Payton

Hi everyone, I keep seeing this mentioned around the forum - can someone explain what the difference is between actually being an alcoholic vs drinking alcoholically? I'm new to all of this and this confuses me.

EXM6

I know when I was a substance use counsellor (HA), we didn't talk about it so much as being an alcoholic vs. drinking alcoholically and I'm not sure if what we talked about was the same thing you see around here... but we would talk about the difference between being a problem drinker vs. being an alcoholic. Problem drinkers were more described as being situational drinkers and not being so great with that. Maybe creating a few problems in their life in terms of their drinking but being able to get over that after the stressor subsided (like a death in the family etc.). Problem drinkers get their crap together after their stressor goes away, for alcoholics- it isn't that simple.

We also talked about the difference between misuse and abuse. Misuse was kind of like "ok, you're drinking A LOT but you're not effecting the many things in your life and you probably won't be doing this forever, maybe put down the bottle 6 out of the 7 days a week" and they're able to do that. Abuse was considered using it to cope... Wanting to feel the effects... Needing that buzz. Which you could end up doing being a problem drinker OR an alcoholic.

Like I said, I don't know if that's what people mean when they say that... If not, it's another thing to look at.

BillyPilgrim

I am not sure if there is a difference in the strict terms. Alcohol is an addictive substance, IMO if you are an alcoholic, then you are addicted

If you are drinking alcoholically, then you are heading that way

One thing I have found is don't get hung up over labels, that tends to prevent you being honest with yourself

I have a problem with drink. I don't drink now. Admitting to myself (that's the hard bit) and to those around me , that I was an alcoholic helped me overcome that.

I don't shout it out now, I just don't drink

BP

Sapling

I'm an alcoholic....That means I have the phenomenon of craving....Once I put alcohol into my body....It craves more. That's why I drank the way I did. One beer would lead to 20. I guess you could say I drank alcoholically.

JustARide

I'm still fairly new here and so I haven't really seen that used in terms of being something different from being an alcoholic. But, if I had to guess, I'd say that someone who drinks alcoholically, drinks to get drunk...sometimes overdoes it and might black out sometimes. But that can be different from being an alcoholic. Because I know people like that. If it's a party, or a get together with friends, or not much is going on...."let's drink and have a good time". But they don't spend their day thinking when the next drink is going to come. They put the bottle down when there is stuff to do or they have work the next day. And other than minor things, it doesn't really get in the way of their life. Like EXM6 said...a difference between what would be considered misuse and abuse.

Anna

I don't see any difference.

CarolD

I went from social drinker..to active alcoholism.
I never knew what day or which drink slid me into addiction.

If drinking is causeing you any problems...and
you continue to drink....you most likely have crossed the line.
It's not the ammount that matters ..it's how your mind and body are harmed.

Why not find a way to quit? It certainly has benefited me..

ReadyAndAble

I don't see a difference either.

I knew drinking was causing serious problems in my life. I knew my efforts to moderate had failed miserably. Those two facts were all I needed to know.

Easyrider

At a guess, I'd say drinking alcoholically would be drinking to get drunk with friends on a night out. If that makes sense. Then getting back to your normal life without any problems. We all know what alcoholic means.

Dee74

Sounds like semantics to me

D

LDT

I agree with Anna and Ready.... No difference. For me, it's just semantics.