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5-7 drinks a week on average isn't 365 drinks a year. That's seven drinks a week. If you're drinking every day it's best not to sugar coat that; especially to your doctor.

Alcoholic hasn't been an appropriate medical term for some time now. It's been split into alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.

The medical definition, posed elsewhere in the thread from the DSM definition, declares fuzzier criteria than numbers. There isn't a number. 50 drinks a year might quality someone as alcohol abuse if they only consume four times a year and 500 a year might be normal if no other criteria than tolerance exists.

The whole thing is a mess though. You have a problem when you have a problem. This is compounded by the definition its self allows people to justify their intake in many ways.

Listen to yourself, your body, and input from others. If you want to then talk to your GP doctor and seek an actual evidence based treatment. 12 Step programs are not, and shouldn't be, anyone's only option.




I was taking the high end of that estimate. I don't think having one drink a day makes someone an alcoholic though. Heck, in France it's common to have a glass of wine with lunch every day. Though my own tendency is to have 0-2 drinks Monday - Thursday, and then 5-7 drinks on the weekend.




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