lol first time i heard about that for finland, thats ******ed imo gotta love that alcohol

You just clearly come from a society where different social norms of alcohol consumption are acceptable. His drinking levels are pretty standard for finnish people, and even in the uk its reasonably standard. I have tons of friends who go out twice a week and drink insane amounts and I would by no means consider them to be 'alcoholics' - its just what they enjoy doing!

It's not this. It's just that in our culture (and a few others, UK, Russia, and mostly northern countries), getting extremely drunk on a semi-regular basis is completely normal and part of how we go out etc...

FWIW, I know a lot of people who will get completely ****-faced 2x/3x week, including myself (although a bit less), and I can easily (and have done,and know others) go over 2 months without getting drunk. An Alcoholic is someone who struggles to go a day without alcohol.

Well I wasn't going to respond any further due to not wanting to hijack thread but since Miikka doesn't exactly post regularly anymore I don't think it will be awful to say something.

I'm not saying that drinking a lot make you an alcoholic. I drink a lot. I get ****ed up 2-3 times a week. I have gone very long periods of time without alcohol and been fine. None of these (according to the definition I'm going off of; I took a Substance Abuse class in college and a lot of the info really stuck in my head) are determining factors in alcoholism, although they can be warning signs.

The main factors that determine alcoholism are the way you think about alcohol and what happens to you when you drink. One of the main reasons I post passionately about the subject is that one of my closest friends is an alcoholic and deals with it. He was a crazy partier and a lot of fun at parties but would do really awful **** when drunk and he could not drink a little bit and stop. As of now he has been sober for over a year. He is able to take a long break from alcohol but knows that if he drinks as much as a glass of anything he'll probably relapse. He never felt any reason to drink aside from to get really drunk, and then he would almost always do things he'd regret in the morning.

Maybe it was premature of me to say chuck is an alcoholic. He does such a great job describing everything in his writing that I feel like I know him but clearly I do not and maybe his mindset is not what it appears to be here. But stuff like "I drink only to get wasted" and "drinking allows me to be social" are just kind of typical alcoholic thought processes. I should not have simply said he is an alcoholic though I apologize.

Completely flawed reasoning here obv, especially considering a glass of red wine a day may extend life in comparison to binge drinking which has very severe effects, at times over the short term- binge drinking even once a month can be fatal-what defines alcohol addiction is more entwined with self-damage than constant use

As regards this speculation about chuck I think its getting a bit too personal- theres always a few issues tied up with alcoholism so dont think its a good thing to get into. Having been out with the guy i could easily speculate myself but don`t think it would be a good idea or entertaining :P

No **** that you're not an alcoholic if you have a glass of wine per day, even everyday. Don't see how that makes my logic any flawed though.

But if it's a major problem for you to go a single day without drinking, whether the amount is small or big, you are addicted. If I need 0.1mg of coke everyday, I'm a lot more addicted than the guy who does 1g once a year on his birthday or w/e. The issue here isn't the amount or even the regularity, it's how dependent you are on the substance to function normally.

Blah blah blah ^^^ lets stay focused on the fact that we want More.

Why do people feel the need to share there opinion on here :S. Literally no-one cares wether you think he is or isnt an alcoholic. Such a waste of space.

"just a couple of things lingering in my mind".. Keep them in your mind then you ****ing loser. Your opinion is NILL.

Just the kinda guy i am mmmkay

Sharing thoughts on an online forum IS a pretty radical idea you're right brah.

The guy posts like once every two weeks and you're mad people are talking on here?

There is no need to be upset.

Your not sharing thoughts, your telling him hes an alcoholic haha, and its a thread for him to tell his story not to be judged and bitched about by some loser who thinks getting pished regularly is alcoholic behaviour LOL.

Not that im upset, just sayin BRAHHHH

You're the one calling people ****ing losers and clearly trying to start a flame war! This will be my last post concerning this topic since I don't wanna hijack a solid thread.

I really don't know why you're freaking out given I admitted I shouldn't have judged something like that with only limited information. That being said, a lot of things he mentioned were like word for word out of books about alcoholics. And getting "pished regularly" isn't alcoholic behavior? What the hell makes an alcoholic then? Alright I'm gonna stop asking questions like that since I'll want to respond but just don't be so aggressive man calling me a ****ing loser after one comment is really crazy.

Google it

.....the day after, 2+2 user 'WhyDid I doThat :|' woke up, rolled over, his head pumping from that severe headache that has been accompanying him throughout the last few days - if not weeks- and let out a long, heartfelt yet painful groan. a couple minutes went by spent very productively by scratching his aching head and yawning then he grabbed his laptop engaging his daily hangover routine: log on, check out the newly updated threads on 2+2.

And there he read it, black on white: he called somebody a f**king loser. Or did he? head still aching the memories of the past days were nothing but a blur. and he thought to himself...

WhyDid I doThat :|

poetic black man, beautiful stuff

+1

Re: Alcoholism

My dad's an alcoholic and has been for 40 years or something. I'm glad that I don't share his addiction with that. I definitely have the same addictive personality, and I always have to be VERY careful with gambling for example because I could so easily turn into a self-destructive degen. For the same reason I have very little interest in trying out drugs heavier than weed, because with my genes/personality I suspect it would be very hard for me to quit even after just some stupid experiment.

Alcohol, however, I don't even like that much. I very much enjoy the effect when I get really drunk. I don't have social problems (say talking to random people) so drinking a couple of drinks I get nothing out of. But I do love it when I get really smashed every couple of weeks. However I never actually miss alcohol, the thought of alcohol disgusts me the morning after, I never drink with food or otherwise casually. The only reason I drink is every couple of weeks as a bit of an espace from reality (and I don't have any problems with my current reality, so it's not like I'd be drinking for my sorrows either), but if I was offered enough money I could easily be without drinking for a year or even the rest of my life.

The way I always defined alcoholism or any addiction is not being able to be without it, not the amount people consume when they drink. I have however heard other people share redsoxnet's view too, but I just don't agree. If people think the way I use alcohol is alcoholism they can be my guests though, I'm very happy with myself regardless.

I could also see how getting super smashed could be a bad sign for someone who's a bit older. Like if I had kids I would never ever once in my life show up drunk in front of them, and if I did I hope people would be worried and call me an alcoholic. But when you're young and carefree I don't see an issue with getting totally wasted every now and then.


PS. I'm in Vegas for the next 6 days and I'll be railing the main event ft with a bunch of people, so if there are parties ahead I'll likely be attending. I suspect I'll end up being drunk as hell especially if gregy wins. #teamgregy

That is not true at all.


Well, the entire field of addiction and alcoholism treatment professionals heartily disagree with your definition and understanding of what makes an alcoholic. I somehow believe they are more qualified, but as you said you are not going to change your opinion so I won't say much more than that. It's certainly something to consider, though.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine, maintained by the National Institute of Health seems to agree with Chuck on the definition of alcoholism.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001940/

As much as I wanted to not comment further on the subject, I have to defend myself since this is an issue extremely important to me based on both my work and personal life.

Doctors are not well versed in understanding alcoholism or other addictions. Most medical doctors have like a month of courses on addictions, until recently it was even less.

The rehab center I work at sent a client to the hospital for a twisted ankle with instructions including the fact that his DOC was opiates (oxys etc.)

The doctor gave him Dilaudid, which is a potent opioid. For a twisted ankle. When opiates were his DOC for which he was in rehab.

The vast majority of Doctors don't understand addiction or alcoholism.

Alcohol dependence occurs with many alcoholics, but is not the case for all. In other words, all people with alcohol dependence are alcoholics but not all alcoholics have alcohol dependence. What's more relevant is the inability to control alcohol consumption after the first drink.

No offense, but lets not hijack Chuck's thread with a debate on addiction / alcoholism. Take it to 4L or wherever if you must.

+1

Chuck, next installment please. I'm ready.

YASSSSSS ELIS FINALLY READY, RIGHT GO CHUCK HIT THE SUBMIT BUTTON

What if one doesn't want to stop after the first drink? I don't have a shade of doubt that I could stop drinking on any given night after any amount of drinks. It's not like my hand is just pouring those drinks down my throat and I'm unable to stop it. But I *want* to get smashed and behave in socially unacceptable ways every now and then to party. If I found a good reason to do it, I could easily both stop drinking alcohol entirely and/or never drink more than one or two drinks when I go out. But what's fun about that? I'd call any night a failure if I drank just 5-6 and went to bed sober. People are different but if wanting to party by getting drunk makes me an alcoholic I'd say about 70% of people around 18-25 years old are alcoholics. If I did this so often that it affected my personal / social / working life, then I'd say I might have problems with alcohol.