Definitions Of Drug Addict/Alcoholic

[Bradyn]

Addict or Alcoholic can both be pretty loose terms. I thought it might be a good discussion to define specific characteristics to help people who are confused or unsure if their using or drinking has started crossing some lines. In my life, addiction hit me like an invisible steam roller at 13. I remember the first weekend I smoked pot, the following Monday I went with the boys who always smoked pot & got high before school from then on. I mean like one day normal Jr. High student, the next day stoner. This was 1983 (ish). Drugs & alcohol became a staple in my life from then on.

[Fargin]

I'm not sure, if you can compare food binging with drug/alcohol, but for me, I define addiction as something, you're driven to do to calm, protect and numb yourself, which after it stops working, leaves you feeling worse, sad, bad and angry at yourself.

[Bradyn]

A friend of mine says "If you only lose control 3 out of 10 times that you start, do you know which 3 it will be? If you don't know which 3, do you really have control?"

[rc409]

I love the topic and can only speak from personal experience. I just turned 50. I'll be 100% truthful with you guys.

First drink at 16. In alcohol treatment at 16 3/4. Daily binge drinking all while graduating from high school.

I relapsed and drank three times since I was 16. Oddly enough, at 26, 36 and 46...hum.... Two of those times lasted a week and ended up as "Breaking news" on local tv. Once, I checked myself into a treatment center, so that one was pretty mild.

I transitioned right into pain pills at 36 and that lasted 11 years.

I was very much addicted to alcohol, and very much addicted to pain pills. I never lost control on pain pills, it was the xanax mixed in that caused my behavior to be insane. Xanax kicks me into a bi-polar high like you cant fucking imagine. Problem is, we dont know which bi polar will show up. The one that wants to die, RIGHT NOW, or the one who wants to buy cars and motorcycles.

So, 100% true, I had control on pain pills, not on valium, xanax or alcohol. I dont really fill in the "TO" part.

For me, the titles are nothing. Its really about your life. If you can take a few pills, drinks, shots, joints, etc per day, and love your fucking life, then do it.

If any of the above,food, sex, gambling, or some of the cool stuff you guys do starts to mess with your happiness, then we have a problem.

My last counselor was shitty. He was a middle age gay man who tried to guide us to find spiritual meanings in the lady "PINKS" music.

He did do one cool thing. Rather than worry about our specific choice of drug, he called all of it, and the process, "numbing".

This made sense. If we look at it backwards and ask, "WHY are we doing this, or using this......" If the answer is to not feel, then your probably well on your way to developing some physical and or mental addiction.

By that point is so fucking obvious , you stop asking yourself.

If I could advise anyone younger, and it meant anything, I'd say to seek help in this stage. The wondering stage. If you wait until you know, its worse. Once you get to the "know" stage, often times it will include probation, lost marriages, lost jobs,jail, prison, death, long term health issues, or loss of motorcycle. Listed from not so bad to awful.