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Don’t Be a Statistic: Binge Drinking Data and You

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Binge Drinking By The Numbers Alcoholism isn’t measured by large quantities of drink in one day, but almost all alcoholics have engaged in binge drinking at one time or another.  Maybe thousands of times, maybe a few dozen. This means men having 5 drinks or women 4 in 2 hours or less.  This definition is from the Centers for Disease Control, which we’ll be revisiting throughout the post. A lot of the posts I make are for particular insights (I’ve gotten the hard way) about one facet of … [Read more...]

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Am I an Alcoholic if I Drink Every Day?

Am I an Alcoholic if I Drink Every Day? What's an alcoholic? You're here because you have an important question.  You drink on a day-to-day basis, and you're coming to that awful, nagging feeling that you'e an alcoholic.  You don't know if you need help or not, and, wisely, you don't want to be in denial. You come home from work and have a cocktail to unwind; maybe it's a glass of wine with dinner; every few nights you hang out with Dave nd Luis and play some Xbox over half a six-pack.  It … [Read more...]

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Why do alcoholics drink?

Why do alcoholics drink? Well, because they're alcoholics.  But how did they achieve that lovely title to begin with? It's actually a fairly common question.  For better or for worse, alcoholics do inspire questions.  That's why there are so many movies about us. So what is the answer? Well, I may have known more than my share of alcoholics in my day.  And the reason it can be hard to talk about causes is that there are so many different paths to excessive drink.  Also, one doesn't really … [Read more...]

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The Top 6 Ways to Spot an Alcoholic

Loyal readers, today's another post for friends or family of alcoholics about the top 6 Ways to spot an alcoholic. Or, I guess another way of putting it is friends of someone who you suspect is an alcoholic.  How can you get a jump and spot the alcoholism at the earliest stages?  If you have a friend or family member--we'll call him Nick--who's functioning at a pretty high level, how do you know when he has crossed that line? As you know, I have a bit of experience with alcoholism, so I know … [Read more...]

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Excuses Made By Addicts & Alcoholics

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Alcoholics and addicts tend to make excuses.  I know a lot of them, and I'm here to share. Here’s something alcoholics have in common with everyone else: we have well-developed defense mechanisms.  We know how to protect ourselves, and that might mean protecting our feeling from what we think are attacks.  Basically, we tell ourselves stories.  We also know how to lash out at others, even if we’re not lashing out in a way that’s extremely dramatic. Now, addicts aren’t exactly nuts or in some … [Read more...]