Drug Abuse

Question by DLOCREEB: What are the chances that someone that is labeled an alcoholic can change and moderate their drinking habits?

Best answer:

Answer by J J
Alcholicism is a condition that if treated right can provide a better quality of life for him/her and those around the affected person.
It is an addicition that needs to be broken, AA is a help, but you want to have to give up that addiction and learn not to depend on it. Often those in a severe way end up by not drinking at all as the temptation would prove to much to stop at a couple, whereas others, for instance someone who drinks a lot but only at weekends could be classed as an alcholic as they drink in such huge amounts as a release, this type of person is more likely to be able to cut down and just have a few instead of lots.
It is about wanting to stop and having not only the willpower but also the support in order to turn a drink away.
So to summerise, it is possible to chance and moderate drinking but it will depend on the level of alcholism and the individuals wants and support.

Answer by raysny
I’m a former alcoholic and find not drinking easier than trying to moderate. However, I know too many people who have done it successfully to say it can’t be done. It is my belief that people exposed to AA have an easier time not drinking at all than attempting to moderate, they’ve been exposed to too much misinformation.

Check out “Controlled Drinking versus Abstinence” by Stanton Peele:
http://www.peele.net/lib/cdvsabs.html

And it depends on who’s doing the labeling; so many problem drinkers get labeled “alcoholics” that the word has become meaningless. Go to most AA meetings and less than 20% were ever alcoholics, but other members will convince them that “nobody gets here by accident”. That’s right, it’s not an accident, they get there by coercion; 61% arrive via the courts, government agencies, or employee assistance programs.

“Alcoholics Can Recover from Alcoholism & Drink in Moderation”
by David J. Hanson, Ph.D.
“More than one-third (35.9 percent) of U.S. adults with alcohol dependence (alcoholism) that began more than one year ago are now in full recovery, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).”
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1109212610.html

“People assume that the government is an impartial arbiter, sorting through rival positions and conflicting data in an honest effort to find the truth.
Unfortunately, the federal bureaucracy doesn’t serve as a neutral moderator when it comes to alcohol policies. Instead, it throws all its weight squarely on one side of the debate. Research designed to promote the current temperance-oriented policy gets federal funding, a stamp of approval, and widespread dissemination by the government regardless of its scientific merit. ”
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1098894305.html

“Alcohol and Health: Should the Public Know the Truth?”
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1093542434.html

More Revealed: Moderation and Abstinention
http://www.morerevealed.com/library/mr/newmr_203.jsp

Next day edit, new article:
“The 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions found abstinence and moderation to be equally effective. Among the 43,000 alcoholics surveyed, nearly 36 percent were in recovery—18.2 percent were abstainers and 17.7 percent were moderate drinkers.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071205/sc_livescience/controlleddrinkingcontroversialalternativetoaa

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Lamar Odom Sentenced to Probation, Alcohol–Abuse Treatment
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