I’m still trying to figure out if I have an alcohol use disorder. Sometimes I think I do, when I had more glasses of wine than I intended to, when I crave alcohol, when I feel ecstatic slipping into oblivion, when I hate myself the next morning…
But then, I start feeling better again and I say to myself: you are not an alcoholic. You don’t fit the profile.
Which takes me to my question. Can you have an alcohol use disorder even though you feel like you have more of or mostly a psychological addiction? I don’t feel physically addicted.
Thank you for your input!!
“Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences.”
You describe stuff that fits the bill. No physical dependency needed. Also, when you keep drinking you will develop a physical dependency too.
Alcoholist is a word with a big stigma attached to it. Personally I don’t like it. But I do have a serious problem with alcohol, and I’m so much better of without it in my life. And reading your post I feel you would be too. Wishing you all success in your life’s journey friend.
Addiction is always mostly psychological. Even in the most difficult physical withdrawals, with appropriate support from medical doctors, eventually the physical symptoms pass - but the effort has only just begun. Getting over the physical stuff is the easy part.
This is textbook addiction. Normal people don’t feel ecstatic about that feeling of disappearing and numbing, but we do (you are not alone in having struggled with this). Normal people don’t hate themselves after drinking (or other addiction behaviour), but we do. It’s kind of like we have an allergy, similar to an allergy to peanuts. Most people have no trouble snacking on peanuts. We can’t, so we learn to be happy and healthy without peanuts.
Ultimately what label you use isn’t really important. If you have a problem, you have a problem. The important thing is to start learning about it, and talk to people who know what it’s about. There’s a great list of books and podcasts here, and also a list of recovery groups:
This was so well said. I took a screenshot as an important reminder for myself.
I know that if I wanted to I could have a drink, but the truth is I’m an addict and it would lead me right back to the depths of addiction and regret.
Maybe not right away, but that’s exactly where it would take me.
I have lots of respect for the mental health industry, and the manuals that puts names to things. But for me personally, the why and how of it all when it relates to drinking is irrelevant. If you think you drink too much, and find yourself on a website for people who don’t drink. Then all the signs are there that maybe you should try to completely stop. The terms that I use to describe myself are intentional. I understand we aren’t all in the same boat as far as severity, but I try to take recovery serious. Looking at it philosophically since sobriety is “trending” seems to be the thing nowadays. People hate the terminology, but for me, that is part of the treatment. As much as I like this website, typing and responding does not keep me sober, it helps, but it takes lots of work to stay the course. I respect that you seem to “toying with the idea”. But I would hate to see it turn into a “no brainer” type of decision. I say all this from a place of genuine fear for you. I am certainly not trying to talk down to you or anything, but very intelligent people talk themselves out of a good sober way of life.
I’m not sure it matters whether you have a diagnosable disorder or not. The real question here is, do you want to stop drinking? Do you think you need to stop? Is alcohol a positive in your life? What benefits do you get out of it? Are the risks worth the reward?
I wasn’t exactly physically addicted. Sure I felt like shit for the first few days/weeks after stopping but I was never in any medical danger. No seizures, no sweats, no DTs. Even the shakes were quite rare. My shrink made me do bloods when I was a few weeks sober and surprisingly, my liver was in perfect health. More than a decade of drinking combined with coke binges reminiscent of the 80s and my liver survived pretty much unscathed.
Does that mean I didn’t have a problem and that I could’ve safely continued living in a haze of booze, regret, bad decisions and hangovers?
If you are seeking official answers on this, there are health professionals qualified to diagnose this with you, evaluating a set of symptoms determining if you have mild, moderate or severe alcohol use disorder (AUD). The first step is to talk to your general practitioner or mental health professionals.
Two common examples of symptoms: 1) Inability to cut back on drinking, 2) Drinking more or for longer than intended.
If you determine you do not have AUD, with a medical professional, you may have an alcohol abuse issue, or called problem drinking, and this happens when you generally feel and see negative consequences to drinking.
If you suspect to have an issue, or a disorder, I would advise at least you stop using until you can get answers.
Also, sobriety is amazing, and gets you away from craving, dependency (whether physical or psychological, honestly, the two are intertwined with alcohol), physical harm of alcohol, etc etc.
I don’t put too much stock into physical vs psychological. It reminds me of the old saying “the call is coming from inside the house”.
Both my body and my brain were asking me to put alcohol into my body. I physically slapped my own hand as it reached for a bottle of wine once at the supermarket.
If you are questioning whether or not you have an alcohol use disorder try 30 days without. If it is very hard, you are on the right track. But it isn’t necessary to label yourself if you don’t want to. Hang out with us and read around. There are plenty of great threads to read.
