Are alcoholics happy people?

[Anonymous]

Alcoholics in recovery are extremely happy. The twelve steps of the AA program teach you how to be truly happy.

[Anonymous]

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

It’s an unhealthy drinking pattern but my understanding of alcoholism is someone who can’t STOP drinking once they start.

[Anonymous]

My grandpa was a veteran (military draft) and a alcoholic. He was a very sensitive and kind person but never recovered from PTSD. He was a sweet but very tormented soul, certainly not happy

[Anonymous]

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

Can you go an entire week or a month without any alcohol? Maybe you don't love it, but is it doable for you?

[Anonymous]

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

If you need it, then yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Nah, buddy. They really don't, at least not after their 20s. People who can drink responsibly, on occasion, know when to stop. Nobody getting wasted is doing it because they're so happy. It's a lie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Nah, buddy. They really don't, at least not after their 20s. People who can drink responsibly, on occasion, know when to stop. Nobody getting wasted is doing it because they're so happy. It's a lie.

DP. Disagree. It all depends. Drinking in excess a couple of times per year is different than doing it every weekend. The latter is the kind of behavior that typically stops for most people in their 20s. Drinking too much at a wedding or an event with friends? Totally different. People love to categorize drinking in black and white terms—and for some recovering alcoholics that’s necessary—but for a lot of people it’s just a way to be judgmental and pious about alcohol.

[Anonymous]

Of course not. They are self-medicating their depression, pain, trauma, anxiety, etc.

[Anonymous]

I never got to the 'need alcohol every day' level of alcoholism, but did have a binge drinking addiction. I quit about a year ago.

In general I was always pretty happy, but always felt like crap for a couple of days after a binge - not just physically, but I'd be really down on myself for my inability to control my drinking, etc. So it was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Logically I knew that the alcohol was the cause of feeling bad, but drinking also made the bad feelings go away, at least temporarily. I had to quit completely to break the cycle.

Now that I've quit, I'd say my day to day normal level of happiness is about the same, but I don't have those down days. So my average level of happiness has probably increased even though my happy days now aren't any happier than my old happy days, if that makes any sense.

[Anonymous]

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

Alcohol use disorder is a spectrum. In terms of 2-3 glasses of wine every night - and I'm guessing these are very generous pours - the question is what happens when you try to stop. Three glasses of wine is roughly 600 calories of sugar, which tends to make most people overweight if done daily. If you are over 30, three glasses of wine is most likely impacting your sleep. It's also probably really raising your anxiety. As your body detoxs itself from alcohol every night, your cortisol levels spike, which is unpleasant. And of course with time, your brain and your body develop tolerance. It's very easy to go from 2-3 glasses to finishing the bottle in order to get the same effect. The dependency creeps in. And you can see where that goes.

For some people, drinking 2-3 glasses of wine every day is just a bad habit. And once they decide to get in shape or find a healthier way to relax, it's pretty easy to dial it way back or even stop all together. For other daily drinkers, it's a stage on their journey through alcoholism. Every hardcore vodka drinker was a moderate beer/wine drinker at some point in their life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course not. They are self-medicating their depression, pain, trauma, anxiety, etc.

This was my FIL. He drank because of his unresolved PTSD from Vietnam. I saw him talk about it as part of his AA sponsorship. Getting help for that was part of his process for getting sober (which he was for nearly 40 years before he died).

[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.

New person here. Due to the genetic component of alcoholic addiction those who are ACOA are more likely to become addicted.
I'm very careful about my consumption.

[Anonymous]

Alcoholics not in recovery tell themselves they are happy particularly when they are drinking with others.

[Anonymous]

You are an alcoholic if you can't stop drinking and stay stopped. If you get cravings.

[Anonymous]

Alcoholics drink as an escape from something. No, they are not happy. They may pretend to be and even trick themselves into believing they’re happy for some time. Whatever it is they’re running away from usually catches up with them in some form or another.