Do you agree with the statement, "Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic"?

Question

Do you think a person who is alcoholic can stop drinking for a long time and then pick up a bottle years later and drink like a normal person?

Please state reasons or personal experiences to back up your thoughts.

Answer 1

yes- simply because although alcohol is just a symnptom of a major problem, alcoholics tend to live a certain style of life. Even when they sober up, some tend to still have the same characteristics they had while they were actively drinking- I know this because, I myself am an alcoholic- but not active at the moment thankfully!

Answer 2

People do it all the time.

Many people abuse alcohol when they younger and quit or learn to moderate on their own. 80% according to Harvard studies.

People who have been exposed to AA don't fare as well. When they do slip, they tend drink more destructively than those who haven't been exposed. It's like a person on a diet who has a slice of cake, figures they've blown the diet and go on to eat the whole thing. When people are taught that "once an alcoholic....", they've become conditioned to drink like one.

I haven't had a drink in 5 years. Could I have one without becoming a falling down drunk? I'm sure I could, I have a wife who doesn't drink, I'm no longer mired in depression, and my life is good. I don't because I don't feel a need for it and I work in the field and would lose credibility, especially with all the AA folks who wouldn't listen to another word I said.

Answer 3

The term alcoholic refers to a disease related to the amount of trouble alcohol causes in your life. The key to being "cured" is to find the balance between alcohol consumption and the amount of trouble it causes. For a majority of drinkers alcohol doesn't cause problems. For a few drinkers alcohol does cause trouble in many ways.

Alcohol related problems can include:
Stress on relationships
Time-loss or stress at work
Legal problems
Health problems
Personal emotional stress.

Now it gets tricky. "Normal Drinkers" do not obsess on how much they drink. They simply do it or do not do it without much stress about the issue. "Alcoholics" obsess about how much they drink and whether they are alcoholic or not. An "alcoholic" may go for years without drinking a drop and still have the obsession that labels them an "alcoholic". "Normal Drinkers" can go for 5 years without drinking and not even notice the time. When they have a drink it is not a struggle of willpower it is simply having a drink.

Alcoholism is more of an obsessive/compulsive problem than an actual beverage related problem in the same way water intoxication is an obsessive problem where people drink way too much water. Everyone drinks water but a few people manage to make a problem out of it.

Answer 4

Nope...I don't believe that.

And don't let AA or Alanon/Alateen, whatever, brainwash you into believing it either.

People can and do recover from addictions all the time.

AA leads you to believe you are POWERLESS and then they lead you into replacing your drinking problem with an addiction to AA meetings, slogans, jargon, friends, etc.

No offense, I know AA helps millions world-wide but it's not for everybody. I never met a more disturbed group of people who were never, ever happy about anything. They looked for the worst in life. Replaced being drunk with being introspective and a downer about everything.

UGH.

I am married to a man who was once a member of the CULT. I never did think his drinking was a problem but his best bud got into AA and my husband thought it would be good for him. I have never seen him drunk once (and I know the philosophy of AA states that you don't have to be drunk to be a drunk, etc) but what I mean is that I never thought my husband should have been there in the first place.

He is now a social drinker again..not at all worried or uptight about beer being in a cheese dip or about alcohol in cough syrup... We have wine with dinner about 4 nights a week and sometimes on the weekends we'll go out and have a beer or three....Occasionally.

But by dropping "the program" he was able to see what is normal and what isn't. I big group of depressed men, sitting around crying and pissing and moaning about the injustices of the world is NOT normal.

Taking responsibility for ones own actions and admitting that you do have the power is normal.

Good luck to you. However, if you fear that someone may be drinking too much, they probably are. Alcoholism isn't very choosy as to when or who it'll hit.

Answer 5

NO. there is always hope for an alcoholic to stop drinking for good.

an addiction is a form of ESCAPE-- we like it for what it numbs in us. we cant seem to stop because it seems to answer a NEED in us.

if alcohol gives a person ultimate satisfaction at the time the person is drinking it, he would go back to it-- again and again. much like smoking. if it satisfies a need in us, we cant seem to stop it.

but an alcoholic can stop drinking if he can point out the real reason why he keeps on doing so. he can try looking for the same satisfaction elsewhere-- like how I've heard some rehabilitation centers try to engage people into sports. something has to fill up the void that drinking would leave, if the person has to stop it.

i used to chain smoke when i was younger. about 1-2 packs a day; one stick right after the other. it satisfied my need to relax, my need to look like an adult, my need to belong to a group of fellow smokers. but one time i got pregnant and i found a great reason to stop smoking for a year. i realized that i can still relax without it, my friends still loved me, and pregnancy has already given me an adult status. i lost my craving for cigarettes. i still smoke sometimes, but only for pleasure-- about a stick or two, and only once in a blue moon. it could take a year without it and i wont mind. i actually stopped for more than 5 years.

drinking can be just like smoking. or gambling. or even non-stop shopping LOL. we can stop it when it reaches the uncomfortable level of addiction, if we can figure out what we're escaping from.

Answer 6

It really depends on the person. I know someone who used to be an alcoholic quit drinking, and was never able to drink again. I also know someone who used to be an alcoholic and quit drinking. Soon he was able to have a drink every once in a while during special event and he's fine. In fact, he's never been better. He does say that you are constantly recovering from drinking, and you never truely fully recover. I don't know if he is a one in a million kind of person (with regards to drinking), but he is fine now.

Answer 7

Yes, I have seen it. My father-in-law is an alcoholic. He has tried numerous times stopping and then just drinking socially. Alcoholics cannot do that. It will just turn into abuse everytime. He has now been sober for years and completely given up the notion that he will ever be able to take a single drink.

Answer 8

No. The tendency to fall back into alcoholism is always there. It is inherited. Also, the alcoholic has a craving for other habits, some of which can replace the alcohol and are, of course, safer than alcohol, but some (such as cigarettes) may not be entirely safe. This is known as the "addictive personality."

Answer 9

according to the dui class i attended, you can drink normal but will still be an alcoholic because you passed a trigger level for alcoholism. i don't agree with the word always, that assumes that this will be the same for all people all the time and that just can't be true. obviously, a recovering alcoholic is more prone to relapse bu not "always"

Answer 10

Yes, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic...

I have seen many people that thought otherwise end up in the hospital (again) to dry out after going out for "one drink" with the boys...

and several of them had been dry for over 10 years.