Alcohol abuser = someone who continues to drink despite negative consequences (business failure and relationship breakdown etc).

Alcoholic = someone who physically craves for the stuff and experiences both tolerance and withdrawal.

Not trying to be pedantic but wouldn't binge eating full under the banner of bulimia nervosa?

there are very few true anorexics. i didn't meet any in my rehab program. i suspect a true anorexic would die before they made it to rehab.

Yeah, fair dos. I guess it's more than possible to have both.

It all comes down to personalities.

For instance i started binge drinking at 13.I drank all the way through my 20's most weeks anywhere between once and three to four times.But i never became dependant on it.I did it socially mainly.On the nights that i did'nt drink i had no urges to drink and after being in my current relationship for about 2 years i just stopped.I don't know why,I just did'nt fancy a drink.Now i drink very very rarely,Only on special occasions.
So the question of how much is too much depends really on the person.
Now if that person feels as if they NEED a drink at night if they have'nt had one then that to me is a problem.Nobody should NEED to drink but just enjoy it from time to time.Imo.

i think its cute, all these people that say they drank a lot and were able to quit and it's just that easy. then obviously you don't have the disease of addiction. stop trying to project your life story onto something completely unrelated.

Addiction is a disease, it's diagnosed by a doctor. if you weren't diagnosed, then please stop pretending that you understand or that your experience is in any way relevant.

That's like you saying you once tried on your mother's high heel shoes, so you totally understand being transgender, it's just a phase. it's just for fun, it's a choice.

(and for the record i did try on my mother's high heel shoes when i snuck into her room, but i'm not transgender.)

Hence why i said it's all down to peoples personalities.My example is just my relationship with alchohol.Everybody is different.

no, it's not down to personalities. it's down to people who have a disease/disorder and people who don't. there's a difference.

by definition - alcoholism is a disease so you are right.

The control paradox

http://nedic.ca/sites/default/files/...nd-bulimia.pdf

This is what I mean...http://www.psychforums.com/anorexia-...opic60589.html

I don't think you can call someone binge drinking heavily from 13 right through to their 20s a phase like trying on a pair of shoes. That's quite a chunk of time. :umm2:

I was only 17 when I first started becoming dependant on alcohol, and I was forced to take action when I was 18 when things got really out of hand. From my personal experience, I don’t think anything “begins” as an addiction. An addiction takes a while to develop. It becomes too much when you find yourself thinking about alcohol more than you do other people.

i didn't call it a phase. That definitely sounds like someone with the disease of addiction to me.

100% wrong

..I do understand what Alex is saying, especially with anorexia/bulimia in that the control isn't there, which is different from people like models for instance and the trend now with some celebrities as well to maintain a 'size 0'...we often see in the media 'anorexia' being used to describe them if their weight loss has been substantial and they look incredibly thin ...and something I personally hate is labels, how people have to fit into a label...for them their weight loss is being controlled if it's being maintained...it may be that, that weight loss brings health issues because it may not be the weight that their bodies are comfortable with so much of the control comes with the 'fight/struggle' to try to maintain it...but is that anorexia as such or just an unhealthy weight for them personally...and obviously if they're substituting or missing meals/balanced meals, then that's not a good thing either...

....anyways, I've only ever personally known one person in my life who had anorexia and why I hate labels also because there is no 'one size fits all'...she basically ad a really loving and close family and circle of friends so there was no traumas or anything like that which had happened to her...she was the girl who had everything, I guess you could say...she was beautiful/intelligent/popular etc...but she didn't see any of those things in herself ..maybe she did try to control with her eating, maybe that's how it started only there was no control there, where there is with some people...so sadly and inevitably, she became anorexic...and as Alex said, although she virtually ate nothing publicly, she binge ate continuously in private and obviously made sure the food didn't stay there afterward...with her, it was something that she could not have overcome on her own because eventually her body rejected all food, so definitely an illness which meant several months in hospital..and many times in hospital also as the mental/emotional part of her illness had to be medicated and maintained as well.../which is different from the control people can feel through their eating...so yeah, just not a one size fits all thing either...

I think drinking alcohol is a weird one, you can drink too much but not be addicted or relient - I know somebody who doesn't drink at all in the week, not even a drop but on a weekend he goes out Friday and Saturday and drinks a bottle of vodka between him and his friend and then go out and he comes home in a right mess - would that be classified as too much?

I have no idea how he does it I feel wavey after half a bottle of rose

I completely get him. I smoke 3 cigarettes a day...in the evening. I don't think about smoking during the day but when dinners over, my craving starts for tobacco.

We recently went to stay with friends and because they are very anti-smoking, I decided to refrain from tobacco for a few days. I became irritable, tearful, irrational and instead of enjoying my evenings with them, I just wanted to come home.

People always say to me, if you only smoke three a day it can't be an addiction; well it certainly feels like an addiction to me.

After this thread, I think I need a drink.