wpainterw

Somewhere ( I can't recall where- "Senior Moment!" Sorry) I read a news story about a recent "survey" or "study" that concluded, after sampling lots of "data", that only a relatively small percentage of "heavy drinkers" are "alcoholics" and that they can be taught to drink "sensibly" by their doctors and counselors. My only reaction is, quoting Shakespeare, "What's in a name?" They can "study" and "classify" it all they want but what's really important to me is not what I "am", what particular pigeonhole I fit into, but what drinking has done to my life in the past and what giving up drinking has done for me in over a quarter of a century. As the Greeks suggested at Delphi long ago, "Know thyself". For me, the best "study", the best "laboratory", has been my life, what it has been, what it could have been and what it has become. If drinking makes life worse, then why not try giving it up?

W.

courage2

It's a study by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Most heavy drinkers are not alcoholics, U.S. study finds | Reuters.

There's no question that my own problem had progressed to alcoholism. I hope the study doesn't discourage any heavy problem drinkers from seeking help when they need it.

IMO, it really doesn't matter if you're a problem heavy drinker or an alcoholic -- if alcohol is a problem for you, you should try to minimize its influence on your life, and if you need help to get the results you want, you should know that you're not alone and help is out there in many forms.

Dee74

There's been a couple of threads on this

I said in one of them that this all reminds me of the teacher in Charlie Brown - wah wah.

I think we need to universally define heavy drinker and alcoholic first...and I don't see any universal agreement coming this way any time soon.

I'm happy for anyone out there who can be re-trained not to abuse alcohol...I just know I'm not one of those people and neither are the vast majority of folks I've met here on SR

D

least

I don't care what it's called. I'm just glad I gave it up.

Inchworm

Well, I sure as hell tried to be a normal drinker for quite a few years.

Soberwolf

Agree with the above comments

ubntubnt

I can only speak to my experience. I used to point to other heavy drinkers to justify my own excessive drinking. Convince myself that my problem was normal. As my problem got worse my friends changed to the point where now at least 50% are alcohol abusers. In my mind there is no classification any more other than abuser and non abuser. I was an abuser for 25 years and therefore I now quit.

silentrun

I love your threads Painter. I'm not sure when I crossed that line. I know I realized it way after I had. I went from a take it or leave it to can't get enough within 10 years. Just glad it's over with and I don't have to worry about what I am anymore because what I am is done.

Emily2002

I have struggled with the effects of alcohol for years... and I've turned to this board for help on numerous occasions. Alcohol is an on again off again problem for me, I've found. There are times I don't give it a thought and others when I find myself being drawn to it. I may not have crossed that proverbial line, but to get the results that I want... to be healthy and happy... I have to keep trying to abstain.

Full disclosure: When I'm doing well, I avoid coming here because I feel guilty. I only want to post if I'm "all in." I realize that right now, at least, I'm one of the lucky ones. I haven't lost everything to addiction, but I am not stupid enough to think I'm immune to the possibility.

I'm going to give the "all in" thing a try again. Even though I haven't overindulged in ages, don't drink every night, and haven't been having any problems... in my heart of hearts I know I'll be healthier for it. I know it's a depressant, and God knows I have a ton of crap going on right now.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've been on and this is kind of what I'd hoped to read tonight. Great thread.

Croissant

I think threads like these can muck with vulnerable minds. The bottom line is, heavy drinker...8 or more drinks per week for a woman. Yeah, that WAS me.

Then it progressed to alcoholism;

"Signs of alcoholism include an inability to stop or reduce drinking, continuing to drink even after it causes problems with family or work, and excessive time spent drinking each day."

Did I want to pull up my drinking when it was at 8 or more drinks a week? No.

So you see, I was still in VERY REAL and definite danger, when I was only classified as a heavy drinker. Articles like these are DANGEROUS as they lull the "heavy drinker" into a false sense of security, that their drinking can safely continue and they can still stop when they want to.

That is not the case.

Lance40

I think people concerned with labels around their alcohol use already have a problem or are in denial. I've been a "heavy drinker", "moderated" and been a "high-functioning alcoholic". During an earlier attempt at sobriety when I was active on these boards I would get irritated at threads that challenged the idea of "high-functioning alcoholic". This time around with hopefully a bit more depth I can see why it irritated me - it was an excuse to avoid admitting I was powerless over alcohol and that my life had become unmanageable with it. Today as part of my personal commitment to sobriety I wrote up a list of how alcohol affected my life and behaviours while I was merely a "heavy drinker" and "moderating" and it quickly became apparent that I didn't have much to crow about being "high functioning".

Tang

Re-reading the article on three news sources, the fact seems to remain the "heavy drinkers" still suffer health problems. The article exonerates no one. It's just a matter of how quickly you want to poison yourself.

Fly N Buy

I have read this a little more thoroughly this evening. I believe the results published by CDC are detrimental for newcomers debating with themselves regarding seeking help. See honey! I am not an alcoholic, so AA is out of the question. I am just a heavy binge drink who abuses alcohol! THAT's a relief.

But, the government in their wisdom wants to help us in that category. Raise prices ( sin tax ) and reduce access by limiting distribution. Thank goodness there is a solution.

Wait? Hasn't this been attempted ....

How bout this - let's triple the price of a bottle of booze. If someone still buys it - put them on the alcoholic list and scratch them off the heavy drinker list.

wpainterw

P.S. Incidentally, the Study defines "heavy drinker" as having more than 15 drinks per week if you're a man (or maybe having more than 15- whatever!) and more than 8 if you're female. That's more than two in the classic "cocktail hour", which was indeed the custom for all "adults" back in the 30's when I was young and drinking ginger ale. And it was not uncommon at all to have one or two before lunch. That comes to 28, twice the "heavy drinker" test. Say you're a broker or banker and do this customarily in order to "fit in" (maybe because it makes the clients feel better; feel that you're "normal"). And you start doing this when you get started in business. And this goes on for forty years or so and your body ages. And, when you get to retirement, assuming that you don't drop dead before that, you have maybe three drinks before dinner and two before lunch. That puts you up to 35 a week. Sounds like you're on the slippery slope and life is sure not what it "used to be" or indeed what it "might have been" had the whole process not been started to begin with and the government sponsored study doesn't seem to help one bit in focussing on reality. I remember the days with the oversize "old fashioned" or "martini" glasses and the cocktail shaker that mysteriously harbored a "dividend"!. Now suppose you're retired and decide to go for a drive out to get some "groceries". It's getting dark and or maybe the setting sun gets in your eyes. And you cross the double yellow line...


W.

foolsgold66

Just irritates the **** out of me that my tax dollars pay for this drivel. I watched the end of 60 minutes a few weeks ago, they had a 'scientist' on there carrying on about the amazing conclusion of his studies. Yes, folks, I know it's hard to believe, but dogs can learn the names of objects!

Ptcapote

Yes, this was me, too. It went very quickly in the end though. From a "heavy drinker" to a blackout alcoholic in about three years. In a way, I guess I am glad it went as fast as it did but, in another way, it is terrifying. No small reminder to me at all about what will happen if I am ever insane enough to pick up a drink again. If I went down that fast in 10 years and you pick right back up where you left off, no matter how much sober time you have? Yeah, that's a very fast train to nowhere good at all.

LNRich

you can be a heavy drinker and still not be an alcoholic. I know heavy drinkers that are not dependant of drinking to function. It's amazing to me.

Venecia

FG, my friend, I disagree. If solid research can help build better understanding of alcoholism and addiction, I think that's a step in the right direction. I'm not well-versed enough to know whether this particular study was good, although it's getting a lot of coverage. Notably, another poster -- one whose opinion I respect, as I do yours -- took issue with the methodology on the other thread in which it was discussed.

Perhaps, though, the keenest insight came from "Weekend Update" on SNL just a few minutes ago. The "anchor" said -- and I may not have this down verbatim, but I'm close -- that the study found "heavy drinkers can quit whenever they want. Which is what every alcoholic says."

While it was meant to get laughs, the truth in that observation tends to validate that we need to better understand drinking and addiction.

N3p3nth3

I love it! This is pretty much what I always told myself..."I can quit. I just haven't bothered to do it yet."

I posted an NPR story about this same study yesterday, and I have mixed feelings about how it was presented. That particular story went so far as to suggest that alcoholics are people who miss work and have other problems as a result of their drinking. In my mind there are also "high functioning" alcoholics who don't fit that description, and I think lots of problem drinkers are alcoholics in the making (I certainly was for years.) Drawing a solid line between problem drinkers and alcoholics seems problematic to me.

AdmimalBlueEyes

Joseph stalin drank quit abit, I remember reading someting that by kruschev that went as fallowed , " stalin would hold dinners every night , invatations were essentially orders, the diners would start around 9pm it was expected that guest would toast and drink at stalins pace, the diners ended around 2-3 am in the morning , leaving early was forbiden , and guest were still expected to work in the morning , most guest were required to diner with stalin several times a week, "
kruschev says many men who orriginally had no desire to drink eventually became alcoholics because of these forced drinking sessions , any ways I always thought this insight was usefull and meant to me that anyone could , under the right circumstance become a alcoholic,
of course not many of us were forced to drink by one of the most evil men in history , but still its food for thought