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To drink or not to drink?
Former Member
Posts: 1,875,648 The Mix Honorary Guru
We all know drinking too much alcohol can make us into a Barney.
Depressed? Pressurized? Or just having fun? I am sure we are all aware on the effects alcohol have on our health and self-image. Even I am aware of the causes of alcohol, as I open up my biology text book and I am thrown with all these long and short term causes of alcohol like Liver damage, Brain damage and even heart attack. Scary right? Not the best feeling but, many people do drink without any problems although, if you do look at the bigger picture... we wouldn’t want to look like Rick.
I mean, look at him ^ !
We know the effects but, for a lot of us it can be hard to know how much is too much.
Why do you think it can be hard to stop drinking?
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Comments
Well, I'm a student, and logic is, students can't be alcoholics, because life as a student means drinking, ahahaha.
But like alcohol can make you have a good time, it only gets shitteh when you don't realize what the actual fuck you're doing or have large chunks of your memory gone, but VODKA is life
You said you drink on bad days, what is it that's happening on these days that makes you want to drink?
You might want to take a look at our article http://www.themix.org.uk/drink-and-drugs/drinking-alcohol/am-i-drinking-too-much-alcohol-9945.html for some tips that's could help you break the habit. What do you think you could do that might be healthier?
You said your friends buy you wine as a go-to to cheer you up - could you talk to them about trying something else in these situations? Maybe instead they could take you to do something fun together that doesn't involve alcohol. Might be worth a try!
I think drinking it great, for ways of making friends and to feel temporarily better. But its an depressant so after you just feel horrible and then think of ways to feel better again and think drinking is the answer and than youre in that circle.
Im not an alcoholic but i emphasise with those who are because i can see how it can be easliy done.
But drinking occasionally with friends is a good time spent out. To feel confident. I dont see that would do any harm to you, as long as your not dependent on it. Or end up in risky situations.
There's a social norm, esp for 11-20 year olds (age very much depending on area - one of the erm...worser performing schools I work in have the year 7s/11 year olds already binge drinking) to drink. I personally don't drink and have been/am being pressured to go out drinking/partying on my 18th birthday lol. It's a social expectation really - letting loose at the weekends is associated with drinking for the young...and so the young go out drinking to meet those internalised values...As much as there's a fun element to it, of course, i've personally seen and heard from many how fun on the weekends eventually turned into a full blown, life-ruining addiction or a life-ruining accident from reckless behaviour even without an addiction.
It makes me sad really - a lot in schools I hear "but 18 year olds can't be addicted to alcohol that's just student life!" - I got news for anyone who says that me; that it's a lie and when fun binge drinking turns to almost calling the police at 3am it isn't fun and isn't worth it anymore. when you see a member of your family drinking from a large bottle of vodka and not sharing it at a degree-level apprenticeship on a tuesday, at work and again on a thursday, the binge dirnking friday through to sunday and getting touchy when you ask them to stop it's not student life, it's addiction...
Then there's the "cycle of addiction" - for a depressant like alcohol, this is that when we, or when one feels bad, they take something - in this case alcohol - to numb or distract themselves from the negative feeling, and when the effect of alcohol fades they feel sad again, so they drink more alcohol....and it goes on and on. Therapy is effective at curing addictions (as well as a course of drugs for alcohol - as a depressant, it has withdrawal symptoms which are lethal - if one addicted to alcohol were to go cold turkey they risk a seizure which at worst, can kill..some alcoholics get put on a diminishing course of benzos to stop withdrawal symptoms) for this reason - because if someone addicted starts finding better coping methods then they can link a feeling of sadness/anger/anxiety to those coping methods and the association with alcohol can be broken. For similar reasons it can be very difficult to stop alcohol (or any drug) addiction alone.
When I talked to a group of recovered drug addicts who now work to help those currently in recovery get through the process...One of them had been through an alcohol addiction stemming from depression at age 30-ish, and I asked them..."Why would you turn to alcohol with other coping strategies around that are more effective? Why did you not seek help?" and they replied to me- that they were afraid to seek help...which isn't suprising to me as a factor because I know that addictions are near impossible, if not completely impossible to get through alone...It makes me genuinely sad, really, it's heartbreaking hearing some of the conversations these people make.
And with that - some of the reasons it's so hard to stop drinking if you have an alcohol addiction? Because of the stigma or percieved stigma of recovery form addiction, because of the lack of knowledge of services that will help, and a lack of acess to servcies that will help (I found out that one of the founders of the group i volunteer in forked out about £10k - or £10,000 every time they submitted their son into rehab, and it's even more expensive for some!).
I guess we all have something we like to do and "interests" but some people rely on it, it's not an interest it's a need. It dulls pain and blurs your life in to something good. And then you wake up and nothing's changed- but you're sober and nothing else really works because it seems no one else can REALLY understand what that feeling feels like. They've been drunk sure but they've not had THAT sensation of how you can change your life with something like alcohol
If you drink but can't stop maybe it's better not to drink.
Not sure where the line goes between fun / occasional drink and having a problem...
I must have been about 8 when mother diluted my glass of Medoc with water, so I grew up to appreciate wine and generally respecting alcohol like all French children. Sometimes I might decide on cassis with Medoc 50/50, très belle comme la tradition.
Over the tragic loss of my child I had a blip at 14 binge drinking, but thanks to Mandy who pulled me off the stuff, I recovered and returned to sensible drinking at mealtimes up to the present. Or some evenings I might just have a refreshing glass of chilled spring water, or homemade lemonade. We appreciate why French families bring wine to the table because it's the done thing, but in England where you're only allowed to drink starting 18, most go crazy on alcohol and end up in A&E after a night on the razz.
When in Majorca I'll only have a beer or a glass of wine in the company of my family or my bodyguard. Or recently, a bottle of vintage Dom Pérignon to celebrate our engagement.
Really, it's about sensible drinking. I've never seen a woman drinking alone in a bar. Unless she's a hooker, of course.
I you are young (adolescence more or less) drinking is a social habit: those who get drunk are considered cool, while those who don't do that aren't. I think that's really sad, because what's the point in getting drunk, facing risks and losing control of oneself to prove to be cool? This is a childish behavior and attitude that can turn itself into dangerous interactions and make people drink to feel accepted. I have always believed, and still do, that if someone accept you just if you drink or smoke, it means that he/she doesn't really accept you at all. It's attitude that defines who a person is.
Regarding adults (or young too), instead, drinking can get out of control when it becomes a mean to face the struggles of life. This is what make it dangerous: the fact that it makes people feel buzzed and lose control for some time, forgetting bad thoughts. This is, anyway, the first step to become addicted to it.
It's really really important to be aware of the consequences drinking can cause both to our body (liver) and mind and to recognize our dangerous behaviors in order to prevent them from become more serious and in order for us to stop when we stil can do that.
- Fran
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