Roisin

after reading the post about "Dry Drunks" I got to wondering is this caused by the years of alcohol addling the brain,or is it that a certain type of person is more likely to develop alcoholism.I read somewhere this quote "you can take the rum out of a fruitcake,but you're still left with a fruitcake."

suki44883

The term "dry drunk" (which I don't like) refers to a person who changes nothing about themselves other than quitting drinking alcohol. They still exhibit all the same behaviors as when they were drinking, but they just don't drink alcohol. Many people believe that in order to be truly sober, or in recovery, the alcoholic needs to address the issues that caused them to drink and seek to change bad behaviors.

The fruitcake analogy simply means that if a person is normally rude, abusive, or neglectful, etc., they will still be rude and abusive and neglectful when they stop drinking. Some friends/family of alcoholics think that if the person just stops drinking, the other bad behaviors will go away, too. Rarely is that true.

barb dwyer

Speaking from the inside out -

it's a personality long before it's a substance.

Cyranoak

It can also mean somebody who has not been a drinker, does not drink excessively, or at all, but frequently or often acts like an alcoholic in terms of behaviors. Not slurring words and stumbling, but the actual behaviors (for example, and this is a very short list, being a critical, controlling, manipulative ******* all of the time).

My daughter thinks I'm a dry drunk and nobody is more qualified to make that assessment than she is. It's why I added an AA meeting to my Alanon rotation. It is helping.

Take care,

Cyranoak