How do I know if I am an alcoholic? So many of us have asked ourselves this question at some point. Annie tackles this question with information on the term “alcoholism” vs the newer term of “alcohol use disorder” and provides us with a better question we should be asking ourselves in order to gain freedom in our relationship with alcohol.
Am I An Alcoholic?
Culturally, I feel like we've stopped asking the same questions, like, "Would I be happier drinking a bit less, or drinking nothing at all?" Instead, the question that looms is, "Am I an alcoholic?" It's not cool to question our drinking like we would question our sugar intake or cigarette smoking, and because of that, we live in fear. When we feel we might be drinking a bit too much, the fear grows, because the question, again, that looms is, "Am I an alcoholic," and so we start to feel really uncomfortable with this question.
Numbing It All
As drinkers, we often drink to dull these uncomfortable feelings, so this very question not only causes us to drink more, but can create this rock bottom type experience. A true wake-up call stemming from something awful happening with our drinking before the fear of the question becomes less than the fear of continuing to drink like we do.
Terrifying
The question is terrifying. Why is it terrifying? Because we've been told that alcoholism is a lifelong, incurable disease that plagues a select few people, and we sure don't want to be one of those people. We've divided our culture into two people. People who can drink normally, and alcoholics. This gives us this false sense of security.
False Security
Actually, in my opinion, I believe it obscures the naturally addictive nature of alcohol. When rats were given alcohol in a study, 100% of rats that were force-fed alcohol became addicted to alcohol. Alcohol is biologically addicting to human beings, and we don't treat it with the caution it deserves because we believe if we're not an alcoholic, then bring them on, pour the wine. According to some more research, only 10% of excessive drinkers are clinically dependent, and alcohol is still causing massive problems for the 90%, and most interestingly, alcohol use and drinking has skyrocketed in our culture, especially among women. I mean, it's not, 78% of Western society drinks alcohol.
Alcohol Is Addictive
It's literally insane. Alcohol is addictive not just to alcoholics, but to human beings, and so the way our society poses this question and the way when we start to question our own drinking, we jump to this question, means that we almost protect alcohol, and we disguise its addictive nature. But enough about the question. I just get a bit riled up about this, because it seems like such a mistake. We can question our sugar. We can question all sorts of other things about our health, but we can't question our drinking, which I think is a mistake, especially considering how much harm drinking does, but let me answer the question.
The Question
The first most simple answer to, "Am I an alcoholic," the answer is no. You're not an alcoholic. Guess why. Alcoholics don't exist. Okay, I know some people are going to get really mad, and that was a super controversial thing to say, and yadda yadda yadda, but hear me out. In the medical and the psychiatric and the scientific realms, alcoholism is no longer recognized. That's because we've started to move on from that to something that encompasses the whole spectrum of drinking. The DSM-5, which is also called, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders, it's the American Psychiatric Association's classification and diagnostic tool. It's the universal authority for diagnosis, and it's the bible, if you will, that medical professionals use to diagnose disorders.
Keep Listening
Listen to the complete podcast to hear more on Annie thoughts on “Am I an alcoholic?”
Информация по комментариям в разработке