I have the opposite problem-I don’t drink because I’m on Paxil and I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Alcoholism runs in our family, and my mother tends to be really hyper over booze.
That said, my dad’s relatives all drink like fish. To the point, that I often feel like if you DON’T have a drink, you’re a loser. Hell, at my cousin’s graduation party, my aunt and uncle were serving booze to all of his friends, and kids they never met-just as long as they didn’t drive, it was okay.
So I can see both sides. I get a lot of “What? You don’t DRINK? Why not-are you some kind of wimp?”
It’s very annoying. I like a glass of wine or a cocktail every once in a while, but even then if my mother sees me, she starts a lecture.
So if I don’t drink, I get made fun of, if I drink, I’m told I’m going to get sick and I shouldn’t drink and blah blah blah…
I have been to alot of meetings in AA & ACA. No, handy isn’t a alkie, handy got into AA meetings cause they figured he couldn’t hear what people said so he can attend.
I tell ya, I once asked someone from a local AA group what a person has to drink to get in. They said you could have just ONE drink & come to a meeting. Shrug. Around these parts, AA meetings seem to be some people’s only social meeting.
Sorry, dude, but watching wrestling, in and of itself, means that you’re an alcoholic.
And for a more serious response: if your drinking keeps you from doing things you want or need to do, or if you do things while drinking that you later feel guilty about or that you wouldn’t do normally, or if you feel like you should cut back or quit but you haven’t, then I’d say you have a problem.
Some people tend to get real focused on whether you have the alcoholic ‘gene’ or on a set of specific, measurable criteria, but I’d say it’s more helpful to think about the issue from a more personal perspective and consider whether it’s causing any problems for you or your family: emotional, financial, intellectual, career-related, familial, social, or relationship-wise. If so, then you should deal with it. If not, then don’t worry about it. But check back in a few months to be sure that nothing ugly has started to creep into your routine.
Regarding currents of American v. European attitudes towards alcohol, remember the U.S. banned alcohol for about a decade (and boosted organized crime quite nicely).
My doctor recommends an average of two drinks per day. And he stressed the average part, “So, if you don’t drink anything Thursday, you could have four on Friday.” He did add that he didn’t think one should save up the week and have fourteen on Saturday night.
To clarify a bit: I champion total abstinence before and during driving (not that one should be sipping during a drive, anyway–but you never know…) only for me. Pretty much, I want to make sure that I’m at least sober when I get on the street and take the chance of slamming into the elderly (10 points!), a kid on a skateboard (6 points, but an extra 2 if he keeps on skating after) or catching a roving mutt by his leash and excercising Rover a la Chevy Chase in Vacation. (1000 points and you win the game!)
Mostly that’s because I didn’t start drinking until after I was 21, drink rarely now, anyway, and am, without a doubt, a lightweight contender in my boxing match against fermented anything.
Others, I know, can have a few drinks without being impaired, but I’d rather not take the chance with myself. Besides, I’d rather watch you drink–it’s very fun, you know.
In patient interviews, doctors use the “CAGE questions” to screen for alcoholism:
Do you feel you should Cut down on your drinking?
Do you get Annoyed when people tell you you drink too much?
Do you feel Guilty about drinking?
Do you ever need an Eye-opener in the morning?
Supposedly these questions are a pretty good screening tool, in that they’re sensitive but not specific; someone who answers “No” to all four probably doesn’t have a problem with alcohol. If any answer is a “yes”, the question should be explored more deeply, but my guess is that a good majority of those people don’t have a problem, either. (Studies have been done, but I’m too lazy to find them right now.)
My biggest problem is that I would have to answer “Yes” to the A and G questions. I do get annoyed when people tell me I drink too much, because I don’t drink very much at all and those people are just puritanical busybodies. I do occasionally feel guilty about drinking, but that’s just my Southern Baptist upbringing rearing its unfortunate head.
Just to be all puritanical on you - that’s great that everyone’s down at the pub, but that doesn’t mean you have to drink when you get there… What you are saying above is that in order to socialize, you need to drink. I know that’s not what you meant, but that’s the way I read it.
But I agree with most posters here that it’s pretty silly that other people, who probably don’t know you very well, will consider it their duty to inform you that you may be an alcoholic. The only people you might want to hear it from and take it seriously are probably your S.O., your doctor, your immediate and closest family members, or a very good friend.
The problem is that many people actually probably are well-meaning, it’s just that they really don’t have a clue what alcoholism is.
