What defines alcoholism?

Question

I think what I'm about to tell you is as close as it gets. I was doing my shift and a man came up and asked me and my mate ( we work in a huge supermarket) where a certain brand of beer was (for all you UK residents it was super tenents- the skankiest beer of them all!). I had to leave it with my friend as i was in the middle of doing something, but he only had to walk in the direction away from the beer and the chap got really agitatated!

I saw my friend later and he told me that guy was a notorious customer ( he's only about 30). As it turned out the store had run out, so my friend being the devoted employee went to the stock room, only to be told the same thing. He relayed this news to the customer, who wouldn't then believe him. Fair enough you may say, but the customer then insisted on speaking to a manger, so my friend took him into the stock room ( this place is like a football pitch!) and showed him. Once again he wouldn't believe him, even when presented with the proof!

My friend then got one of the people that WORKS in this stock room, and when asked e said the same thing- the customer then insisted that he was wrong! This is someone that works in the stock room for 5 HOURS every day,minus saturday.

Nope this guy wasn't a tramp, or a vagabond of any description. Infact he looked pretty cool before he opened his big stupid mouth!

Answer 1

When someone becomes physically or mentally sick from a lack of alcohol. This is the transition into them becoming addicted to alcohol. Therefore, this is alcoholism. When they have a physical dependence on alcohol. This guy sounds like he's going mad, as well.

Answer 2

From what you disclose, this fellow was pushing the envelope as it was. He was already well past the usual bounds for customers in a store. If this had happened in a bank, he would be called (according to the bank manual) a disruptive individual, and would have been immediately escorted to the door and asked to leave. The minute he began to insist, that would have been the end of it. He would have had to leave. My heart goes out to such a person. However, you cannot know if violence is one of his forms of self expression, so the whole thing must be handled with tact and firmness. Finding another employee before you ask him to leave is standard protocol. Sometimes store will not do that, even. They continue being polite and even detain the fellow a bit and the police are called to do a gentle intervention and relieve the store of all responsibility. The way you presented your narrative, we have a person who is insisting, but we do not really know for certain if dependency is involved as well. I grant you the behaviour certainly suggests it, and as another person who answered here said, if you can't go a day without alcohol, chances are you suffer from alcoholism. Was his speech slurred? Did he wobble? Did he reek? These landmarks would have helped establish the degree of need.

Answer 3

Alcoholism is an addiction, an addiction is strictly defined as "the feeling of or inability to function with out said substance." However addiction is usually reserved for things that we find distasteful. With this definition everyone on the planet is addicted to oxygen. There really is on difference between "abusing" alcohol and being an addict. The FDA says that one drink a day is helpful and healthful, more than one is harmful. However, I had friend in high school, who felt she was an alcoholic because she COULDN'T unwind after work with out a drink. And there is the line. If you "Can't live with out it" or when asked why you drink so much you have every said, "It's not that much, besides I CAN STOP ANY TIME I WANT TO" that my friend is an addiction. As for the inability to hold a job? My aunt has made between a 5 and 6 figure salary most of her adult life and uses the "Pass out" method to go to sleep every night. She is an addict, a "functional addict" but an addict none the less. Every ones addiction is different. If you want a good idea what alcoholism and addiction is sit in on an AA or NA meeting or volunteer at your local rehab or AA sponsored shelter. It's a really eye opener.

Answer 4

It's sad really, but yes, he is probably so addicted to alcohol that he has gone into a deep world of his own that he believes everyone is against him.

I'm having a similar problem with my sister in law's new boyfriend. He is a serious alcoholic, but he won't admit it. He buys and drinks a whole bottle of Vodka before midday EVERYDAY, and if he can't, he gets very moody, and my sister in law has now started to believe that he has started sniffing deodrant through a towel when he is unable to sneak out and get alcohol.

Although I personally think that those who become addicted to alcohol or anything infact, are weak...I do feel sorry for them when it gets to such a degree where they cannot think straight without their "vice". I don't drink at all, so no chance of me heading down that road...but it seems that so many people do these days. Very sad.

Answer 5

Everyone has different tastes - and just because this customer likes a "skanky" beer, doesn't make him an alcoholic. An indication that one is an alcoholic, is needing to drink at the same time every day. i.e.- can't go home without stopping for that pint! or two!or four! - Get the picture! Alcoholism is no different then drug addiction, they just can't get through the day without a drink! More then 3-drinks a day is considered an alcoholic.

Answer 6

From The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Diagnostic Criteria
Alcohol abuse: A destructive pattern of alcohol use, leading to significant social, occupational, or medical impairment.


Must have three (or more) of the following, occurring when the alcohol use was at its worst:


Alcohol tolerance: Either need for markedly increased amounts of alcohol to achieve intoxication, or markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of alcohol.


Alcohol withdrawal symptoms: Either (a) or (b).
(a) Two (or more) of the following, developing within several hours to a few days of reduction in heavy or prolonged alcohol use:


sweating or rapid pulse
increased hand tremor
insomnia
nausea or vomiting
physical agitation
anxiety
transient visual, tactile, or auditory hallucinations or illusions
grand mal seizures

(b) Alcohol is taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms.

Answer 7

That is one desperate alcoholic - wow I bet his parents and kids are proud of him. I was watching a guy the other day in Tesco's - he was a youngish guy - scruffy with 2 kids in tow. He was counting out his loose change and obviously had enough for 4 cans of Economy lager . Grabbing them off the shelf he then barged through the checkout queues - knocking my husband in the back in the process - and went to pay at the *** counter coz it was quicker. When we walked outside there he was sitting by the trolleys drinking his beer - what a sad man and how sad for his kids.

Answer 8

Someone who is addicted to alcohol. This particular person sounds like a big alcoholic. The best way to deal with people like this is do as much as you can, like calling a manager and let him take care of it, whether it be calling the cops or what. Alcoholics don't care about the proof, they just want more booze. If you corner them with the proof, they will just raise all kinds of hell for you, and other customers.

Answer 9

chronic dependence on alcohol by compulsive drinking and consumption that it causes mental disturbance, hallucinations, blackouts and epilepsy, better term would be alcohol dependency syndrome. Look at what the person drinks, how often they drink and for how long, this includes binge drinkers. Look for physical effects of stopping drinking d.t's and the factors such as loss of job, breakdown in relationships since drinking. When in the day does the person have a first drink and what do they drink? alone or socially? as a social lubricant or as an anaesthetic for psychological pain?

Answer 10

Not being able to go without alcohol for one day. Even if you only have one glass of alcohol a day, if you need that one glass you are technically an alcoholic.