Are you an alcoholic if you think about drinking when anxious?

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6 Comments

I often have extremely stressful days which leaves me incredibly anxious at the end of the day and all I can think of is, I could just have a few drinks and make it go away. I could also meditate but the rational part of me is telling me there's a logic to my anxiety and that it's keeping me on my toes. It just sucks being in that state all the time. I used to have a few drinks every night for this reason but I quit. It didn't seem like enough to develop a dependency, though.

Voting Results
75% Normal
Based on 4 votes (3 yes)
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Comments ( 6 )
  • [Old Memory]
    5 years ago

    Happens to me when I’m stressed out too in other words I’m almost always thinking about it.

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  • CountessDouche
    5 years ago

    No, but it puts you at a very high risk for alcoholism.

    The problem is, it can work temporarily to relieve anxiety & a lot of people do use it to self medicate because of this. Having said that, there's a reason doctors don't prescribe alcohol & that's because it's literally poisonous. There are much better medications that can be used to treat anxiety, and if you experience it often enough that it interferes with your life, i encourage you to seek out other options.

    Long term alcohol abuse actually leads to sleep difficulties & horrible anxiety (which is one of the withdrawl symptoms). It's very easy to fall into the trap of medicating with alcohol, then medicating with alcohol again to mitigate the anxiety caused by alcohol withdrawl (you don't have to drink all the time to get these symptoms).

    As you drink more, you'll feel as if you need alcohol to deal with more & more situations in your life & soon you'll feel as if you need it to deal with everything. In short, using alcohol to self medicate is very dangerous & a very bad idea. If you feel the need to drink for anything other than casual enjoyment, or if you strongly crave alcohol, you are getting into dangerous territory where the chances of becoming an alcoholic are much, much greater.

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  • SmokeEverything
    5 years ago

    Stop worrying and just drink if it takes the edge off. Would you rather be drunk and happy all the time or sober and on edge? Alcoholism is a construct of the rehab industry.

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  • JustMolly
    5 years ago

    No. You aren't dependant on it, and you don't need it to function properly.

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  • megadriver
    5 years ago

    I don't think having a few drinks every day makes you an alcoholic... First thing I do after work is have a few beers, or a few glasses of wine with a few salami types and a few cheeses. This snack thing is called "meze", typical Bulgarian thing.

    My dad has been doing this for 30 years probably. Now I do it too XD
    And the stress just melts away. Not so much cause of the alcohol, but cause of the tradition, the taste, the relaxing environment.

    I don't think having a few beers daily makes you an alcoholic.
    Alcoholics drink until they pass out.

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  • SamanthaTheGoat
    5 years ago

    Only you can decide.

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