Are alcoholics happy people?

[Anonymous]

A lot of them enjoy time with friends, feel relaxed when they drink and can hold down good paying jobs and marriages. Do they hide their unhappiness?

[Anonymous]

No happy person drinks to excess. No happy person drinks daily.

Lots of people can fake it, and many do (for a time). The fantasy of functionality is one of the biggest mindgames of addiction.

[Anonymous]

They are using alcohol to numb or not deal with something - insecurity, sadness, whatever. That's why there's a difference between detoxing from alcohol abuse which takes about two weeks max but then they need therapy for their addiction, which is part chemical but also emotional. They are uncomfortable being sober with their feelings.

[Anonymous]

No way. We drink to fill something inside of ourselves. We are happy of course with that first drink of the night in our hand but it doesn’t last long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of them enjoy time with friends, feel relaxed when they drink and can hold down good paying jobs and marriages. Do they hide their unhappiness?[/quote]
They drink in order to not feel their unhappiness. The more they drink, the more unhappy they are. Emotional eaters develop obesity, emotional drinkers (aka alcoholics) get cancer and liver problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No happy person drinks to excess. No happy person drinks daily.

Lots of people can fake it, and many do (for a time). The fantasy of functionality is one of the biggest mindgames of addiction.

Plenty of happy people drink to excess from time to time.

[Anonymous]

If you drink 2-3 glasses of wine every single night, are you an alcoholic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you drink 2-3 glasses of wine every single night, are you an alcoholic?

Male or female? Alone or with others? My answer is yes, I would call myself an alcoholic if I drank that much, but I’ll get a lot of pushback from others. I am ACOA and am told this makes me hypersensitive to “normal” amounts of booze.

[Anonymous]

My brother's best friend died at 32 from liver failure caused by drug and alcohol abuse. It was not a good way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you drink 2-3 glasses of wine every single night, are you an alcoholic?

Male or female? Alone or with others? My answer is yes, I would call myself an alcoholic if I drank that much, but I’ll get a lot of pushback from others. I am ACOA and am told this makes me hypersensitive to “normal” amounts of booze.

DP. Hypersensitive how? It’s true you need to be mindful given the genetic tenancies of alcoholism but there’s not a threshold amount that triggers it. Plenty of ACOA can consume normal amounts of alcohol with no issues.

[Anonymous]

I know some alcoholics in recovery who are very happy people.

The alcoholics I know who are still drinking are not happy.

I also know some heavy drinkers who I would not consider alcoholics that are quite happy. Not in good health at all, but happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you drink 2-3 glasses of wine every single night, are you an alcoholic?

Male or female? Alone or with others? My answer is yes, I would call myself an alcoholic if I drank that much, but I’ll get a lot of pushback from others. I am ACOA and am told this makes me hypersensitive to “normal” amounts of booze.

DP. Hypersensitive how? It’s true you need to be mindful given the genetic tenancies of alcoholism but there’s not a threshold amount that triggers it. Plenty of ACOA can consume normal amounts of alcohol with no issues.

Not physically hypersensitive to alcohol, but more likely to call someone an alcoholic. For example, my ex said he was entitled to drink a “couple of beers” every evening without any problem but since I had an alcoholic parent I assume every adult who drinks even one beer a night has a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know some alcoholics in recovery who are very happy people.

The alcoholics I know who are still drinking are not happy.

I also know some heavy drinkers who I would not consider alcoholics that are quite happy. Not in good health at all, but happy.

That seems like circular reasoning, somehow.

[Anonymous]

Externally? Maybe. Internally? Not at all.

It's self-medicating.

[Anonymous]

Well, there are a lot of things that people use to fill that god-shaped hole, as they call it