FYI: I don't entirely agree with this article. But I posted it in part because I seriously loathe the AA "disease" model.
My dad drank heavily when he was in the army. He fought in the front lines of two wars. I think he did it at least in part so he could sleep because alcohol helps suppress dreams (and, thus, also nightmares). About four years after he left the army, he swore off alcohol and basically never touched it again.
I loathe the taste of alcohol and, for most of my life, rarely have touched the stuff. But I did have a nightcap almost every night for a year at a time when I was very ill and doctors didn't really know what to do for me. At some point in there, it was not unusual for me to have two doubles with dinner -- the equivalent to four drinks. So I imagine I could have been classified as an alcoholic at that time. But when I got some answers and started getting healthier, I was happy to stop drinking. Like my father, I never attended AA, never wrestled with trying to resist temptation or whatever, etc.
In my father's case, I think it helped with psychological trauma. In my case, it helped me survive illness at a time when I didn't have good answers and wasn't getting adequate medical treatment. I have read or heard plenty of other stories that look to me like they fit one of those categories.
So I think the article oversimplifies things in suggesting it is just a developmental disorder, but I am thrilled to see a piece talking about the reality that most folks drink less as they get older, without getting any treatment. I really, really dislike the AA model.
It sounds like you and your father weren't addicted - that sounds great for you! I currently know a number of people in 12-step programs (Christian and secular), ages ranging all over the place, who struggle with it in an entirely different way. For them, waiting for some indeterminate time at which they "grow out" of their addiction is hopeless because they and those around them suffer in the meantime. 15 years is a very long time to wait as you destroy your family and your body.
> At some point in there, it was not unusual for me to have two doubles with dinner -- the equivalent to four drinks. So I imagine I could have been classified as an alcoholic at that time. But when I got some answers and started getting healthier, I was happy to stop drinking.
2 glasses of whisky a day is not healthy but it's not alcoholism.
This is a bit tricky to describe but I'll do my best: let's assume you had two US doubles per day. Wikipedia says that 89 ml per drink. Let's round that up to 100 ml each drink. English public health has a concept of "units" to describe drinking amounts.
200 ml * 40 (the ABV of spirits) = 8 units per day.
Recommended safe limits are 3 to 4 units per day (without saving up to binge). You should try to have a couple of drink free days each week.
So, 8 units per day is over that level and increases the risks of harm.
> The definition of harmful alcohol use in this quality standard is that of the World Health Organisation (WHO) The International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (ICD-10): "a pattern of psychoactive substance use that is causing damage to health. The damage may be physical (for example, hepatitis) or mental (for example, depressive episodes secondary to heavy alcohol intake). Harmful use commonly, but not invariably, has adverse social consequences; social consequences in themselves, however, are not sufficient to justify a diagnosis of harmful use".
> In ICD-10 the 'dependence syndrome' is defined as: "a cluster of behavioural, cognitive, and physiological phenomena that develop after repeated substance use and that typically include a strong desire to take the drug, difficulties in controlling its use, persisting in its use despite harmful consequences, a higher priority given to drug use than to other activities and obligations, increased tolerance, and sometimes a physical withdrawal state".
Looking at the English guidelines for treatment we see that medically supervised withdrawal starts when you're drinking 40 units per day - that would be a one liter bottle of 40% whisky every day.
That's interesting. If you or anyone else wants to do the math, the only thing I tolerate okay is Kahlua. So I was generally having either mudslides at Applebee's or Kahlua Cappuccino at Red Lobster (often with an extra shot -- two drinks with an extra shot each is four shots of alcohol).
Since 2004, the alcohol content of Kahlúa is 20.0% (21.5% alc. is still available only in Ohio[citation needed]); earlier versions had 26.5%.
This would have been around 2001-2002 in California. So, you should use the 26.5% figure. I don't know what a "shot" is considered to be. I mean as a standard measure. I assume there is a standard measure of "shot" though. So what would 2-4 shots of Kahlua a day be? Is that "alcoholic"?
Just curious. I never thought of myself as an alcoholic. I was clear I did this because it knocked back the extreme physical pain I was in at a time when pain killers did little or nothing for me and doctors weren't being especially helpful. I just wanted to hurt less and I wanted to SLEEP. So, I would have a drink with dinner or before bedtime, because nothing else was doing a helluva lot for me.
I was using Wikipedia to get the size of a US shot of 89 for a double and 44 ml for a single.
The sum to get UK units is:
Serving size in litres * ABV value
So 44 ml * 4 shots * 26.5 abv / 1000 conversion from ml gives 4.5 units per day.
A doctor (and obviously I am not a doctor) might ask you to cut back a bit, but that level of drinking is normal.
Did you feel urges to drink other than those shots? Did you experience bad things from alcohol but continue drinking? Did you find it hard to stop? I think some of these things would have been used to assess whether it was problem drinking or not.
Like I said, I wasn't struggling with alcohol. I was struggling with a health crisis. I never thought of myself as alcoholic. But I was drinking daily for a while there, which is part of why I say I think some folks would view it as alcoholism.
It was a long time ago. I was also sometimes on medication, I was in a whole lot of pain, horribly sick, etc. So my memory of the details isn't exactly perfect here. Thus, I can't say how often I had the equivalent of four drinks per day vs 1-3 drinks or how long the 4 drinks level lasted (in terms of weeks/months). I do know it started at one drink and went up over time, which is another thing that would make a lot of folks go "Yup! Alcoholism!" I just know that for about a year, it was relatively rare for me to not drink alcohol at some point during the day because when I didn't, I was in tremendous pain and could not sleep. I did try different things, including vodka, and I vaguely recall getting seriously drunk at one time with some ... liqueur of some sort. (Again, I imagine that would look damning to some folks.) But what ended up working for me was Kahlua, usually with dinner.
My dad drank heavily when he was in the army. He fought in the front lines of two wars. I think he did it at least in part so he could sleep because alcohol helps suppress dreams (and, thus, also nightmares). About four years after he left the army, he swore off alcohol and basically never touched it again.
I loathe the taste of alcohol and, for most of my life, rarely have touched the stuff. But I did have a nightcap almost every night for a year at a time when I was very ill and doctors didn't really know what to do for me. At some point in there, it was not unusual for me to have two doubles with dinner -- the equivalent to four drinks. So I imagine I could have been classified as an alcoholic at that time. But when I got some answers and started getting healthier, I was happy to stop drinking. Like my father, I never attended AA, never wrestled with trying to resist temptation or whatever, etc.
In my father's case, I think it helped with psychological trauma. In my case, it helped me survive illness at a time when I didn't have good answers and wasn't getting adequate medical treatment. I have read or heard plenty of other stories that look to me like they fit one of those categories.
So I think the article oversimplifies things in suggesting it is just a developmental disorder, but I am thrilled to see a piece talking about the reality that most folks drink less as they get older, without getting any treatment. I really, really dislike the AA model.