What is the difference between a problem drinker and a real alcoholic?
Guest
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 186
If you ask me, a problem drinker would be someone who maybe drink occasionally, but most of the time when they drink, alcohol has a negative effect on them, the may behave badly, get in to trouble, puke all over the place, or in other ways show signs that they don't mix well with alcohol. They don't however, have any dependancy on alcohol, physical or emotional, and they don't have the constant urge to drink more and more.
An alcoholic on the other hand, may behave like a problem drinker, but they may allso behave as if they handle alcohol very well and have no problem with it what so ever(high tolerance and habit). In reality though, they have a strong urge to drink more and more and never stop. Alcohol is the solution to all their problems and they have a physical and emotional dependency on it.
In the end, each person is responsible for their own actions. If you think you are an alcoholic or that alcohol is causing you problems, it's your decision what to do about it.
An alcoholic on the other hand, may behave like a problem drinker, but they may allso behave as if they handle alcohol very well and have no problem with it what so ever(high tolerance and habit). In reality though, they have a strong urge to drink more and more and never stop. Alcohol is the solution to all their problems and they have a physical and emotional dependency on it.
In the end, each person is responsible for their own actions. If you think you are an alcoholic or that alcohol is causing you problems, it's your decision what to do about it.
I looked like that holdin beer
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 627
Originally Posted by MrsKing 
To me, it doesn't matter. Whether technically I am a problem drinker or an alcoholic, alcohol was making my life unmanageable and screwing up my mental health to the point where I was pretty much just existing. The only answer was to quit drinking altogether. Labelling myself as a problem drinker or an alcoholic had nothing to do with it. Being told that you are a problem drinker, rather than an alcoholic (which was what my doctors told me - I had "non-dependency alcohol abuse") actually made it more difficult for me to quit, because it made it less serious. If I was just someone who abused alcohol, then wasn't I the same as everyone else? I knew so many people that could have been labelled 'non-dependency alcohol abuse' that I just thought it didn't matter. Well, I wish someone would have labelled me an alcoholic, because perhaps I would have done something about it sooner... but, that doesn't really matter, because whatever it is I am... I can't control my drinking and abstinence is the only way forward to me. Whatever I actually am.
I looked like that holdin beer
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 627
Originally Posted by gaffo
One reason I know that I am an alcoholic is because my entire reality was changed after six months of not drinking and not just because of all the physical effects of giving up a life time habit. My brain had been programmed.
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
The Big Book definitions are good enough for me. From that I can conlcude that the problem (hard) drinker can recover with human aid, a little therapy, some medical assitance, etc, they don't need AA or a spiritual program of action, but many of these are sent to AA by the courts etc for a bit of "group therapy". Many don't like it and who could blame them.
There may well be many classifications of problem drinkers but that is irrelavent to me. I belong to the third class of drinker in the Big Book, the type AA is designed for. I had gone so far over the line into alcoholic drinking that I was beyond human aid. In the end I had a simple choice, accept spiritual help or die. As an agnostic I had some problems with the "God thing" and my intellectual (I use the word very loosely) pride almost killed me. I learnt that I had an illness that only a spiritual experience could conquer. The problem drinker doesn't need all that stuff, but history shows that, prior to AA, nearly all real alcoholics died without it, apart from a few exceptions who had "vital spiritual experiences".
There is a world of difference between the "real alcoholic" and other types of drinkers.
There may well be many classifications of problem drinkers but that is irrelavent to me. I belong to the third class of drinker in the Big Book, the type AA is designed for. I had gone so far over the line into alcoholic drinking that I was beyond human aid. In the end I had a simple choice, accept spiritual help or die. As an agnostic I had some problems with the "God thing" and my intellectual (I use the word very loosely) pride almost killed me. I learnt that I had an illness that only a spiritual experience could conquer. The problem drinker doesn't need all that stuff, but history shows that, prior to AA, nearly all real alcoholics died without it, apart from a few exceptions who had "vital spiritual experiences".
There is a world of difference between the "real alcoholic" and other types of drinkers.
I looked like that holdin beer
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 627
Gottalife,
This BB quote is a stumbling block for me at this early stage in my recovery, because just like I obsessed about being a "problem" drinker, now I find my myself thinking maybe I am a hard a "hard drinker" and can drink in moderation some day, and be normal.
It sounds lame but I am really struggling with that.
Hard drinkers:
"Then we have a certain type of hard drinker. He may have the habit badly enough to gradually impair him physically and mentally. It may cause him to die a few years before his time. If a sufficiently strong reason—ill health, falling in love, change of environment, or the warning of a doctor—becomes operative, this man can also stop or moderate, although he may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need medical attention."
I hope I am not getting too off point on the OP thread- just let me know.
This BB quote is a stumbling block for me at this early stage in my recovery, because just like I obsessed about being a "problem" drinker, now I find my myself thinking maybe I am a hard a "hard drinker" and can drink in moderation some day, and be normal.
It sounds lame but I am really struggling with that.
Hard drinkers:
"Then we have a certain type of hard drinker. He may have the habit badly enough to gradually impair him physically and mentally. It may cause him to die a few years before his time. If a sufficiently strong reason—ill health, falling in love, change of environment, or the warning of a doctor—becomes operative, this man can also stop or moderate, although he may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need medical attention."
I hope I am not getting too off point on the OP thread- just let me know.
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
Hi MC,
I know what you mean. I would have loved to be a hard drinker, anything but a real alcoholic. I think they call it denial. But I am real glad now that I am an alcoholic. My hard drinking buddies, those fellows who could drink heaps everyday without any apparent problems, started dying in their fifties. heart failure, liver disease, etc. Not that that knowledge would have got me sober, I am just glad I didn't get what I wished for LOL.
Instead I got a life so much better than anything I could have imagined in everyway. Wife, children, career, business, travel, adventure, you name it....Those hard drinkers had a pretty boring time of it in comparison, and then they died
I know what you mean. I would have loved to be a hard drinker, anything but a real alcoholic. I think they call it denial. But I am real glad now that I am an alcoholic. My hard drinking buddies, those fellows who could drink heaps everyday without any apparent problems, started dying in their fifties. heart failure, liver disease, etc. Not that that knowledge would have got me sober, I am just glad I didn't get what I wished for LOL.
Instead I got a life so much better than anything I could have imagined in everyway. Wife, children, career, business, travel, adventure, you name it....Those hard drinkers had a pretty boring time of it in comparison, and then they died
Peace, Love, Sobriety
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Wilmington, DE
Posts: 1,549
I don't really see a difference between the two terms. I think everyone who starts off as a problem drinker eventually becomes alcoholic. It's only a matter of time before your body and mind become dependent.
sobriety date 5-2-12
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Midwest
Posts: 903
If alcohol is causing any problems in your life and that enough isn't reason for you to stop on your own- then you have a problem with alcohol.
I was never a daily drinker, but when I drank I would drink a weeks worth in one sitting.
I was never a daily drinker, but when I drank I would drink a weeks worth in one sitting.
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
What is the difference between a problem drinker and a real alcholic?
One drink...and I never knew which drink on what day slid me over..
Quitting was the best decision I ever made...
I hope everyone soon finds their way into a sober future.
Welcome...
One drink...and I never knew which drink on what day slid me over..
Quitting was the best decision I ever made...
I hope everyone soon finds their way into a sober future.
Welcome...
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Oxnard (The Nard), CA, USA.
Posts: 13,899
What is the difference between a problem drinker and a real alcoholic?
Both the hard drinker and the alcoholic can have the same problems with health, maintaining employment, family relations, legal issues and so on.
IMO a well rounded recovery program can be effective in treating both.
Then the difference in my opinion is very little where it matters most: identifying the problem (drinking at dangerous levels) and arresting it (seeking treatment).
IMO a well rounded recovery program can be effective in treating both.
Then the difference in my opinion is very little where it matters most: identifying the problem (drinking at dangerous levels) and arresting it (seeking treatment).
sobriety date 5-2-12
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Midwest
Posts: 903
I really shouldn't read these types of threads bc they set me back. I don't think I fit the profile of an alcoholic in the BB...yet I need AA and am benefiting greatly from it. I have no idea how to live life on life's terms. In my past I have been a pothead, pill popper, eating disordered, crazy drinker...and AA seems to be the first place in my life where I fit in and totally relate to everyone.
I've said before, it's hard to accept alcoholism when you are a binge drinker bc it wasn't a daily problem, but it sure was a problem.
I've said before, it's hard to accept alcoholism when you are a binge drinker bc it wasn't a daily problem, but it sure was a problem.
Its_me_jen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Salina, Ks
Posts: 8,547
I used the term 'problem drinker' when I was too far in denial to admit I actually was an alcoholic.
I really dispise the term 'real alcoholic'.
If you have a hard time labeling yourself, like most of us, then don't. Call it what you want .... but if drinking is making you miserable and you want to quit but you can't, please get help.
I really dispise the term 'real alcoholic'.
If you have a hard time labeling yourself, like most of us, then don't. Call it what you want .... but if drinking is making you miserable and you want to quit but you can't, please get help.
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