I'm not necessarily talking about people who have a drink on occasion or about people who obviously drink regularly to excess. I'm more talking about people who drink a little every weekend or even every day. That is, over-consumption obviously very often leads to addiction, but what about people who have a glass of wine with dinner or have a few beers every weekend? Does the regular consumption of alcohol lead to dependence, or is it possible to drink regularly without it becoming a slippery slope toward addiction? I'm not necessarily talking about full-blown alcohol dependence, but perhaps more of a psychological dependence.
It depends on the person but even a drink/week can lead to addiction, but I've never known a person who got addicted after only drinking a few beers/weekend. As long as you can feel that you can control yourself and you don't crave alcohol then you're good to go.
I agree with FuZyOn, It depends entirely on the person. The question you should be asking is how much is the desire of the person in question? I believe that if you make something a regular habit, then it will surely end up as an addiction. Addiction begins gradually and if you make anything regular in your life, that thing will always end up creating a situation for you. That is why people often say that "Practice makes perfect." I believe that it can end up creating a psychological dependence. It won't necessarily create a full addiction problem, but it can easily create a psychological dependence problem.
I don't think you can become addicted if you don't do something in excess. If a person has a glass of wine with dinner it doesn't mean they'll be a alcoholic. As long as it's not to the point when you don't have it you have withdraws and loose it. I'm not saying that this is true for everyone, but a little every now and then can't hurt. If you have a problem with addiction then you shouldn't go near alcohol tho.
This is how many people become addicts, to be honest. You start off with a beer, then two, then three... and thereafter it becomes a habit and therefore an addiction. You just can't have enough of something if you love it a lot, trust me. This is how I became an alcohol addict.
Most people believe that having a glass of wine every evening shouldn't be a cause of concern to anyone. While yes it might not lead to addiction one will most obviously develop psychological dependence. They'll want to have their glass of wine at the same time each day. As long as that drinking doesn't result in physical dependence [as it often does] I believe that person may not end up being an addict.
While there's probably a number of people that will have a drink everyday, having a couple of beers before bed to relax, or a couple of glasses of wine with your evening meal, isn't going to turn into a drink problem in my opinion. If somebody as an addictive personality, that's where the problem could arise, they won't be able to stop after a couple. If that's the case then it's probably for the best not to have anything to drink at all.
Nah. I know people that drink on occasions for decades and it never took a hold of them. It's just a matter of chance and for some problems, and how they deal with it. Alcohol was my means of escape. I used it to numb myself just to get away.
It mainly depends on the quantity of alcohol using and control of the person. Someone gets easily addicted to alcohol. I think, moderate drinking won’t harm you, but if the quantity of alcohol you are using is high, then it may lead to various health problems and make you addictive to it as well. I know people who are addicted to alcohol by regular drinking and seeking the help of addiction treatment center for a recovery. It’s not a simple process to get rid of any kind of addiction. Drinking not only affect the addict but also the whole family. So take regular days off from alcohol to ensure that you are not addicted to it.
No, definitely not! My parents drink once to three times a week, and they're almost always sober after drinking. I only remember one time that my dad had been drunk—and that was at a dinner party were almost everyone was drunk (I don't know why they brought a kid in). Anyhow, as long as you drink in moderation and only a few sips at a time, you should be fine! @MauraD is correct—the quantity of the alcohol matters. But you know what else matters? The quality of the alcohol you're drinking, otherwise known as the percentage of pure alcohol (and otherwise known as ABV or alcohol by volume) Most beer have only 2% of pure alcohol, so it's harder to get drunk. Here's a chart:
If you take enough on a regular enough basis to have your body depend on it to function, then yes. There's no formula as to what that level is, but there's a level for everybody.
In my opinion, alcohol has the highest probability of becoming an addiction if you drink every day, doesn't matter if you get drunk or not. As some have stated already, your body gets used to it. You know you're addicted when you try to skip a day and your body starts craving it badly.
Regular drinking can be completely healthy. Addiction involves your body physically responding to not having alcohol or your mind believing you must have alcohol to function. Plenty of people who drink socially on a regular basis have no need for alcohol on a physical or psychological level. In fact, my doctor prescribed alcohol on a daily basis for both my mother and me.
A weekend drinker is what you are wondering about. They are in themselves impressive because they have some self control. They are very different than the daily drinker. I'm going to agree with that not being a problem. Mostly these kind you might not see them drink for months on end. A drink with dinner every night is not much of an issue. I don't even get that one cause there is barely a buzz from it. Maybe they feel cool or something. There is no real health benefit not even with wine. People are kidding themselves if they think this resveratrol with wine is healthy. We can just add that to how doctors promoted cigarettes in the 1950's as if that was good for you. Unless you crushed the grapes yourself and had them in a bucket in your basement. I wouldn't fall for that. Because the way it will go is; they'll tell you it's good for your heart, but guess what they don't tell you. It will give you cancer. They dump carcinogens in alcohol that cause it.
What do you mean by regular? Like drinking a few beers every day? Or drinking some vodka each weekend? You become dependent on alcohol if you keep drinking regularly, but it also depends on how often you do it.
It's definitely possible to drink responsibly without succombing to addiction. It depends on context though. Having wine with your meal 2-3 times a week is probably a lot less risky than drinking that wine sat alone.
I'd say it depends... anything that starts to become a compulsive behavior would mean a huge red flag to me. So I'd be so very careful about drinking a bit wine everyday, it's frequency and not only quantity what counts when we are talking about addictions. So watch out, folks!!! I do drink from time to time, a little bit maybe once or twice a year, but only on a very special occasion.
Societal factors are also part of the equation. In Europe, it's more of a societal norm to drink socially instead of to numb difficulty or pain. Therefore, you actually see less of a compulsion and more self-control amongst them, in addition to their naturally high alcohol tolerance. Native Americans, on the other hand, despite what old pictures and other myths have you think, are a deeply emotional people. They feel everything, and they have a lot to numb. That's in addition to their naturally low tolerance, so it's not surprising to see the hooks go deeper with them. So those things affect whether you can pull off "weekend drinking". It's often a mix of several things, including the reason you're drinking in the first place.
It all comes down to self control. If it is not a reliance and merely a pastime, I believe it is okay. A glass of wine with dinner or a few glasses of beer on the weekends is a bit more than moderation but definitely not an addiction. Be moderate and considerate of the risks, that's the key.
of course regular drinking can lead to addiction because say if you were drinking daily for a long period of time and you suddenly stop for a couple of days and your body would react to it and you are to think that need that regular daily drink to function and that is not true and that will lead to a horrible addiction.