- Joined
- Sep 21, 2016
- Messages
- 1,453
What defines a person as an Alcoholic?
The DSM-V lists the criteria for Alcohol Use Disorder as have exhibited at least 2 of the following:
1). Ended up drinking more or longer than you intended
2). More than once tried to cut down/stop drinking and couldn't.
3). Spent a lot of time drinking or being sick from drinking
4). Wanted to drink so bad you couldn't think about anything else
5). Drinking has often interfered with family/school/work
6). Continued to drink after these interferences
7). Given up on activities that were important to you to drink
8). Gotten into harmful or dangerous circumstances from drinking more than once
9). Continued to drink after feeling depression/anxiety/memory blackout from drinking
10). Developed a tolerance to achieve the desired effect
11). Experienced withdrawal from drinking
Mild 2-3
Moderate 4-5
Severe 6+
Then in simple terms, there's people that say:
"if you drink everyday"
"if you have 1+ DUI"
"if you get into tons of bar fights"
"if you choose booze over family"
"if you steal for booze/booze money"
"if you drink to forget"
..then you're an Alcoholic.
Now, I've never done any of those quoted things, but I do have 6 of those criteria. (Spend alotta time drinking, it's interfered, I've continued, gotten into dangerous circumstances, continued after depression/blackouts, and developed a tolerance [I would put tried to cut down and couldn't, but compared to my old lifestyle I've cut down quite a bit] )
So, does that make me an Alcoholic?
ex. of someone meeting every criteria: Frank Gallagher from Shameless - cares about drinking > anything in life. Lies, cons, cheats his kids and friends to continue drinking the way he does. Tries to quit, fails. Very narcissistic.
If it does, then there are many people in college and simply in my age group that are also alcoholics or have alcohol use disorder. That said, there is still a large population in that demographic that never touch the stuff, but,
does that make those people functioning Alcoholics? Functioning alcoholics here meaning someone that drinks excessively and meets some criteria, but has enough success and responsibilites to "weight it out". They "have their shit together".
ex. Donald Draper - successful, wealthy, seducer who drinks every day and has family issues
And, if that does make people functioning alcoholics, is that such a bad thing, given the time period?
I certainly don't plan on partying the way I do forever, nor do most of the people that I party with.
There's tons of people that don't party like I do, or at all for that matter, nor do they have nearly as much of a resume on them. I work part time, go to a good university, work for an internship, work for an accredited college's research lab in my university, work for Red Cross, read constantly, exercise... and drink like a fish on weekends/some weekdays, meeting 6 DSM-V AUD criteria.
I also developed the majority of my social skills from a partying lifestyle, and grew my network massively from doing so.
People who are underachievers are underachievers whether the drink or not. But a person who underachieves and drinks like a fish is more likely to be deemed an alcoholic than someone who's a high achiever and drinks like a fish. What's the difference?
The term has different definitions. American culture sensationalizes a drinking lifestyle, blurring the lines of healthy mentalities on alcohol, and normalizing/rationalizing people's behaviors around it.
Now I'll be completely honest, I typed this little thing up to mainly address my own concerns, gather some outside opinions, and consider if I'm an Alcoholic. When I talk to my close friends about it, they think I'm overthinking it and none of us have a problem.
I also was just curious to see how some of the minds on here view the topic in general.
So, what do you dudes think? What does it take for someone to be an Alcoholic, and what does that mean?
Hueman
The DSM-V lists the criteria for Alcohol Use Disorder as have exhibited at least 2 of the following:
1). Ended up drinking more or longer than you intended
2). More than once tried to cut down/stop drinking and couldn't.
3). Spent a lot of time drinking or being sick from drinking
4). Wanted to drink so bad you couldn't think about anything else
5). Drinking has often interfered with family/school/work
6). Continued to drink after these interferences
7). Given up on activities that were important to you to drink
8). Gotten into harmful or dangerous circumstances from drinking more than once
9). Continued to drink after feeling depression/anxiety/memory blackout from drinking
10). Developed a tolerance to achieve the desired effect
11). Experienced withdrawal from drinking
Mild 2-3
Moderate 4-5
Severe 6+
Then in simple terms, there's people that say:
"if you drink everyday"
"if you have 1+ DUI"
"if you get into tons of bar fights"
"if you choose booze over family"
"if you steal for booze/booze money"
"if you drink to forget"
..then you're an Alcoholic.
Now, I've never done any of those quoted things, but I do have 6 of those criteria. (Spend alotta time drinking, it's interfered, I've continued, gotten into dangerous circumstances, continued after depression/blackouts, and developed a tolerance [I would put tried to cut down and couldn't, but compared to my old lifestyle I've cut down quite a bit] )
So, does that make me an Alcoholic?
ex. of someone meeting every criteria: Frank Gallagher from Shameless - cares about drinking > anything in life. Lies, cons, cheats his kids and friends to continue drinking the way he does. Tries to quit, fails. Very narcissistic.
If it does, then there are many people in college and simply in my age group that are also alcoholics or have alcohol use disorder. That said, there is still a large population in that demographic that never touch the stuff, but,
does that make those people functioning Alcoholics? Functioning alcoholics here meaning someone that drinks excessively and meets some criteria, but has enough success and responsibilites to "weight it out". They "have their shit together".
ex. Donald Draper - successful, wealthy, seducer who drinks every day and has family issues
And, if that does make people functioning alcoholics, is that such a bad thing, given the time period?
I certainly don't plan on partying the way I do forever, nor do most of the people that I party with.
There's tons of people that don't party like I do, or at all for that matter, nor do they have nearly as much of a resume on them. I work part time, go to a good university, work for an internship, work for an accredited college's research lab in my university, work for Red Cross, read constantly, exercise... and drink like a fish on weekends/some weekdays, meeting 6 DSM-V AUD criteria.
I also developed the majority of my social skills from a partying lifestyle, and grew my network massively from doing so.
People who are underachievers are underachievers whether the drink or not. But a person who underachieves and drinks like a fish is more likely to be deemed an alcoholic than someone who's a high achiever and drinks like a fish. What's the difference?
The term has different definitions. American culture sensationalizes a drinking lifestyle, blurring the lines of healthy mentalities on alcohol, and normalizing/rationalizing people's behaviors around it.
Now I'll be completely honest, I typed this little thing up to mainly address my own concerns, gather some outside opinions, and consider if I'm an Alcoholic. When I talk to my close friends about it, they think I'm overthinking it and none of us have a problem.
I also was just curious to see how some of the minds on here view the topic in general.
So, what do you dudes think? What does it take for someone to be an Alcoholic, and what does that mean?
Hueman
