Do you view alcoholism as distinctly different from other forms of addiction?
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: east lansing michigan
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No in the sense that it's not like alcohol falls into one category while all other forms of addiction fall together into another category.
To people who are saying yes because for instance, quitting smoking was very different, I agree with that. Each drug is unique and produces it's own unique brand of addiction. All addictions to substances share certain commonalities though. Addiction is addiction, regardless of the substance but each substance has certain aspects which are particular to that substance.
One good way Ive heard this explained is that each drug produces its own type of euphoria and its own type of sickness that is the opposite of that euphoria. The sickness increases your craving for the euphoria. The drug cures the sickness that it creates.
Actually, alcohol is very addictive. Alcoholism is an enormous problem. Just because the majority of people aren't alcoholics, doesn't mean alcohol isn't addictive. There is no drug that addicts 100% of the population. Does that mean that the drug "not addictive"? no. addiction rates to alcohol are similar to those of other drugs.
When the doc says SSRIs are not addictive, its because they dont produce euphoria unlike many other drugs. You can still become physically dependent on them, but they are not quite the same as drugs which activate the pleasure centers of the brain.
To people who are saying yes because for instance, quitting smoking was very different, I agree with that. Each drug is unique and produces it's own unique brand of addiction. All addictions to substances share certain commonalities though. Addiction is addiction, regardless of the substance but each substance has certain aspects which are particular to that substance.
One good way Ive heard this explained is that each drug produces its own type of euphoria and its own type of sickness that is the opposite of that euphoria. The sickness increases your craving for the euphoria. The drug cures the sickness that it creates.
Originally Posted by Gottalife 
Complex question which most will answer according to their experience.
I am an alcoholic, I don't understand the first thing about drug addiction, the substances, the language, the motivations are all completely alien to me. So to me they are different.
But I know addict alcoholics who have experience on both sides and many of them would say they are the same.
I do know that it is esatblished medical fact that alcoholics are bodily and mentally different. They metabolise alcohol differently to normal folk and this is why the craving comes after the drink, not before, unless you've just woken up in the middle of a bender! lol.
What I also know is that mind altering chemicals of any sort - prescribed or street - are highly dangerous for me. My last bender started with a puff of weed. A drink was down my neck in seconds after that.
A few years ago I gave up smoking. Totally different ball game to alcohol. The cravings were an absolute killer. At one stage I went to my doc about how I was feeling. Ho said you are depressed you need some of these SSRI pills. No way said I, I'm in AA and we just pull our socks up! i.e work with others. Then he said "but these aren't like the old meds, they are not addictive". Well, neither is alcohol, to most people.
So while alcoholism, not drug addiction, is my problem and most medications for diagnosed conditions work just fine, I am very careful when it comes to anything mind altering.
God bless,
Mike.
I am an alcoholic, I don't understand the first thing about drug addiction, the substances, the language, the motivations are all completely alien to me. So to me they are different.
But I know addict alcoholics who have experience on both sides and many of them would say they are the same.
I do know that it is esatblished medical fact that alcoholics are bodily and mentally different. They metabolise alcohol differently to normal folk and this is why the craving comes after the drink, not before, unless you've just woken up in the middle of a bender! lol.
What I also know is that mind altering chemicals of any sort - prescribed or street - are highly dangerous for me. My last bender started with a puff of weed. A drink was down my neck in seconds after that.
A few years ago I gave up smoking. Totally different ball game to alcohol. The cravings were an absolute killer. At one stage I went to my doc about how I was feeling. Ho said you are depressed you need some of these SSRI pills. No way said I, I'm in AA and we just pull our socks up! i.e work with others. Then he said "but these aren't like the old meds, they are not addictive". Well, neither is alcohol, to most people.
So while alcoholism, not drug addiction, is my problem and most medications for diagnosed conditions work just fine, I am very careful when it comes to anything mind altering.
God bless,
Mike.
Actually, alcohol is very addictive. Alcoholism is an enormous problem. Just because the majority of people aren't alcoholics, doesn't mean alcohol isn't addictive. There is no drug that addicts 100% of the population. Does that mean that the drug "not addictive"? no. addiction rates to alcohol are similar to those of other drugs.
When the doc says SSRIs are not addictive, its because they dont produce euphoria unlike many other drugs. You can still become physically dependent on them, but they are not quite the same as drugs which activate the pleasure centers of the brain.
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 11
druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/graphs/DrugProp.GIF
I cant post links yet but i like this graph
I don't see the point of this discussion. I'm not an alcoholic/cokehead I'm an addict. Coke is easier to get than booze btw. Liquor stores dont deliver 24/7 365 lol.
I cant post links yet but i like this graph
I don't see the point of this discussion. I'm not an alcoholic/cokehead I'm an addict. Coke is easier to get than booze btw. Liquor stores dont deliver 24/7 365 lol.
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