DayTrader

To me, they're night and day. To others, they're the same. To me, there are a lot of differences but not everyone agrees.

In the end, there is no RIGHT answer and, thankfully.......there doesn't need to be one.

sugarbear1

Alcohol Abuse and. Alcohol Dependence - What Is the Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and. Alcohol Dependence

Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse: Signs, Symptoms, and Help for Drinking Problems

just two links.

wheresthefun

No harm, no foul.

Sorry for the hijack.

augustwest

Well i care because for me there is a world of difference between abusing alcohol and alcoholism. And that difference became more apparent well after i quit drinking.

augustwest

The difference is vast, and i didn't truly being to comprehend how different they are until months after i quit drinking.

eJoshua

Alcohol abuse means the abuse of alcohol. Alcoholics are people that abuse alcohol in an alcoholic manner.

I think the more confusing nomenclature is "problem drinker" or what it means when someone has a drinking problem. To me that just sounds like a euphemism for an alcoholic.

wheresthefun

Fair enough, can you elaborate?

bayliss

Hey Josh,

Wanna further delve into what you said...this is interesting.
Abuse of alcohol - just binge drinkers?
Abuse of alcohol in alcoholic manner - because of physical dependance? Mental arguing back and forth between drinking and not drinking during a weekend or a night out? What other factors?

And I agree, it does sound like a euphemism for an alcoholic - the term "problem drinker"...when someone is to say "oh, so and so has a drinking problem" you think alcoholic.
The thing is, to me, back in the day, if I heard someone say "so and so abuses alcohol" I'd think the same thing.

Thanks!

2granddaughters

For me, and I believe you will come to the same conclusion soon, is that the "ISMs" come to light when the alcohol is removed.

I have been sober for quite a while and I attend meetings regularly because my life can still be unmanageable at the drop of a hat... no alcohol involved.

That is why the 4th Step is so important, and why I need Steps 1,2 and 3 to be able to begin 4.

Problem drinker vs. Alcoholic:
A) When the alcohol is taken away from the problem drinker, the problem goes away.
B) When the alcohol is taken away from the Alcoholic, the problem just begins.

Good luck.

Bob R

PaperDolls

Call it what you want -- if you want to quit drinking and can't, it's a problem. If you continue to drink despite negative consequences, it's a problem.

I would hesitate on creating a label for yourself.

It mattered to me when I was drinking because I KNEW if I called myself an alcoholic I HAD to stop. If I pretended I only occasionally abused it or was just a problem drinker I could keep right on doing it and blame all the stuff going wrong in my life on other people.

SOBERINNEPA

How many times have you heard someone in a meeting say, "I didn't want to come to AA because that would mean I was an alcoholic and had to stop drinking."?

bayliss

I'm definitely not creating a label for myself. I already know what I am and what my problem is.
I was curious because I thought - again - it was one and the same.

smacked

I've always thought of alcohol abuse as more acute.. alcoholism as chronic alcohol abuse.

ProblemDrinker

I hate the term alcoholic - it's so vague, and can be misleading. It's not a black and white issue, but PLENTY of shades of grey.

freshstart57

OP stands for 'Original Poster', the forum member who started the thread. In this case, OP means 'Bayliss'. You may know her.

Pigtails

I agree with this. I think it's a slippery slope, that at one point a rock-bottom alcoholic was an alcohol abuser, and before that, maybe a social/casual drinker. I think people abuse alcohol and then become dependent on it and then sometimes addicted to it.

To me, abusing alcohol signifies a problem. An unhealthy way of dealing with or not dealing with life and issues. If the person can stop abusing alcohol, great. If not, then they are addicted.

LDT

Semantics.

eJoshua

Well I do have to say that I think labels often cause more damage than good, but seeing as how humans (myself included) seem to have an innate need to categorize, here's how I view it in my head:

Abusing alcohol -- "Abuse" means to use something in a way for which it is not intended. I don't view alcohol as innately bad, but I do view getting drunk as morally wrong. That's just how my ethics work. So if you are someone like my mom, who used to have a drink every now and then with dinner (and subsequently stopped, btw, when I quit, as a sign of solidarity) but never drink to the point of being drunk then I would what you are doing is using alcohol in the way it was designed to be used: as a beverage to be enjoyed in moderation.

So if you are Joe Non-alcoholic, and you like to go out on the town every six months or so and get trashed I would say that you are abusing alcohol those days. I wouldn't label a person like that an "alcohol abuser" -- to me the term alcohol abuse refers to a singular event and not a lifestyle.

And just to be clear on another point, although I do assign a good and/or bad morality to the actions described above I don't view it as my place to judge anyone on how they deal with alcohol. If you don't agree with me and feel like going out every now and then and getting trashed is perfectly fine that's ok with me too. I don't have any interest in telling people how to think or what they should do. All I can do is share my own experience.

As far as the other term -- I left it ambiguous on purpose. It is kind of up to the individual to determine what alcoholic drinking entails. So there is no easy answer

I have personally decided to self-identify as an alcoholic because I think it helps people understand my past and what I deal with. It's a way of abbreviating what my experience has been with alcohol so that people understand my actions and reactions a little bit better. I also call myself an alcoholic because I think it is a way of reminding myself and identifying to others others that I view myself as powerless over alcohol and that I am not in denial of that condition. Whether or not anyone else chooses to identify themselves as an alcoholic is also none of my business and I try not to judge people either way. I can understand completely why someone would not want to self identify as an alcoholic if they are no longer drinking regularly.

In the end, I really don't think labels matter too much. I don't think there 'is' intrinsically speaking, anything as an alcoholic. You can appreciate the differences between two different species of animal in this world, but using labels to classify people based on their behavior is tenuous business and ultimately meaningless, IMO. What matters most is whether or not someone is going to continually abuse alcohol, and whoever is grappling with this in an addictive way ought to just focus on how to not drink and try not to rely as much on what they choose to call themselves.


All of this said with a big IMO, and I take no offense at anyone disagreeing with any or all of my beliefs.

OCDDan

I think OP = original poster, but who knows, anyways alcohol abuse, alcoholic, there's noone one this planet that can say they know difinitively. the reason is probably because they just plain don't know, everyone is unique and different, i bet half of the treatment center staff are "social drinkers" yea right... what is it, eighty percent of people drink, of them, seven percent are considered alcoholics, not sure where i got my info from, probably some media tv station, anyways..cause and effect will be different from different ethnic groups, so genericaly speaking, i can't say, cause that would probably be discrimintory. Someday, they could gauge your organs to tell you how you are doing alcoholically.. untill then, SR...

eJoshua

Dan --

Not to disagree with you, but your post got me to do a little digging out of curiosity and here's what I found on the Betty Ford website (admittedly, not an unbiased source):


Question: Are there many persons in the United States who don’t drink any alcoholic beverages?

Answer: Yes. It is estimated that about one third of this country’s population never drink alcohol. Interestingly, 20 percent of the population consumes 80 percent of all alcohol. More significantly, 7 percent of the population consumes 50 percent of all alcoholic beverages. That 7 percent represents those people who are victims of alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse.