For anyone who is wondering whether they, or someone they know, is an alcoholic, there is a difference between a heavy drinker and an alcoholic, though superficially their characteristics look the same. Only through honesty, introspection and, in my opinion, group help, may we understand which we have become.
For myself, having looked within and without, I recognize what separates the two:
1) A heavy drinker might appear to drink like an alcoholic, but he/she can stop if something really crippling will come of it, such as a major loss or death, whereas an untreated alcoholic will not, or can not, stop drinking until experiencing a major crisis ("hitting the bottom")
2) A heavy drinker can stay sober for the events that drive problems drinkers to take that first "relaxing" drink, whereas an alcoholic will, as the main book used in Alcoholics Anonymous says, get "tight" at all the wrong times
If this still does not help shed light on what alcoholism is, this link from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the three accepted definitions on what it is:
1) A heavy drinker might appear to drink like an alcoholic, but he/she can stop if something really crippling will come of it, such as a major loss or death, whereas an untreated alcoholic will not, or can not, stop drinking until experiencing a major crisis ("hitting the bottom")
2) A heavy drinker can stay sober for the events that drive problems drinkers to take that first "relaxing" drink, whereas an alcoholic will, as the main book used in Alcoholics Anonymous says, get "tight" at all the wrong times
If this still does not help shed light on what alcoholism is, this link from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the three accepted definitions on what it is:
1) A strong craving for alcohol
2) Continued use despite repeated physical, psychological, or interpersonal problems
3) The inability to limit drinking
More symptoms of alcoholism, provided by The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV, are further broken down, helping to set them apart from the problem drinker (the alcohol abuser):
1) Drinking only one brand or type of alcohol
2) Drink-seeking behaviour - Going only to places that serve alcohol, or spending time only with others who drink
3) Increased tolerance, so one must drink more to feel the effects
4) Physical symptoms after alcohol begins to leave body
5) Drinking further to ease these withdrawl symptoms
6) Being aware of this problematic need to drink (even if it's not disclosed to others)
7) Returning to drinking after a period of abstinence
What is great about group help, is that we get to hear others' stories. Because of my group work, for example, I learnt that binge drinking is a form of alcoholism. But because I can go for weeks or even months without a drink, along with the stereotypical notion that only trolls living under bridges are alcoholics, I didn’t realize that my behaviour was more serious that problem drinking. I now recognize that my ability to go stretches without a drink is really just the other side of the binge.
More symptoms of alcoholism, provided by The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV, are further broken down, helping to set them apart from the problem drinker (the alcohol abuser):
1) Drinking only one brand or type of alcohol
2) Drink-seeking behaviour - Going only to places that serve alcohol, or spending time only with others who drink
3) Increased tolerance, so one must drink more to feel the effects
4) Physical symptoms after alcohol begins to leave body
5) Drinking further to ease these withdrawl symptoms
6) Being aware of this problematic need to drink (even if it's not disclosed to others)
7) Returning to drinking after a period of abstinence
What is great about group help, is that we get to hear others' stories. Because of my group work, for example, I learnt that binge drinking is a form of alcoholism. But because I can go for weeks or even months without a drink, along with the stereotypical notion that only trolls living under bridges are alcoholics, I didn’t realize that my behaviour was more serious that problem drinking. I now recognize that my ability to go stretches without a drink is really just the other side of the binge.
The more I work through my ailment in meetings, and the study that I do on my own, I accept my circumstance more and more, and I am beginning to feel better. I still do not discuss my alcoholism in social settings though, at least not yet. It is still too difficult to explain myself why I am not drinking. Part of my insecurity in talking to others about my choice, and yes it is becoming a choice now and not a "should", is because it is my eighth month in Alcoholics Anonymous, and I am only beginning to understand my destructive, dare I say suicidal, tendencies. A darker reason that I do not discuss it, is although it is not fully understood by the medical institutions, I do believe that alcoholism is the materialization of mental illness (how else can we explain going against our most natural instinct to self-preserve?), and I am so ashamed of my particular illness (it still grossly misunderstood, to the point that I feel it is degraded, making me feel that I am as well). Even in AA I cannot state that we are all truly ill. Yes, we say we are sick, yes we talk about our "disease" and our "character defects", but we do not utter what is even clearly written in Step 2.
Honesty and admittance are paramount to successful recovery. We do not need to philosophize to know how we feel about ourselves and our actions, and when we want to end that which we know to be what causes the unpleasantness: our drinking.
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