Dry drunk?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2016
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Dry drunk?
I keep seeing that term here and didn't know what it meant. I googled it to make sure I wasn't one. Please take no offense but is it a real thing? How is it diffrent then somebody that really doesnt or isn't ready to stay sober?
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 56
Matt it is a real thing to many and the term is used frequently in the 12 steps. It's kind of like white knuckling drinking without fixing the core reasons you drink and the damage that it created in yourself and with relationships, ect.
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Join Date: Jan 2016
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At times I have many of those" symptoms" but I feel better each day. I can't behave like im drinking unless I am drinking. There's two of me😀The good one and the bad one. I believe addiction is a choice as well as how we behave sober. It has to be a choice for me that way I can choose not to drink.
Trudgin
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 6,348
The term when used towards another is judgemental and derogatory. I hear friends use it descriptively when sharing about a period of time in their own journey = self deprecating.
I hear it very infrequently in the rooms of AA - more so from newcomers here who are curious about the term which means not drinking but nothing else in ones life has changed and may in fact be living in misery.
I hear it very infrequently in the rooms of AA - more so from newcomers here who are curious about the term which means not drinking but nothing else in ones life has changed and may in fact be living in misery.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,429
Hi Matt
It's an AA term. It can be used like Sugarbear has...but it can also be misused or misunderstood in a negative, sometimes even hurtful, way - so I never use it and I suspect that's why Anna never does as well
D
It's an AA term. It can be used like Sugarbear has...but it can also be misused or misunderstood in a negative, sometimes even hurtful, way - so I never use it and I suspect that's why Anna never does as well
D
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
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The term makes me angry- the me who was a girl and teen and young adult whose mother was exactly that. You have to be in a really bad way for me to use the term to address or describe you. I consider it a very charged insult.
For general use, I use the phrase "emotionally sober" (or not) to describe/discuss behavior such as folks describe above.
*Shiver* at ever being a dry drunk myself.
For general use, I use the phrase "emotionally sober" (or not) to describe/discuss behavior such as folks describe above.
*Shiver* at ever being a dry drunk myself.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: San Diego
Posts: 94
Originally Posted by sugarbear1 
restless, irritable and discontent in sobriety? that may be dry drunk syndrome
also acting and behaving as if you were still drinking? (ie., angry, argumentative, and grumpy)
also acting and behaving as if you were still drinking? (ie., angry, argumentative, and grumpy)
Do your best
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 67,047
Originally Posted by sugarbear1
restless, irritable and discontent in sobriety? that may be dry drunk syndrome
also acting and behaving as if you were still drinking? (ie., angry, argumentative, and grumpy)
also acting and behaving as if you were still drinking? (ie., angry, argumentative, and grumpy)
Sorry but if you or anyone is saying you have never experienced any of the above then I say I don't believe that for a second
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
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I know this issue can get peeps hot under the collar but lets try and keep our cool.
It's very rare I see the term being used in a nasty way here at SR
Lets all remember - mutual respect
Dee
Moderator
SR
It's very rare I see the term being used in a nasty way here at SR
Lets all remember - mutual respect
Please Read! The Newcomers Forum is a safe and welcoming place for newcomers. Respect is essential. Debates over Recovery Methods are not allowed on the Newcomer's Forum. Posts that violate this rule will be removed without notice. (Support and experience only please.)
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SR
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Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: UK
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In AA, same as here, I don't tend to hear people use it to describe others.
It is a phrase I have used about myself at a phase when I thought I was working on my recovery, but actually I was just going to meetings, but not really listening properly or following any advice or suggestions from people there or here, not engaging in a personal plan of any sort. I was kind of just holding tight and waiting for things to change and me to 'get it' . Restless, irritable and discontent described me to a tee. My partner was convinced I was going to leave him, my boss thought I was going to completely crack up and sent me for counselling, and I went to bed every night praying that I wouldn't wake up the next day, and got up in the morning in tears that I had.
THAT was me at what I (now) consider to be my dry drunk phase. But it isn't a medical term with a specific definition, so it's obviously something others may disagree with.
It is a phrase I have used about myself at a phase when I thought I was working on my recovery, but actually I was just going to meetings, but not really listening properly or following any advice or suggestions from people there or here, not engaging in a personal plan of any sort. I was kind of just holding tight and waiting for things to change and me to 'get it' . Restless, irritable and discontent described me to a tee. My partner was convinced I was going to leave him, my boss thought I was going to completely crack up and sent me for counselling, and I went to bed every night praying that I wouldn't wake up the next day, and got up in the morning in tears that I had.
THAT was me at what I (now) consider to be my dry drunk phase. But it isn't a medical term with a specific definition, so it's obviously something others may disagree with.
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