Alcohol. Is it possible...??

[Jaspar]

Is it possible to be addicted to alcohol -- i.e. be an alcoholic -- if the amount consumed is 1-2 shots of scotch (3 max & rarely) each evening without getting drunk?

Like... if ... although it isn't much, the person CRAVES ... really wants... that drink at night. And.... if the person just has 1-2 each night for years and years without being addicted is it possible to become addicted even after all that time of not being addicted?

[Jo*mar]

I think i read somewhere....quite awhile ago so pardon me if I'm incorrect...:o

Something like there might be a couple different kinds of alcohol addictions and probably a mix of those also.

One would be the chemical addiction the kind where you need more and more and go into detox withdrawals if you don't have it.

Another would be more of an emotional addiction - feel the need to have it but not really a detox or withdrawal happens if you don't.

I guess it also depends on if you are sipping those shots spread out over the evening or slugging them down real fast - to get a buzz on...

[Jaspar]

Another would be more of an emotional addiction - feel the need to have it but not really a detox or withdrawal happens if you don't.

Ahhh.... an emotional addiction. I think that is what it is. Not a chemical addiction. Pavlovian reaction to seeing the bottle in the evening. It is still scary. Perhaps better to purposely forego it for a while....

I guess it also depends on if you are sipping those shots spread out over the evening or slugging them down real fast - to get a buzz on...
Usually a sipping. But once in a while, a slugging.

[Buffheart]

I don't think being an alcoholic means that you have to get drunk every time you have a few drinks

[Grizabella]

It's not how much you drink, it's what it does to you when you drink that tells the tale. And people who aren't alcoholic don't wonder if they are.

I've been sober coming up on 24 years on May 5th. I could always stop, but I just couldn't stay stopped and I never drank because I was an alcoholic. I drank to calm my nerves, to make me feel better when I was sad, to celebrate things, to grieve things, because I was angry, because I was happy, because I was sad, and because "you" made me do it. Never because I was an alcoholic. But then when it quit working, I had to admit I'm an alcoholic and it was the best thing that ever happened to me as well as the hardest thing I've ever done----besides quitting smoking.