Maybe, just maybe...I'm an Alcoholic.
This weekend happened to be my 26th birthday. And while I should be thinking about all of the fun that I had, there is only one moment being driven into my mind. “I think you may be an alcoholic.” That is right. I was called an alcoholic and I think it is time for me to defend myself.
When the term "alcoholic" is mentioned, various types of drinkers often begin to question their own drinking and worry if they fall into this category. Which is why I have been thinking about this…a LOT!! So, I’ve learned to classify drinkers into three categories. Social drinkers, problem drinkers, and alcoholics.
Social drinkers are those individuals who drink in low-risk patterns. Low risk drinking for females consists of no more than 7 drinks per week and no more than 3 drinks per sitting. For males, it consists of no more than 14 drinks per week and no more than 4 drinks per day.
Problem drinkers display clear differences between their drinking habits and those of alcoholics. When problem drinkers are given sufficient reason to cut back on their drinking (ie, have a negative drinking consequence, debilitating hangover, becomes a parent), they are able to self-correct and return to drinking in a low-risk manner.
Alcoholics may be given countless reasons to cut back on their drinking but they are unable to permanently cut back on their drinking. Alcoholics may have occasions where they drank in a low-risk manner, but they inevitably return to their old drinking patterns
To me, what defines an alcoholic is a person's relationship to alcohol and not how they appear to the outside world in terms of their personal or professional life.
So in conclusion…do I think that I am an alcoholic? No. Do I think that when I do drink to get drunk that I am a binge drinker? Yes. But maybe drinking 9 days out of 226 does make me an alcoholic in someones eyes. Even if out of those nine days, 5 of them were less less than 2 drinks. So if celebrating my birthday and having a grand ol time makes me an alcoholic then to that I say, "Cheers."
When the term "alcoholic" is mentioned, various types of drinkers often begin to question their own drinking and worry if they fall into this category. Which is why I have been thinking about this…a LOT!! So, I’ve learned to classify drinkers into three categories. Social drinkers, problem drinkers, and alcoholics.
Social drinkers are those individuals who drink in low-risk patterns. Low risk drinking for females consists of no more than 7 drinks per week and no more than 3 drinks per sitting. For males, it consists of no more than 14 drinks per week and no more than 4 drinks per day.
Problem drinkers display clear differences between their drinking habits and those of alcoholics. When problem drinkers are given sufficient reason to cut back on their drinking (ie, have a negative drinking consequence, debilitating hangover, becomes a parent), they are able to self-correct and return to drinking in a low-risk manner.
Alcoholics may be given countless reasons to cut back on their drinking but they are unable to permanently cut back on their drinking. Alcoholics may have occasions where they drank in a low-risk manner, but they inevitably return to their old drinking patterns
To me, what defines an alcoholic is a person's relationship to alcohol and not how they appear to the outside world in terms of their personal or professional life.
- The inability to control alcohol intake after starting to drink
- Obsessing about alcohol (ie, next time the person can drink, how they are going to get alcohol, who they're going to go out drinking with)
- Behaving in ways, while drunk, that are uncharacteristic of their sober personality
- Driving drunk and, by sheer luck, not getting arrested or involved in an accident
- Drinking daily
- Living a double life by separating drinking life from professional or home life
- Regular binge drinking (more than 5 drinks in one sitting)
- Having chronic blackouts (memory lapse due to excessive drinking) and not remembering what they did for a portion of their drinking episode
- Not being able to imagine their life without alcohol in it
So in conclusion…do I think that I am an alcoholic? No. Do I think that when I do drink to get drunk that I am a binge drinker? Yes. But maybe drinking 9 days out of 226 does make me an alcoholic in someones eyes. Even if out of those nine days, 5 of them were less less than 2 drinks. So if celebrating my birthday and having a grand ol time makes me an alcoholic then to that I say, "Cheers."
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