It's common to picture a person with alcoholism as a person who consumes excessive amounts of alcohol every day. However, the two conditions aren't the same. Not all who suffer from alcoholism engage in binge drinking, and not all binge drinkers suffer from alcoholism.
NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 percent - or 0.08 grams of alcohol per deciliter - or higher. For a typical adult, this pattern corresponds to consuming 5 or more drinks (male), or 4 or more drinks (female), in about 2 hours.
Most people who binge drink are not dependent on alcohol. However, binge drinking is harmful on its own. It is associated with serious injuries and diseases, as well as with a higher risk of alcohol use disorder.
As the body becomes used to consuming alcohol, the risk of dependency increases and physical addiction can occur. And although a problem drinker may not currently be physically addicted to alcohol, continued drinking could lead to physical dependency and, therefore, alcoholism.
People who are addicted to alcohol tend to drink almost every day. This means that they typically have the same amount of alcohol in them every night and often increase their drinking after being sober for a period. However, the binge drinker tends to have a short period in which they consume most of their alcohol.
Myth: I don't drink every day OR I only drink wine or beer, so I can't be an alcoholic. Fact: Alcoholism is NOT defined by what you drink, when you drink it, or even how much you drink. It's the EFFECTS of your drinking that define a problem.
A woman who has more than seven drinks per week or more than three drinks per occasion. A man who has more than 14 drinks per week or more than four drinks per occasion. Older than 65 years and having more than seven drinks per week or more than three drinks per occasion.
Heavy drinking is excessive drinking
Heavy drinking is defined as consuming 8 or more drinks per week for women, or 15 or more drinks per week for men.
Given the broad range of effects heavy drinking may have on psychological function, these alcohol–induced disorders span several categories of mental disorders, including mood, anxiety, psychotic, sleep, sexual, delirious, amnestic, and dementia disorders.
Many individuals use alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with trauma, especially if the trauma is unresolved. Symptoms of experiencing trauma that has not yet been healed can make life challenging.
For men, binge drinking is 5 or more drinks consumed on one occasion. Underage drinking: Any alcohol use by those under age 21. Heavy drinking: For women, heavy drinking is 8 drinks or more per week. For men, heavy drinking is 15 drinks or more per week.
Alcohols bind with other atoms to create secondary alcohols. These secondary alcohols are the three types of alcohol that humans use every day: methanol, isopropanol, and ethanol.
Some of the different types of binge drinkers include those who drink out of boredom, those who drink to improve their mood, and those who drink when they are stressed.
Impaired control over alcohol use
This might mean not being able to control how long a drinking session is, how much alcohol you consume when you do drink, how frequently you drink, being unable to stop drinking once you start, or drinking on inappropriate occasions or at inappropriate places.
What is excessive drinking? Excessive drinking includes binge drinking, heavy drinking, and any drinking by pregnant women or people younger than age 21. For women, 4 or more drinks during a single occasion. For men, 5 or more drinks during a single occasion.
Generally, symptoms of alcoholic liver disease include abdominal pain and tenderness, dry mouth and increased thirst, fatigue, jaundice (which is yellowing of the skin), loss of appetite, and nausea. Your skin may look abnormally dark or light. Your feet or hands may look red.
However, by day 4 without alcohol, most people will have got beyond any initial withdrawal symptoms. All the alcohol will have left your system by now, and your body will begin to bounce back. If you're not as focused on alcohol, you may be eating better, drinking water, moving more, and perhaps sleeping more deeply.
It's your rational conscious 'human' brain that wants to stop – that doesn't like what drinking is doing. And it's your amygdala that wants to keep on drinking. It's the amygdala that 'likes' alcohol. And the amygdala is extremely powerful without the calming rational presence of a healthy robust PFC.
Drinking a bottle of wine a night would certainly count as problem drinking simply because of the volumes of alcohol involved, but unless that consumption comes with a reliance on alcohol – the physical or psychological need to drink – it cannot be assumed that the individual is an alcoholic.
Drinking a bottle of wine a day may rapidly increase the likelihood of physical and chemical alcohol addiction developing. Drinking a bottle per day equates to approximately 9 units per day or 63 units per week, far in excess of UK NHS recommended guidelines (14 units per week)[1].
If you feel that you need a drink every night or to get through a social event, stressful situation or personal struggle, and you have a compulsion to drink or constantly crave alcohol, maybe even daily, this could be a sign of psychological dependency.