I'm not an expert on the subject, but I have a lot of alcoholism in my family, and my T is in recovery herself so we have talked about it sometimes. In my mind, the difference between an addict and the rest of us is that the rest of us are able to drink and then not drink, whereas a true addict isn't able to just stop drinking without a great deal of effort.

I too sometimes use alcohol or other drugs to self-medicate, but I am not an addict. I can drink a lot for a period of time and then just sort of forget to drink for months at a time. An alcoholic can't do that.

Anyway, that's my interpretation, seventyeight.