alcoholism or alcohol abuse...what's the difference?
Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Boston
Posts: 710
sounds like a lays potato chip commercial patsy, "betchya just can't eat one!
Thats my experience with alcoholism and my experience isn't up for interpretation.
Thank you for sharing your experience ****.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: QVB NYC NY
Posts: 620
lighten up patsy, i wasn't interpeting your experience, just sharing how i keep it simple.
i appreciate everyones opinions here and abroad on this disease, although i may not agree with them.
your experience was reatly appreciated patsy!
the names bill, ba ba o'reilley is just how i feel!
i appreciate everyones opinions here and abroad on this disease, although i may not agree with them.
your experience was reatly appreciated patsy!
the names bill, ba ba o'reilley is just how i feel!
Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Boston
Posts: 710
lighten up patsy, i wasn't interpeting your experience, just sharing how i keep it simple.
Have a great day ****
To Life!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Rhode Island
Posts: 9,293
Wow
Originally Posted by Peter
My long winded reply to the "Alcoholism Vs. Alcohol abuse" debate.
I NEVER ABUSED ALCOHOL.......I USED ALCOHOL TO ABUSE MYSELF.
I NEVER ABUSED ALCOHOL.......I USED ALCOHOL TO ABUSE MYSELF.
It is insightful and profound! A cause to pause.
Thanks for sharing that, Peter!
Shalom!
Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Anytown, USA
Posts: 1,019
One of the more common screeners for alcoholism is called the MAST (Michigan Alcohol Screenting Test)
http://128.83.80.200/mast/mast.qry?function=form
This may be a good start to start the dialogue about a possible problem.
Please note a screener is not sufficient to diagnose alcoholism, but it can provide a reason to look further. Some of the questions above are also a good place to start a dialogue.
*edit*
Meant to put this in a newbie thread that linked to this thread...but I'm going to leave the info in case anyone wants to check out the MAST.
-pedagogue
http://128.83.80.200/mast/mast.qry?function=form
This may be a good start to start the dialogue about a possible problem.
Please note a screener is not sufficient to diagnose alcoholism, but it can provide a reason to look further. Some of the questions above are also a good place to start a dialogue.
*edit*
Meant to put this in a newbie thread that linked to this thread...but I'm going to leave the info in case anyone wants to check out the MAST.
-pedagogue
Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: QVB NYC NY
Posts: 620
NO FAIR! ......Question 17 is a trick question!
**Q17 - YES/NO - Do you ever drink before noon?**
are you kidding? most days i didn't get up until 1:00 or 2:00, and then i'd take a nap!
Your score on the MAST is 41. .............. So I did good?
A score of three points or less is considered non-alcoholic, four points is suggestive of alcoholism, a score of five points or more indicates alcoholism. ..........5 points, phooey!
Your score of 41 is indicative of a problem with alcoholism. You may want to obtain an assessment from a professional in your area. .............Indicative of a problem huh, LOL!!
This is not a formal evaluation for alcoholism. Assessments for substance abuse problems should be performed by qualified, licensed practioners. The following link will help you find resources for additional information, evaluation, and treatment options in your area................i was assed by a qualified licensed practioner, my bartender! he asked me what i was worried about, then said.."You need a beer!"
now i'm here, happy, joyous and free from my addiction!
**Q17 - YES/NO - Do you ever drink before noon?**
are you kidding? most days i didn't get up until 1:00 or 2:00, and then i'd take a nap!
Your score on the MAST is 41. .............. So I did good?
A score of three points or less is considered non-alcoholic, four points is suggestive of alcoholism, a score of five points or more indicates alcoholism. ..........5 points, phooey!
Your score of 41 is indicative of a problem with alcoholism. You may want to obtain an assessment from a professional in your area. .............Indicative of a problem huh, LOL!!
This is not a formal evaluation for alcoholism. Assessments for substance abuse problems should be performed by qualified, licensed practioners. The following link will help you find resources for additional information, evaluation, and treatment options in your area................i was assed by a qualified licensed practioner, my bartender! he asked me what i was worried about, then said.."You need a beer!"
now i'm here, happy, joyous and free from my addiction!
Not the center of the Universe
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Orchard Lake, Michigan
Posts: 974
Well dang, I could only muster a 33 without lying to get a higher score. Hmmm, seems like I used to lie to get a lower score 
Guess I have a few yets left and I plan on keeping them as yets cause I have a great many more yets that lie in the opposite direction that I want to get to.
Guess I have a few yets left and I plan on keeping them as yets cause I have a great many more yets that lie in the opposite direction that I want to get to.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Georgia
Posts: 471
I love reading about alcoholism from a scientific point of view, to me it's very interesting, even though none of it really changes anything. Whether it's a physical disease or a personality disorder or poor impulse control, whatever it is, I still know from years of experience that for me to live any kind of normal life I have to completely abstain from alcohol and work on my spiritual and emotional and mental health, which I do by going to AA and working the steps, etc. I still love learning about it, though.
What makes me think that it was something I was just born with is that I drank to the point of blacking out from the first drink at about 12 or 13 years old. I was immediately obsessed with it and did all kinds of things to get it. I didn't start out a social drinker, it was a serious problem from the first drink on, though there were periods in my life when I did quit on my own or even cut down for a time. But it always came back, the obsession, and it seemed it came back stronger each time. My brother and sister grew up in the same house and had mostly the same experiences as me, but they had different fathers and neither of their fathers was an alcoholic and mine was. We never knew him, so it's not that we had drinking going on at home, but I had his genes. Niether of my siblings ever had a problem with alcohol or drugs, and no one in my family understands at all. It just makes me think that the allergy idea has some merit. My allergy to cats doesn't stem from some inner imperfection. Of course, I don't crave cats, either. Hmmmm. It's all a lot to think about. Great thread.
What makes me think that it was something I was just born with is that I drank to the point of blacking out from the first drink at about 12 or 13 years old. I was immediately obsessed with it and did all kinds of things to get it. I didn't start out a social drinker, it was a serious problem from the first drink on, though there were periods in my life when I did quit on my own or even cut down for a time. But it always came back, the obsession, and it seemed it came back stronger each time. My brother and sister grew up in the same house and had mostly the same experiences as me, but they had different fathers and neither of their fathers was an alcoholic and mine was. We never knew him, so it's not that we had drinking going on at home, but I had his genes. Niether of my siblings ever had a problem with alcohol or drugs, and no one in my family understands at all. It just makes me think that the allergy idea has some merit. My allergy to cats doesn't stem from some inner imperfection. Of course, I don't crave cats, either. Hmmmm. It's all a lot to think about. Great thread.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The land of the free and the home of the brave
Posts: 46
I'm of the opinion of others here: I cannot safely use drugs or alcohol, period. The origins, characteristics, etc., are purely academic and don't mean much, IMHO. That said, it is interesting to discuss.
In rehab they told me a few things that stuck with me. Alcoholism is a bio-psycho-social disease, and this fact is what makes it so confounding to get one's mind around (and for society to do the same, and makes it easy to bring morality and ethics into the debate, as far as society at large is concerned), in my view. There are many moving parts, so to speak.
Separately, I went to rehab on Long Island, which happens to be very close to Brookhaven National Laboratory, where they are doign some ground-breaking work in terms of studying the genetic, as well as physiological and neurological components of addiction. The scientist who came to speak to our group of 85 one day said that their lab had traced the disease down to a misfiring neuron in the brain. More specifically, the brain's P300 neuron misfires in addicts/alcoholics and this causes a predisposition to becoming an active addict/alcoholic. But is does not predetermine one's alcoholic fate, it is merely more likely that one will develop an active addiction if one has this misfiring neuron. That and $3.75 will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but maybe someone found it interesting.
In rehab they told me a few things that stuck with me. Alcoholism is a bio-psycho-social disease, and this fact is what makes it so confounding to get one's mind around (and for society to do the same, and makes it easy to bring morality and ethics into the debate, as far as society at large is concerned), in my view. There are many moving parts, so to speak.
Separately, I went to rehab on Long Island, which happens to be very close to Brookhaven National Laboratory, where they are doign some ground-breaking work in terms of studying the genetic, as well as physiological and neurological components of addiction. The scientist who came to speak to our group of 85 one day said that their lab had traced the disease down to a misfiring neuron in the brain. More specifically, the brain's P300 neuron misfires in addicts/alcoholics and this causes a predisposition to becoming an active addict/alcoholic. But is does not predetermine one's alcoholic fate, it is merely more likely that one will develop an active addiction if one has this misfiring neuron. That and $3.75 will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but maybe someone found it interesting.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: living in recovery
Posts: 75
I don't care for the intellectualising of alcohol abuse v alcoholic. I joined AA because I met the requirement of having an honest desire to stop drinking. It took me some time to actually admit I was an alcoholic and by the time I was ready to honestly admit it I no longer cared about wearing that label.
If I take a drink then I have no idea what will happen or where or how I will end up. Fortunately I have a few sober years behind me now. Years I would not have had if I had kept drinking. I doubt I would still be alive had I not learned to live one day at time and I learned the hard way, kicking and complaining all the way.
I knew that if I had to keep living my life with the consequences of drinking then I would rather not live at all. I had come to believe that I could probably not stop drinking. I also held a strong belief that there was nothing wrong at all with me, it was only the alcohol. The fact that alcohol was not causing those around me the problems it was causing me totally escaped me.
My first AA meeting found me so worried about who might see me walking in to that place. The insanity of my drinking didn't allow me to acknowledge how many people had already seen me rolling drunk.
I haven't been to an AA meeting for a long time now and am looking forward to participating in an online meeting on this great forum.
Thanks for bearing with me in my first post and I hope I am not out of line talking about myself here as my introduction to the forum.
If I take a drink then I have no idea what will happen or where or how I will end up. Fortunately I have a few sober years behind me now. Years I would not have had if I had kept drinking. I doubt I would still be alive had I not learned to live one day at time and I learned the hard way, kicking and complaining all the way.
I knew that if I had to keep living my life with the consequences of drinking then I would rather not live at all. I had come to believe that I could probably not stop drinking. I also held a strong belief that there was nothing wrong at all with me, it was only the alcohol. The fact that alcohol was not causing those around me the problems it was causing me totally escaped me.
My first AA meeting found me so worried about who might see me walking in to that place. The insanity of my drinking didn't allow me to acknowledge how many people had already seen me rolling drunk.
I haven't been to an AA meeting for a long time now and am looking forward to participating in an online meeting on this great forum.
Thanks for bearing with me in my first post and I hope I am not out of line talking about myself here as my introduction to the forum.
good to see a new member!
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