I knew all these years of drinking on my own were going to pay up
A => B ≠> A' => B'
A => B ≠> A' => B' ≠> A' ≠> B'
Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
61–70 of 87 posts
Re: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
#62Alcohol has exeptionally bad ergonomics when it comes to intoxicants. Its strong effects on behavior and experience are wildly unpredictable, it has severe undesirable effects, it's stongly toxic, it causes morbid dependence and has particularly bad physiological and psychological after effects. We can do better than alcohol.
> We can do better than alcohol.
I think we won't get past the cultural issues in our lifetime.
Many cultures have 0 tolerance for anything outside of alcohol (and I totally get it when it comes to China for instance), and prohibition of drugs like marihuana was long used to target specific communities.
I'm not even sure if western cultures are still on the path to open to low harm drugs, do we have any research on synthetic drugs that have a change to become fully legal alternatives ?
Re: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
#63"Alcohol use disorder" recalls George Carlin on the evolution of language: "In this classic George Carlin routine, the legendary comedian breaks down how language has been systematically softened over time. From "shell shock" to "battle fatigue" and eventually to "post-traumatic stress disorder," Carlin illustrates how our words have become more complex and less impactful. He argues that Americans have difficulty fac…
> language has been systematically softened over time. From "shell shock" to "battle fatigue" and eventually to "post-traumatic stress disorder,"
This is literally just called "learning more about the condition" - it's not some deep symbolic neutering of language by the dang liberals.
Imagine someone having PTSD from combat in which a single shell was never launched, and being like "Yeah, they've got shell shock" ???
Re: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
#64"Alcohol use disorder" recalls George Carlin on the evolution of language: "In this classic George Carlin routine, the legendary comedian breaks down how language has been systematically softened over time. From "shell shock" to "battle fatigue" and eventually to "post-traumatic stress disorder," Carlin illustrates how our words have become more complex and less impactful. He argues that Americans have difficulty fac…
The great thing about calling it "alcohol use disorder" is that it lets you diagnose more people. If you're a nonprofit or advocacy group, "alcoholics" are only going to get you so far in terms of funding, also dealing with them is messy and incredibly difficult. If you can shift the overton window on whats considered "problematic" drinking you get to "educate" people and get funding for things which have fewer hard…
God forbid they're looking at patterns of alcohol abuse that falls outside a narrow preconceived scope. "Alcoholism denial" was not what I expected to see when I woke up this morning, but here we are.
This is just conspiracy logic with no evidence that you fashioned yourself out of nothing but ugly cynicism and contrarianism.
Re: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
#65"Alcohol use disorder" recalls George Carlin on the evolution of language: "In this classic George Carlin routine, the legendary comedian breaks down how language has been systematically softened over time. From "shell shock" to "battle fatigue" and eventually to "post-traumatic stress disorder," Carlin illustrates how our words have become more complex and less impactful. He argues that Americans have difficulty fac…
He was just wrong here. PTSD covers many problems, including "shell shock", but also survivors of, say, natural disasters, serious accidents, sexual abuse, and many other types of traumatic experiences.
And this is hardly an "American" thing; all societies do this sort of thing (although topics and methods vary). Carlin's views, like many Americans, were extremely centred on the US and seemed quite clueless about the rest of the world.
Re: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
#66> People tend to assume that “the mere presence of other individuals exerts a beneficial effect” that tempers the desire to overindulge when drinking, Fairbairn said. Who thinks that? I have never personally known anyone who drinks much alone, but plenty who drink too much in groups.
I think that. When I drink socially, I'm engaging with other people and things like slurring speech become readily apparent. I can tell when I'm stumbling over words and having trouble saying what I mean. It's very obvious. When I drink alone, I'm not talking to anyone. The voice in my head never gets noticeable inebriated. I'm typically not moving around as much so can't rely on my sense of balance to judge intoxication as reliably either. And with social drinking, it's pretty easy to compare the rate at which I'm knocking back drinks versus everyone else. You tend to order in waves with others which slows folks like me down quite a bit.
Re: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
This thread is cluing me in that I need new wording to describe my rare consumption of alcohol.
I have a glass of whiskey a couple of times a year I mostly just tell people I don't drink at all If I tell people that I drink "rarely", they put it into their own framework based on how often they drink themselves. Heavy drinkers might assume "rarely" means one night a week. Moderate drinkers might think a couple times a month
Same. To people who regularly drink, I don't drink at all.
When I was young, I would always get asked why. I'm pushing 40 now, and people rarely ask anymore.
Re: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
The great thing about calling it "alcohol use disorder" is that it lets you diagnose more people. If you're a nonprofit or advocacy group, "alcoholics" are only going to get you so far in terms of funding, also dealing with them is messy and incredibly difficult. If you can shift the overton window on whats considered "problematic" drinking you get to "educate" people and get funding for things which have fewer hard…
God forbid they're looking at patterns of alcohol abuse that falls outside a narrow preconceived scope. "Alcoholism denial" was not what I expected to see when I woke up this morning, but here we are. This is just conspiracy logic with no evidence that you fashioned yourself out of nothing but ugly cynicism and contrarianism.
I'm glad there's a voice of reason here (and one who put it much better than I could have). I'm failing to see the downside of being able to describe people who have alcohol dependencies that negatively impact their life without being "alcoholics" which is such a weighty term that I think makes people resistant to diagnosis.
Re: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
#69Alcohol has exeptionally bad ergonomics when it comes to intoxicants. Its strong effects on behavior and experience are wildly unpredictable, it has severe undesirable effects, it's stongly toxic, it causes morbid dependence and has particularly bad physiological and psychological after effects. We can do better than alcohol.
Does it taste better than alcohol?
Re: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder
#70> People tend to assume that “the mere presence of other individuals exerts a beneficial effect” that tempers the desire to overindulge when drinking, Fairbairn said. Who thinks that? I have never personally known anyone who drinks much alone, but plenty who drink too much in groups.
I think that. When I drink socially, I'm engaging with other people and things like slurring speech become readily apparent. I can tell when I'm stumbling over words and having trouble saying what I mean. It's very obvious. When I drink alone, I'm not talking to anyone. The voice in my head never gets noticeable inebriated. I'm typically not moving around as much so can't rely on my sense of balance to judge intoxica…
Ah interesting. For me it's a bit the opposite. Socially I'm very distracted by conversation and easily have more than I really intend to. Alone, I take time to consider each drink and almost never have more than 2.