Question by JR8898: How can you differentiate between alcoholism and alcohol abuse?
What are signs from your drinking pattern/lifestyle that can distinguish between alcohohlism and alcohol abuse? I know that many of the signs must be the same but maybe there are particular cues. I’d prefer not the typical “drinking lecture,” but rather information regarding this topic as I want to be safe and watch myself as I’ve noticed some bad patterns. Thanks.
Best answer:
Answer by Rosemary K
Alcoholism is drinking every day, maybe being sneaky about it or lying about it to others. Feeling sick or bad if you don’t drink.
Alcohol abuse is drinking too much, or drinking to forget about problems, or drinking at innapropriate times, or doing stupid things because you drank too much.
Just my opinion… :)
Add your own answer in the comments!
More than likely, if you usually drink only to end up blacking out, if you more often than not wake up after a night out wondering whether you need to apologise to anybody for anything, if you simply can’t stop at just ONE drink or if you find yourself waiting to be alone to drink then chances are you have a ball and chain around you called alcohol.
Alcohol abuse could possibly be described as going on drinking binges on the weekends ……………….. pretty much though I think its hard to define clearly between the two …….. either way, its the best feeling on God’s green earth to wake up in the morning knowing full well that you have nobody to apologise to or be embarrassed in front of because of deeds done the night before !! I was a slave to that ball and chain for way too long and haven’t had a drink in 5 years.
GOOD LUCK
CHEERS
♥
Alcoholism is when you need alcohol to function. You have withdrawls when you go without it. Alcohol abuse is when you are using alcohol to escape reality. Maybe to forget about things in your life that arn’t right……
This is how I think you differentiate between alcoholism and alcohol abuse.
Alcoholism
1. Drink more alcohol over a longer period of time than they intend to.
2. Cannot control how much they drink, even though they recognize that they drink too much.
3. Spend much of their time getting and drinking alcohol and recovering from its effects.
4. The alcohol’s effects, including intoxication and withdrawal, interfere with their ability to work, study, and meet family obligations.
5. Continue to drink despite experiencing significant alcohol-related problems.
6. Have developed a tolerance for alcohol and have to drink more to get the same effects that they used to get.
7. When drinking stops or u cut down a lot, u experience withdrawal symptoms, or continue to drink in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Alcohol Abuse
People who don’t have at least three of these characteristics, but who have used alcohol for a month or more, even though it has caused them problems, or who have used alcohol when it was hazardous to do so (like while driving a car) would be diagnosed with alcohol abuse. Some people who are alcohol abusers will go on to develop alcohol dependence, but many will not. For example, many college students would meet the criteria for alcohol abuse, but after they pass the college age range and start having a “real life,” with all its responsibilities, they stop having drinking-related problems. Nevertheless, all alcohol problems, whether or not they would be considered full-blown alcohol dependence, deserve to be researched and treated.
This might not be the answer you where looking for but hope this was sort of helpfull.
blackouts, an inability to have just one drink even if that was the plan, drinking early on in the day, and personality changes when consuming alcohol all seem to be alcoholic things (like people with a chemical addiction, not just an emotional one)
alcohol abuse that is not necessarily a chemical addiction is usually more like using alcohol to cope but being able to stop, not so much having blackouts, and not having complete personality shifts.
that’s my opinion, having grown up with a bonafide alchoholic and having married one briefly. i know you are not interested in a lecture and i hope this doesn’t feel like one…i just want to suggest that if you are concerned about your behaviour, get some counseling. it doesn’t mean you have to commit to a diagnosis (of being an alcoholic or a substance abuser) but more just to help you figure out what things you might want to change or work on and how you might go about doing that.
peace.
To me, there is no difference between the two.
I’m an alcoholic and I have been sober for more than 15 years. I quit drinking, went into treatment and then into AA when I was 22 (in 1992).
It was alcohol abuse that lead me to alcoholism. I started needing it…all the time. Nights when I stayed home sober instead of going out and drinking were really hard. I felt anxious, could not sleep, was grouchy and mean…then I would take a drink and all was well with the kingdom.
I lost a couple of jobs…I flunked out of college…I hurt a lot of family members and friends because of my drinking. It took me a while to finally realize that alcohol just wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth the damage it had done to my life. I knew I had a problem…I knew my life was unmanageable…I knew I was powerless over alcohol. God knows, I still am. If not for AA, I would be back out there.
EMT
AA member, sober 15 1/2 years.