Does somebody who has seven or more drinks at least three days per week have a drinking problem?

So, in other words:

  1. Stop thinking other people should do what you want them to do.
  2. Do what I suggest you do.

Got it?

Yep, they got themselves a drinking problem.

Yeah, if he is drinking more than the people around him and his drinking is making the people around him uncomfortable, that is a problem.

Drinking problem. Whether everyone would call it “alcoholic” is another question that probably isn’t relevant to the situation. At least three days a week he drinks to a point where his is incapacitated - that means he has a problem in my book. Does that mean he has to stop - no. His life to do as he pleases. If he were my friend I would say something and leave it at that; then I would drop him as a friend because I wouldn’t like being around him. He already has a friend he likes way better than you.

Did I miss the part about him being incapacitated three times a week? I read he drinks frequently, but I didn’t see anything about that.

You don’t fraternize with people whose hobbies differ from yours?

Unless he’s a UK student (in which case it’s still not too good, but at least normal :p), I’d say he’s a problem binge drinker, not an alcoholic.

I’d seriously love to see how people around here would react to a university students lifestyle here in England. If the word alcoholic gets bandied around for something like this…well.

Oh, now that’s a fair question.

Seriously, I’m always a bit shocked when I compare some peoples’ perception of alcoholism on this board with, you know, a Thursday night out after work here.

Shame our NHS is so egregiously horrible, what with all the socialism/communism/???, and there’s no way for us desperately ill UKers to get help. :frowning:

This recent NY Times profile of A. Thomas McLellan, a psychologist, addiction researcher, father of two children who have suffered from addiction, and recent Obama appointee to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, includes the following statement about a measuring guideline to help physicians identify people who may have a problem with alcohol "The measuring stick is known as “3-14” — so if someone is having 3 or more drinks a day, or 14 per week, that should raise a red flag, and physicians should be much better equipped to intervene and offer treatment options if there is a problem. "

It doesn’t claim to state for sure that there is a problem, but it’s where academics and physicians start to look for a problem.

Here’s a link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/science/08prof.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hpw

That was a serious question, but only in theory. I think your friend might have a problem, but not based on the fact that he drinks 7+ drinks 3 nights a week alone. The number of drinks he has tells me very little about whether or not his consumption is a “problem.” I think he may have a problem because you describe the drinking as damaging to his life. If it’s damaging his life (and this is not doperspeak for anything more than an annual glass of wine being damaging), it’s likely a problem.

I don’t fraternize with people who I really don’t like to be around, outside of work and family of course, and it doesn’t sound like the OP likes being around the person in question. Maybe we are reading different posts. The guy drinks at least 7 drinks, 3 days a week, blacks out, curses loudly. Or maybe my definition of incapacitated is different from yours.

Brings back fond memories of my drunk roommate, sitting on the sofa ranting about something or other. When I suggest he just go to bed he wants to argue about whether he is drunk or not. Even when he shot puck out of his mouth mid-sentence he wasn’t willing to give up the point that he wasn’t “really” drunk. Is it his right to do as he pleases - you bet. Am I obligated to be around him - no.

I think it shocked me the most, the difference in US and UK opinion, when I saw that one of the contestants on The Ultimate Fighter a few series back had to go to AA because basically, when he got too drunk he turned into a dick. He wasn’t an alcoholic.
I mean, seriously, quit drinking because he couldn’t handle it? Wouldn’t it be better to just moderate, or have someone intervene and say ‘you’re being a dick now’ at some point in the proceedings, before it’s time for ‘right that’s it, you’re never drinking again!’

How come there’s this ‘prudish’ (best word I could think of) nature towards drink in the US?

See post 30.

Edit: **Neverender **and Second Judith, the US certainly has a more prudish attitude toward drinking than the rest of the world (in Costa Rica, we drink with breakfast - BFD), but the SDMB has an even more prudish attitude toward drinking than the rest of the nation. You’re posting on a SuperPrudeTeetotaller board.

By those standards, I’d wager we’re all screwed

Oh, I think you missed the part where you came on and asked for advice. :rolleyes:

If someone was to come on and say “I drink heavily three times a week,” my advice would be a little different. When you ask. “I don’t know how much someone drinks, but it might be this much, should I judge him or what?” than my advice is what I gave to you. MYOFB

In the immortal words of that noted American scholar, Dr. Phil, “How’s that working for you?”

If it’s working for you, fine. But many of us have experience with drinkers whose repeated attempts to do that kind of stuff fail, with predictable results. Also, who wants to volunteer for the tedious job of telling the drunk to stop being a dick?

I did not, in fact, ask for advice - at least not overtly. The OP and my subsequent posts may have held hints of advice-seeking, but that’s just not the same thing. I was asking whether my friend’s drinking level was indicative of a drinking problem. I stated in a later post that the drinking level I stated was the least I think he could reasonably be estimated to drink. Since I don’t know all of the details of my friend’s life, I said that answers didn’t have to be yes or no, and was open to nuanced answers that examined multiple possibilities. I also said that my friend’s drinking would probably spell the end of our friendship, indicating that I already had my own course of action in mind.

The “advice” that you’re suggesting I was seeking is advice on how to feel about my friend with regards to his drinking. Even in this category, I find your advice crude.

Why do you care if he has a drinking problem, if you have already decided his drinking is a problem for you, and you plan on ending your friendship over it? Not to beat a dead horse here, but mind your own business. You’ve implied that none of your other friends have an issue with it. That right there is my biggest clue. I don’t know the guy, none of us do, but if the majority if the people who DO know him think he’s ok, he most likely is. You have a lower tolerance for other people’s drinking, which is fine, and I said so in my first post. You have a right to feel comfortable, especially in your own home. But to take an issue that is yours, and attempt to turn it into his problem, I think that is over the line. No one here can say whether or not he has a problem with drinking; YOU have a problem with his drinking, and that is all that needs to be said about it.

He’s definately in risk of liver damage territory. There can be a very low threshold for liver damage (in some women, two glasses of wine a day will do it). But other people seem to have iron livers and they can soak up the damage.

There are other physical downsides to drinking too much - my sister ended up with permanent nerve damage on top of what she did to her liver. So it isn’t just about “do you make it to work and maintain a life”

I promise it isn;t a whole lot different than your average college student in the US.