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Therapeutic Benefits of Alcohol?

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Re: Therapeutic Benefits of Alcohol?

#31

Post by Veen »

p1esk wrote: post #21
mft_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/citation needed Is there evidence that everyone else in the world would be “addicted” to alcohol if they consumed a single drink (one unit, 25mL of 40% spirits of equivalent) for more than 364 days? I really think you shouldn’t be throwing around such generalisations when someone is attempting to promote a serious discussion about the rational ‘use’ of alcohol.

I provided my opinion based on what they wrote. I did not intend to generalize it. I’m not sure the OP fully understands the serious risks of alcohol consumption. I have observed enough lives damaged by alcoholism to speak from experience.

But alcoholism and regular alcohol consumption aren't the same thing, are they? Alcoholics regularly consume alcohol, but not everyone who regularly consumes alcohol is an alcoholic.

I like to have a glass of single malt in the evenings after dinner. I've been doing so for years. But if I can't for some reason, so be it. I often forget to have it because I'm busy doing something else. No problem.

Re: Therapeutic Benefits of Alcohol?

#32

Post by partomniscient »

Because they want their coping mechanism to have less stigmatism attached to it. Whether it be cannabis, benzo's, pornography, humour, frenetically posting to internet forums* - almost everyone has some sort of existential angst coping mechanism, it just comes in many forms and they're not all collectively agreed upon.

>Why is it so taboo?

Because there's a lot of data of bad behaviour as a result of alcohol and lot more other data about physiological changes brought about by long term usage.

Most people aren't even reading the word "therapuetic" in your post before replying because we/they've been conditioned to by society to have a hair-trigger response.

Truth is relative, what's true for you may not be true for someone else and vice versa.

Its mostly everyone being socially conditioned to frown upon alcohol usage whatever the reason, despite being addicted to sugar, technology, porn etc.

Also, don't feel the need to apologise for trying to understand something, but also don't deny the facts out there about long term alcohol dependence.

* Frenetic posters to internet forums can be trying to force/reinforce their (own) views on social correctness, or can be naively trying to help e.g. Mentioning ashwagandha (which I myself have taken and purchased again recently), it can possibly result in many different side effects and there are no long term studies done [1] (mainly because there's no money in it) despite it being used in other cultures a very long time.

[1] https://www.verywellhealth.com/ashwagandha-benefits-side-eff...

Re: Therapeutic Benefits of Alcohol?

#33

Post by naming_the_user »

FWIW as a Brit, Americans seem to treat alcohol as being much more of a taboo than we do.

A Brit sees an alcoholic as someone who is pissed basically all of the time during the day or maybe 5+ drinks every night of the week.

I don’t know why it’s this way, but it definitely is, Americans when moving to the UK often come across as being really uptight on this.

Re: Therapeutic Benefits of Alcohol?

#34

Post by mft_ »

lm28469 wrote: post #29
mft_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/citation needed Is there evidence that everyone else in the world would be “addicted” to alcohol if they consumed a single drink (one unit, 25mL of 40% spirits of equivalent) for more than 364 days? I really think you shouldn’t be throwing around such generalisations when someone is attempting to promote a serious discussion about the rational ‘use’ of alcohol.

I have a lot of friends who drink a large beer every evening and "can stop whenever they want" none of them ever stopped in the last 20 years, they might not be physically addicted to the substance but they are definitely addicted to the habit and the effects are the same in the end. It doesn't matter if you can in theory stop but not do it or if you cannot physically stop, in the end you're drinking every day

> It doesn't matter if you can in theory stop but not do it or if you cannot physically stop

It matters a lot, if you want to use the term "addiction".

Addiction has many definitions, but usually it involves a habit or compusion to some behaviour or consumption of some substance, often with and despite negative consequences (e.g. mental or physical health, employment issues, relationship issues), and often with negative consequences (e.g. withdrawal symptoms) upon cessation.

A single large beer every evening may be a habit, and your friends may miss that habit if they were to stop, but I'd suspect they don't experience significant negative life consequences from that single large beer, and nor would they experience symptoms of physical withdrawal if they stopped.

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