Defining An Alcoholic......

I have a problem with alcohol to a certain degree. But what i question is
am i an alcoholic or just a binge drinker? Or what classes as an alcoholic?
Is it the behaviours of someone who is drunk? Or is it the chemical
addiction?

........................

A little backround:
Started drinking at 14, every single friday and saturday night (and
sometimes week days). Im 21 now. This has been my routine since 14. At
around 16 i began having serious blackouts from drinking spirits. I would
become completely unmanagable and i would start fight with not just
random people, but my closest friends. I seen a video of me one night
and i was in shock. I had turned into the one person i said i never would -
my alcoholic mother. I was in so much shock that i seriously cut down
drinking spirits. I still to this day am not able to drink large quantities of
spirits coz a range of emotions come out of me and i have no control over
it. I have been arrested on several occasions and even rushed to hospital
(the gaurds rang the ambulance). I dont think id be able to just have one
drink if the option of more was available. But one thing, i never drink on
my own...

I realise that coz im young and living in a culture where this happens
everyday, its is seen as the norm. Its when i get a bit older and if my
behaviour remains, my drinking may be classed as worse then it is.

I suffer from chronic anxiety and medicate the anxiety on weekends so
that i can handle being with a group of people. I usually pre-drink before i
meet with these people - which most people my age do, but again, when
im older, this is be looked at as more as a problem then it does be now.
Since i started drinking from an early age, i have become dependant on it
for a sex life - due to having anxiety and medicating it away. So i am
alcohol dependant for some situations

......................

But my question is, what defines an alcoholic, compared to somebody who
drinks to excess and gets into messy situations?

Personally, i believe that i will be classed as an alcoholic when im older,
where as now, the age i am, its acceptable...

Whats your opinion on this?

Tnx for reading

Blackouts are a warning sign of impending alcoholism, if not a sign of alcoholism itself. If it disrupts the quality of your life, i would say, it's alcoholism...

I see your question as: what difference is there between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependance.

I know alcoholism as a condition of someone that most likely drinks everyday and will suffer serious and potentially life threatening withdraws if they stop abruptly on their own. It is highly recommended that an alcoholic consult a Dr. before they stop drinking as like entering a recovery stage.

Alcohol abuse can be just as damaging to ones mind/body as the alcoholic suffers. Also the alcohol abuser can have just as many troubles with the law, family, employers as the alcoholic. The difference could be between the severity of withdraw.

I have anxiety, depression and a host of other problems that I once self-medicated with street drugs as with alcohol. Today I'm living active addiction free, no liquor and drugs. I'm doing most all the things that I used to have drug-up for to do.

Maybe its time MyUserName to consider living life free from the influence of alcohol. As it is now, you may very well be on the path to developing some serious consequences to your health and enjoyment of life.

Alcoholic although widely used is not actually a medical term. There is substance abuse, and there is substance dependence, the latter being the more severe.

The way you are drinking definitely qualifies as substance abuse, even though it may be socialy acceptable at your age. Whether you will eventually stop this drinking pattern and be able to drink socially is another question. Some people are able to drink to excess in college and then just "Grow out" of it and become social drinkers, other's can't, and experience increasingly severe levels of negative consequences as a result of continued use.

You're clearly drinking above the safe drinking recommended guidelines, the fact that your behaviour changes when you're drunk, the fact that you started drinking at an early age, the fact that you are already psychologically dependent on alcohol for certain activities (sex) all suggest that you may have a more serious problem that some people call alcholism.

One common definition of addiction includes the following three traits.
1. Inability to stop using despite repeated attempts (I don't know if you've ever tried to stop drinking)
2. Increased tolerance - needing to use more to get the same effect. If you're blacking out, I suspect tolerance is an issue for you.
3. Continued use despite negative consequences. Have you had any negative consequences from your drinking, ie grades suffer, offending friends, being injured in fights, not likeing how you act while drinking.

I would worry less about what labels get attached to your drinking and worry more about how drinking is affecting your health and your life. If you do decide that you have a problem with alcohol, then better to quit drinking while you're still young, before you get worse and develop physical dependence. Addiction only gets worse and harder to quit the longer you're in it.

Why not try not drinking for a month and see how it goes. If you can't stay stopped for a month, you definitely are addicted.

splitimage

it doesn't matter how, or when you drink, or using alcohol as an excape from life to be an alcoholic. they say in AA that when alcohol makes your life unmanageable- jail, dui's, lack of responsibility, etc. you are considered alcohol dependent or an active alcoholic. but only you can decide what you are. BTW an alcoholic can be of ANY age. binge drinking can be classified as dependent or active alcoholic. it's not so much of how much you drink, it's the consequences of drinking that start adding up. this is one example. there are many more.
here's a quiz to see if you may qualiy: http://alcoholism.about.com/od/problem/a/blquiz1.htm

and this link for more clarity:http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/alc...its-treatment/
many ppl who realize they are going down the slippery slope can learn to drink responsibly and avoid alcoholism. if you find you can't, then you have a problem.

I think one interesting thing about alcoholism, heavy drinking, binge drinking, periodic drinking, functional drinking, alcohol dependance or alcohols abuse...there seems to be no universal consensus of what is what.

The bottom line for me is; if alcohol is causing problems, its time to quit. Unless one happens to be deep in denial, where one doesn't recognize a problem, then's its who knows?

i think you have answered your own question, and is it acceptable now for you or for others? i grew up in a alcoholic home, alcohol drinking goes back for generations. i don't drink and the reasons, one is i am on meds, i was hospitalized at 17, treated for mental issues. i have been around drinking, people being drunk, smelling it, and now i am married to someone whose whole life is that since he retired. And i am ready to scream how MUCH I HATE ALCOHOL.. cin1

how true. thanks, cin1

My user name... Can i just say, that i am completely the same as you, what you have just written, i could have written it myself.
I cant not drink, because thats what i DO. BUT it is a problem for me.
When most people drink who are my age, they reach their limit and then they are sick of they pass out. When i reach my limit, i black out, its not me there its just the alcohol in human form, i dont know what i have done, and then when i find out i am shocked, i've been arrested, tried to kill myself, started arguments.
I cant have sex sober, i cant meet new people sober.
My friends all get drunk and i couldnt go out and not drink. But they'll get sick of my behaviour soon. I really dont know what to do. Aside from all this i'm bipolar and on meds for that, so i shouldnt actually drink anyway else i'm unlikely to live a manageable life.
I honestly think i'll die while drunk and it will be all my fault.

If you have a problem with alcohol, you have a problem with alcohol. A binge drinker is an "alcoholic" or they wouldn't do that to themselves, wouldn't give themselves massive hangovers and endanger themselves or others with driving or being "out and about" while drunk and/or needing others help to get home and "function". Binge drinking is being personally out of control and not something someone would do if something else weren't pushing them in that direction.

Don't binge drink for the rest of September; can you do it? If it is "hard" you're an alcoholic. If you say/find it's "easy" and then go back to binge drinking, I'll just say you have rocks in your head?

I'm 21 all my friends drink And we go out every weekend. I'm going to put a massive effort into not drinking for September? Want to do the same and see how we go?
I'm also thinking of how much money i'll save.

A friend of my first husband's, an artist, the guy I should have married, not mr hankster, I remember him saying at one point (we kept in touch for a while) that yeah it was all cool and fun while they were in school, and even after, but for him it turned out to be a really really big problem, and it was not cool at all. And he was just really mad, like he'd been tricked or fooled into doing something light and fun in high school, that ended up practically costing him his life. He totalled cars, he wrecked jobs and relationships, he ruined his health, he was poor because of it - he was just pretty angry about it. Not ugly angry, more of a, there was all this pressure to do it, but they didn't know it could end up hurting people like this, it was just supposed to be fun. For what it's worth. This can be said about any unhealthy coping mechanism, but I guess the point was, we just think we're having fun, right? It's not like we're having SI parties? But maybe that's what a bar or an ice-cream parlor really is? For some (most?) people?

You're totally right.
The only thing i think is that, all my friends get drunk and are fine, if i stop drinking, what quality of life will i have? I'll constantly feel like i am missing out on something and no 21 year old wants to feel like that.
But i'm going to do it this month, because i decided i was going to kill myself while i was drunk last night and i really dont want to kill myself.

I am a psychiatric nurse and a former substance abuse counselor. I did not even need to read all your original post to see you have a problem with alcohol. I am a recovering alcoholic with 5 years sobriety. I am a member of AA and working the 12 step program got me sober and has kept me sober for 5 years. Only you can figure out that you sre a alcoholic. Try controlled drinking for 30 days and see what happens. In your case you will probably drink. Give AA a try and if you don't like it you can have all your misery back.

Sorry for delay in responce. But can i just say, wow, thank you all for your
answers. I already feel as though if i give up for this month i will have
nothing to do. Im not even sure id be able to go out on the weekends. And
if im starting college at the end of this month, then there is going to be a
big piss up the first few weeks and i already feel as tho the battle is lost.
Im confused on what i should do. And suffering from social anxiety dont
help my situation one bit.

i havent drank this weekend and i totally admit, its been hard, first weekend in over 18 months, if i get to 2 weekends it will be the first in 4 years.
I was bored Friday night, just stayed in bed reading a book and feeling sorry for myself. Then last night 2 of my friends came over and then a few of us went out for a meal, they all drank and i didnt, the thing is, my friends werent feeling it they stopped after a few drinks and went to bed at the same time as me, so i felt a bit guilty. But they didnt seem to mind.
The thought of drinking actually scared me right now because i dont know what i will do.
You have to want to stop and only you'll know when that will be, when its gone to far, you cant stop if you really dont want to.
I think i've reached that point.
I know i'm not going to stop drinking forever.
My plan is to stop for 1-2 months, with no drinking, just so i know i am in control of it, and then when i go out with friends, plan the exact amounts of drinks i will have and stop at them, and if i cant do that then i'll have to rethink and come up with another plan.

here's suggestion try to stop drinking for 30 days. that "experiment" will help speed up "another plan", abstinence and perhaps AA. that group of ppl helped and supported my desire to stay sober, now 21 yrs.sober. you can stop too but you need to have the willingness as only the dieing have. hope this helps you. i'm not busting you, i've just seen deaths of friends that thought they could control their drinking. but fear won't allow you to stop. willingnesss and a desire to be sober are the keys that open the door to sobriety.

I am so proud of you! You don't know how long it takes ME to do something I say I am going to do, and here you've gone and done it! While you're at it, why don't you plan some things to DO instead of just not drinking? Just for these few weeks. It's the beginning of the season, and there are concerts and plays and galleries. You don't have to stay for the whole thing. I would also include an alcohols anonymous "open" meeting as part of your tour of possible futures for you. Don't end up all sad and depressed like us, not if you can possibly help it!

I'm taking it one weekend at a time.
I have a friend who NEEDS to drink, whenever he will be at a social occasion, yet he is ten times more confident than me.
Anyway i left my job a year ago and havent seen much of them since, but i've been invited to my old managers leaving do, and this friend will be there and he will have to drink else he feels he wont have a good time.
But i am not going to drink. I know i wont, because when i make my mind up about something i do it.
But i'm also worried i wont have anything interesting to say. Not that i'm interesting when i'm drunk, but when your sober and everyone else is drinking you can feel a little left out.
oh well it will be 2 hours tops of my life, and i really think highly of the manager who is leaving so i want to say goodbye to him.
Hankster, i know what you're saying but if i stay sober i stay lonely, the same as if i keep drinking i'll end up with no one as well. I cant win so at least if i stay sober its my choice, but there isnt anything for me to do in that place, the only think around my area is a cinema, i dont have one friend that doesnt drink.

After some 25+ years in active addiction and participation in all sorts of recovery programs, that simple truth 'I'm not going to drink' is what works best for me. Its simple, easy to follow and something I can do.

I had to unlearn a lot of recovery programing to get there.