HBO Risky Drinking documentary - thoughts?
 

I watched it last night. Sober Recovery was listed as a support group (yeah!!)

Featured four drinkers on various points of the alcoholism scale - the gentleman featured in the end stage was heartbreaking. (Well they all were)

Some of the therapists talked about moderation management, and as I was watching with my husband I told him that would never work for me because I change as soon as I have that first drink and there is no "thinking through it" ha.

Have you guys seen it? I am pleased HBO produced it - it shows drinking in a very real way in all of its soul sucking horror, pain and misery - in the lives of two women and two men.

No I havent heard of it but thanks for posting as it sounds like an interesting doco.. Im interested to see the sliding scale of difference in alcoholism.. Many people would not class my drinking as a problem, i dont black out much, i go to work everyday, hold down a relationship, family etc but I feel the control it has over me & feel like im stuck and cant get out.. Its that questioning stage of am I an alcoholic? & if so, how much of one..

I saw it. Thought it was well done, especially the brain science part. Hard to watch at times. Son visiting drunken father was just sad.

The gentleman in the end stage at one point owned a successful business, managed people, had a family - the whole bit.

The young woman in the beginning of the doc is a late 20s single person with a job - she travels for work and binge drinks on the weekends.

The other woman is a divorced mother of two caught up in that "mommy needs her wine" crap with a collection of other women - their real point of relation appears to be using.

Give it a watch -

I need to see documentaries like this one, that show the grim reality of where alcoholism will take you. Right to the grave, if you don't act to take control of your life again.

Sad but effective in helping me ward off complacency.

MeSoSober - yes, absolutely. It was awful to watch them as a sober person and see that they were all basically good people getting completely ruined by alcohol. I recognized certain behaviors (crying, not remembering, isolating with the alcohol, shame) and watching it definitely shored up my commitment to total abstinence - and with a grateful heart.

That sounds interesting. Can I find it online? Any links?

Don't black out much? Social drinkers generally don't black out at all. Maybe try some controlled drinking. Try to limit yourself to only two drinks at a sitting. See how you feel. If you can't stop at two, or if stopping at two just makes you miserable, you may have something to think about. For me, I can't have even one. If I have one, I'll want 14. Just the way I'm wired. That's why I can't drink at all. Everyone is different. But do stay here on SR. We're all here for you!

The trick is to get it stopped BEFORE you can no longer do all those things you're currently successfully doing. (I sure wish I had.) The nature of the beast is that it tends to get worse over time.

Pretty sure you can only watch on HBO at present.

Risky Drinking l HBO Documentary Films l HBO

I can't do much digging on YouTube because it makes my computer crash, but there is this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL4gaBfrRLk

Risky Drinking
 

Hello

I also watched the HBO documentary Risky Drinking last night. I found it to be interesting and heartbreaking. I saw the four different perspectives/ stages of drinking to be a profound way to look at alcoholism and alcohol abuse. Many alcoholics seem to start out as young partying/ binge drinkers and often end up like the man in the late stages of alcoholism.

i'll have to watch it

I appreciate HBO doing it because alcohol is often presented as adult, sophisticated (wine snobs, a good scotch, etc), sexy and fun - the truth is so far removed from that, and it is time to see more reality in programming.

Even casual drinkers get sloppy and turn into poorer versions of themselves.

Darn, wish I could watch it but I don't have HBO. If anyone knows another way to see it, please post!

Thanks for the recommendation - going to watch it tonight!

I watched it. I found parts of it difficult to watch, especially like Maudcat said, when the son was visiting his father.

It showed drinking problems in a different light, not alcoholic vs. non alcoholic, but rather a continuum scale of risk, hence the title. I think that's a more realistic way of gaging a drinking problem.

I missed the part where SR was listed as a support, way to go SR !

At the end there are several recovery methods listed (just words) with AA being at the top of the list - when I saw Sober Recovery I cheered out loud haha

I heard about it from a fellow SR class member but I haven't seen it yet. Sounds like a must watch! Thanks for sharing :)

I didn't see it, but the descriptions here are sobering enough.
SR got a shout out? Very cool. I have no idea where SR fits in the hierarchy of what is considered successful or not.... all I know is that SR works for me!

I am seriously considering getting HBO trial just to watch this documentary. The problem with trials is forgetting to cancel them.