[Griff]

Originally Posted by glatt

Sounds like you have a good perspective. I wonder about the people in that study who have supposedly gone from having addiction problems to being more in control. Maybe their addiction problems weren't all that severe. I've got two people in my family who identify themselves as alcoholics and have stopped drinking, but they never seemed like alcoholics to me in the first place.

How people perceive their own problems is pretty subjective. I don't think I can really tell from the outside. I have a sister who seems fine but always has a drink in her hand. She doesn't seem to go off the rails like I did but her social drinking seems continuous. I'm very careful not to make a thing about it because I'd be imposing my patterns on her. One guy I used to vacation with initially questioned whether or not I really had a problem but I think he figured out that the constant buzz on vacation was a different thing than regular life and he probably didn't know that I was keeping it going after everyone else crashed for the night.

Originally Posted by lumberjim

Might be that whatever the underlying motive to escape reality is gone, and with it the substance addiction.

I'm actually placing some hope in this (goodbye Catholicism), but I'm still monitoring my head for want vs need. Of course, having a stressful job lets me monitor this almost continuously.

Originally Posted by Aliantha

I would be inclined to go along with this particular article, simply because I know I personally go through phases in my life where I abuse alcohol or even food to satisfy myself either emotionally or physically. Usually I am able to recognise these phases for what they are, and it's topical for me right now because I've been drinking a bottle of wine every night (sometimes more) for the last month or so, which would be considered alcohol abuse. Yesterday I decided enough was enough so didn't drink anything at all, and I had all the hallmarks of detox including sweats during the night, inability to actually sleep properly, bad dreams, restless legs etc. I woke up this morning feeling very irritable and just generally unwell. Anyway, probably a good thing I have decided to give the booze a miss for a while. It doesn't mean I don't want to have a drink, or that I wont have a couple on the weekend even, but it means I do at times let it get the better of me. For whatever reason, I am lucky enough to be able to recognise that and turn it around as suggested happens in most cases in the article above.

So yeah, I don't think people would call me an alcoholic in the sense of the understanding society currently has of alcoholism, but I do definitely believe I have issues which I self manage on a continual basis.

I used to take Lent off to prove I didn't have a problem. I came to believe I had two problems. Only you and those closest to you really have an idea where you're at, just be sure you're being truthful with all involved.