border dependents" regard the pub as a home from home. They visit it during the day and and the evening, on weekdays and at weekends, drinking fast and often. "They have a combination of motives, including boredom, the need to conform and a general sense of malaise in their lives," the researchers said.
It helps to know what we are. NHS details nine personality types of heavy drinkers putting their health at risk | Society | guardian.co.uk
· "De-stress drinkers" use alcohol to regain control of life and calm down. This group includes middle-class women and men. The researchers said: "They typically have a pressurised job or stressful home life, which leads them to feel burdened with responsibility. Partners often supported or reinforced their behaviour by preparing drinks to help relieve stress";
· "Conformist drinkers" are driven by the need to belong and they seek a structure to their lives. They are typically men aged 45-59 in clerical or manual jobs. "They tend to have traditional values and attitudes, with regularly going to the pub being a core part of their weekly, habitual behaviour";
· "Boredom drinkers" consume alcohol to pass the time, seeking stimulation to relieve the monotony of life. Alcohol helps them to feel comforted and secure. "They are typically in the 35-50 age bracket and come from both genders, although the bias is towards women";
· "Depressed drinkers" may be of any age, gender or social/economic group. They crave comfort, safety and security. "Their lives are in a state of crisis and their drinking tends to increase steadily over the period of their depression. They tend to drink very heavily, often at home and alone, over extended periods";
· "Re-Bonding drinkers" are driven by a need to keep in touch with people who are close to them. They include men and women of all ages and social classes, who "drink most evenings as they catch up with different sets of people in their lives, including friends, family and partners";
· "Community drinkers" are motivated by the need to belong. They are usually lower middle class men and women, who drink in large social friendship groups, seeking stimulation and release from everyday life in the company of others. "If their friends are not in the pub in a particular evening, they would not stay on drinking";
· "Hedonistic drinkers" crave stimulation and want to abandon control. They are often divorced people with grown-up children, who want to stand out from the crowd. "They frequently drink to get drunk and could be doing this three or four times a week";
· "Macho drinkers" spend most of their spare time in pubs. They are mostly men of all ages who want to stand out from the crowd. But, unlike the hedonistic drinkers, they "want to control and be in control, albeit of others rather than themselves";
· "Border dependents" regard the pub as a home from home. They visit it during the day and and the evening, on weekdays and at weekends, drinking fast and often. "They have a combination of motives, including boredom, the need to conform and a general sense of malaise in their lives," the researchers said.
It helps to know what we are. NHS details nine personality types of heavy drinkers putting their health at risk | Society | guardian.co.uk
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Join Date: Oct 2008
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I certainly relate to hedonistic and boredom drinkers... A switch was thrown, however, where it wasn't just about heavy drinking for me... Or maybe the switch was always thrown.
There's a difference, but the Department of Health's treatise on heavy drinking was insightful, IMHO....
Mark
There's a difference, but the Department of Health's treatise on heavy drinking was insightful, IMHO....
Mark
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Join Date: May 2009
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The danger with booze as a drug is that it often causes the depression in which you self-medicate with more booze. Dangerous on so many levels. Hedonism leads to depression in which more booze is consumed to regain the hedonism which causes more depression and so more booze is needed, often combined with increasing amounts of drugs on top.
Me, I'm an alcoholic. There was never a time when I wouldn't have wanted to get smashed whether to increase my happiness or alleviate my sadness.
Me, I'm an alcoholic. There was never a time when I wouldn't have wanted to get smashed whether to increase my happiness or alleviate my sadness.
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: uk
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jeez how complicated can it get.....and i cant find the "wets the bed drinker"....lol
community drinker was the one i always wanted to be......its just my community ended up being all the other skid row ..alkies...
i just thought i was nuts.........then i read the doctors opinion in the big book.
community drinker was the one i always wanted to be......its just my community ended up being all the other skid row ..alkies...
i just thought i was nuts.........then i read the doctors opinion in the big book.
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
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Honestly, I stopped trying to read anything into why I drank and just got sober. I went back and dealt with why later. Once my head was clear I realized I drank to run away and I was ready to stop running.
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Join Date: Nov 2007
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I just liked the effects. But I've probably been all of those other than "macho drinker" at some point. I guess if you share traits with all those categories, which most drinkers probably will, then you have even more of a propensity for alcoholism.
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Join Date: May 2009
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[QUOTE=matt88;2341877]I just liked the effects. QUOTE]
Thanks for that Matt88, that is what hits the nail on the head for me, and something that seems so obvious but is very rarely mentioned and was one of the things I found difficult to be able to overcome to reach sobriety and accept it. I remember coming out of AA meetings after listening to everyone sharing about personality deficiits and the 'isms' or whatever they were going on about and I just thought to myself "man I just loved getting wrecked" Plain and simple.
It wasn't untill I reached the point where drinking brought far greater pain and angst than it ever did pleasure where I came to the comclusion of total abstainance.
Thanks for that Matt88, that is what hits the nail on the head for me, and something that seems so obvious but is very rarely mentioned and was one of the things I found difficult to be able to overcome to reach sobriety and accept it. I remember coming out of AA meetings after listening to everyone sharing about personality deficiits and the 'isms' or whatever they were going on about and I just thought to myself "man I just loved getting wrecked" Plain and simple.
It wasn't untill I reached the point where drinking brought far greater pain and angst than it ever did pleasure where I came to the comclusion of total abstainance.
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: scotland
Posts: 1,493
liked your post trucker! yeh,wheres the fall out with everyone,start a fight with the biggest man in the bar,wets the bed,sleep with anything in trousers,mental patient that has shaved her hair off and had all sharp objects removed from her house by the police drinker???? (to list but a few) lol.
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Here's how alcoholism typically progresses:
SOCIAL DRINKERS — Most Americans are characterized as social drinkers. Statistics indicate, however, that one of every 16 drinkers will become alcoholic.
WARNING SIGNS — The individual begins to drink more frequently and more than his associates. He drinks for confidence or to tolerate or escape problems. No party or other occasion is complete without a couple of drinks. Driving and drinking become routine.
EARLY ALCOHOLISM — With increasing frequency, the individual drinks too much. "Blackouts," or temporary amnesia, occur during or following drinking episodes. He drinks more rapidly than others, sneaks drinks and in other ways conceals the quantity that he drinks. He resents any reference to his drinking habits.
BASIC ALCOHOLISM — The individual begins to lose control as to the time, place and amount of his drinking. He gets drunk unintentionally. He hides and protects his liquor supply. He drinks to overcome the hangover from his prior drinking. He tries new patterns of drinking as to time and place of drinking. He attempts cures by moving to new locations or by changing his drinking companions.
CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM — The individual becomes a loner in his drinking. He develops alibis, excuses and rationalizations to cover up or explain his drinking. Personality and behavior changes occur that affect all relationships — family, employment, community. Extended binges, physical tremors, hallucinations and delirium, complete rejection of social reality, malnutrition with accompanying illness and disease and early death all occur as chronic alcoholism progresses.
Source: American Medical Association
SOCIAL DRINKERS — Most Americans are characterized as social drinkers. Statistics indicate, however, that one of every 16 drinkers will become alcoholic.
WARNING SIGNS — The individual begins to drink more frequently and more than his associates. He drinks for confidence or to tolerate or escape problems. No party or other occasion is complete without a couple of drinks. Driving and drinking become routine.
EARLY ALCOHOLISM — With increasing frequency, the individual drinks too much. "Blackouts," or temporary amnesia, occur during or following drinking episodes. He drinks more rapidly than others, sneaks drinks and in other ways conceals the quantity that he drinks. He resents any reference to his drinking habits.
BASIC ALCOHOLISM — The individual begins to lose control as to the time, place and amount of his drinking. He gets drunk unintentionally. He hides and protects his liquor supply. He drinks to overcome the hangover from his prior drinking. He tries new patterns of drinking as to time and place of drinking. He attempts cures by moving to new locations or by changing his drinking companions.
CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM — The individual becomes a loner in his drinking. He develops alibis, excuses and rationalizations to cover up or explain his drinking. Personality and behavior changes occur that affect all relationships — family, employment, community. Extended binges, physical tremors, hallucinations and delirium, complete rejection of social reality, malnutrition with accompanying illness and disease and early death all occur as chronic alcoholism progresses.
Source: American Medical Association
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Osaka Japan
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I identified with the Hedonistic type. Before I came across this information I was actually telling people that I was using because I wanted to abandon control. Due to my "all or nothing thinking" at the time, I felt that I need to completely relinquish control in order to enjoy myself. I now know differently. Thanks for all of the responses...It is helpful to gain a wide variety of perspectives.
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: The Plains
Posts: 149
I definitely started out as a community drinker in high school and college, and then moved to become a de-stress and finally depressed drinker by my 30s. I think my trajectory is somewhat normal at least for others I know that I have grown up with. In their teens and 20s they are cool "party people." Ten or fifteen years later they are drinking themselves to sleep every night. That was pretty much me, and thank God I am sober now. I recently found out that a person I knew in college (who was a heck of a drinker then, and continued to drink apparently) died of alcohol-related problems at the age of 37.
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