What is an alcoholic?

Question

how often would you have to drink to be officially classed as an 'alcoholic'

Answer 1

Have you a dictionary?

Answer 2

Tough tough question? There are different levels of dependancy,
In a nutshell an alcoholic is someone who needs a drink to feel normal. There are many people who are alcoholic but dont know it!
You can't say how often a person needs a drink = alcoholic!
Iv'e been through Alcohol rehab may times and will admit i'm a true alcoholic ( i'm not proud of this fact ) But are truly aware of the problem, If you met me you probably would'nt be aware i was an alcoholic?

Answer 3

This is a very tender subject for me as I have worked in this area, but an alcoholic is a person who is dependent on alcohol on a daily basis, the amount they are drinking, the effect it is having on their family, at work and with friends. Getting the shakes whenever you need a drink, or the D.Ts. Lying,stealing, cheating your way through life to get money for drink.

I can honestly say there is no doctor's cure for the alcoholic, as they are just one drink away from hitting rock bottom every time they touch alcohol. One is too many, 100 is not enough! I'm sure you have heard that saying. Now the problem can become so serious that the alcoholic needs to drink every 1 or 2 hours.

There is only one "Cure" which will take away the desire for alcohol, and that is to put your trust in Jesus Christ and receive Him into your life, and he will take away the cravings for just 'one more drink'. God is for the alcoholic, and as a professing born-again-Christian, I have seen God work in people's lives and change them completely, that the very mention of the word alcohol, makes them sick. You have to be sincere to be a Christian and honest and open in your relationship with God. Even in the Army, I have seen the hardest of soldiers down on their knee's praying for deliverance from alcoholism.

People often turn to God in time of desperation, but also when they've tried every other method and failed. I have yet to see a sincere, honest, recovered alcoholic, who has turned there life over to God, go back to drinking again. It's the addiction God delivers you from and before you knock it, give God a chance and you will see how real He will become to you, because he loves you more than you can ever imagine and will deliver you from the downward spiral of alcoholism, to a new life in Christ, with Eternal Life in Heaven with Him.

Answer 4

Can't stop drinking once you start

Have tried to stop drinking for a week or so but only quit for a few days

Fail to do what you should at work or at home because of drinking

Feel guilty after drinking

Find other people make comments to you about your drinking

Have a drink in the morning to get yourself going after drinking heavily the night before

Can't remember what happened while you were drinking

Have hurt freinds, family or someone else as a result of your drinking

Answer 5

There are a lot of really heavy drinkers who are not alcoholic.
The amount of alcohol consumed is irrelevant.

The AMA has established four criteria for diagnosing alcoholism.
The first is hallucinations which occur in the presence of alcohol but not at other times.
The second is tremors which occur as a result of alcohol intake but not at other times.
The third is a "blackout" or period of amnesia which occurs
during a drinking bout.
Finally, a combination of the first three, called delerium tremens.

Any one of these four is sufficient to make a diagnosis of alcoholism.

Alcoholism is a disease. It fills all the rquirements of a disease. It has signs and symptoms, a progression, treatment, possible outcomes.
If you want my entire soap box speech. send me a message.

Answer 6

Alcoholism is a disease that is characterized by the following:

Craving: A strong need, or compulsion, to drink.
Loss of control: The frequent inability to stop drinking once a person has begun.
Physical dependence: The occurrence of withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety, when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking. These symptoms are usually relieved by drinking alcohol or by taking another sedative drug.Alcoholism

Answer 7

There are many definitions of an alcoholic, but the one I understand the best is not necessarily defined by the amount that one drinks, but by their behaviour.

If your drinking behaviour disrupts your life, your job, the lives of those around you on a regular basis then you may be an alcoholic.

The problem with that definition though, is that it is only telling to those around the alcoholic, & not the alcoholic themselves because they don't see their drinking as being disruptive to thier lives until they suffer a serious consequence(s) from their drinking.

Hope that helps.

Answer 8

Being an alcoholic isn't about how much you drink it is about depending on it. If you need a drink just to get through the day or to get away from your life when you are sober. If you don't drink you get the shakes.

Answer 9

A person who is dependent on alcohol. It's not how often you drink, it's the dependency.

If a person _can't_ get through a week without any alcohol... then s/he is probably at least partially dependent.

Answer 10

One who always drinks to much,they sometimes black out,depend on alcohol daily,there personally changes when drunk,have clothes on backwards the next day answer any of these they more than likely are or becoming one

Answer 11

Its not how often... it is have you lost the control over/ because of alcohol!

My dad have a single beer almost every night with his dinner... he is not an alcoholic (cultural habit... like in France). Great dad, never lost control and was never addicted to it. I vouched!