I usually tend to think of alcoholic blackouts as something that lasts for days, usually after extended periods of heavy drinking, rather then just getting hammered some night and not remembering what you did the next day.
Here is a hilarious description of one such blackout by the writer James Ellroy on Conan O’Brien’s show back in 1999. Ellroy is quite a hoot on talk shows. As evidence, Dave Chapelle was one of the quests that night, and, as you’ll see, he described Ellroy’s appearance that night as being the “most awesome experience” of his career. Funny stuff.
Might I ask, why does it bother you so Bith? Are you having a problem with this for his well being, or yourself? More than anything quite frankly, it sounds like you are annoyed by him more than you are concerned for his own sake.
I don’t understand everyone making such a big deal out of the definition of alcoholism. It’s really blasted simple. Can you stop drinking? If you can’t stop doing something, you are by definition addicted to it. And if you are addicted to alcohol, you are an alcoholic.
It seems you guys want to use some other definition of alcoholic that means some sort of horrible person.
OP: Do I think he has a problem? If he continues to drink that much, he will die from it. I’ve seen it happen in my family way too often. Heck, my uncle is currently dying from it. He has less than a year.
Can we be 100% sure he’s got a drinking problem? No. There are probably people out there who binge drink regularly who are not alcoholics, because they really can stop. They do it for entertainment, not because they have to drink.