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"wealthy people are less likely to be full-blown alcoholics" - total bullshit. Sorry, but walk into any once a week church AA meetings and you will find many we

"wealthy people are less likely to be full-blown alcoholics" - total bullshit. Sorry, but walk into any once a week church AA meetings and you will find many wealthy alcoholics there. The difference is that wealthy people can afford a lawyer and don't suffer the same devastating economic consequences from their drinking as the poor so it takes them longer to hit their bottom and finally admit they have a problem they can't control.

OnlineGladiator 7y ago
I think this is a knee-jerk overreaction. Poor people can be alcoholics, and rich people can be alcoholics. But rich people tend to have a lot of luxuries that poor people don't, and those luxuries make it easier not to lean on alcohol as a dependency to get by. The biggest predictor of recovery from an addiction is whether or not the addict has a safety net. Rich people can buy a safety net (if they don't have close friends, they can pay for life coaches, therapists, and more). Poor people either have it or they don't. I could easily believe that genetic predisposition to addiction is the same regardless of wealth (I'd actually be somewhat surprised if it weren't true), but the reality is that rich people have a lot more support to help them through their struggles than poor people.
csallen 7y ago
> Sorry, but walk into any once a week church AA meetings and you will find many wealthy alcoholics there. This type of anecdata is meaningless for assessing anything. Not only is your sample size tiny and biased based on where you live, but there's selection bias due to the fact that some types of alcoholics don't go to church AA meetings. > The difference is that… As usual, there are likely many differences, rather than just one. Studies have shown that wealthy people drink more, likely because they can afford to drink more. They're also more likely to seek and afford healthcare, therapy, gyms, healthy food, etc., not just lawyers.
deleted 7y ago
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barrkel 7y ago
Per Wikipedia, where you can follow up on the sources: "In a medical context, alcoholism is said to exist when two or more of the following conditions are present: a person drinks large amounts of alcohol over a long time period, has difficulty cutting down, acquiring and drinking alcohol takes up a great deal of time, alcohol is strongly desired, usage results in not fulfilling responsibilities, usage results in social problems, usage results in health problems, usage results in risky situations, withdrawal occurs when stopping, and alcohol tolerance has occurred with use" Many of these don't apply to wealthy people who drink regularly, simply because they have more resources to avoid the consequences. Thus they may not be classified as alcoholics, where the same degree of consumption would classify them as such if they had fewer resources.

OnlineGladiator 7y ago

I think this is a knee-jerk overreaction. Poor people can be alcoholics, and rich people can be alcoholics. But rich people tend to have a lot of luxuries that poor people don't, and those luxuries make it easier not to lean on alcohol as a dependency to get by. The biggest predictor of recovery from an addiction is whether or not the addict has a safety net. Rich people can buy a safety net (if they don't have close friends, they can pay for life coaches, therapists, and more). Poor people either have it or they don't. I could easily believe that genetic predisposition to addiction is the same regardless of wealth (I'd actually be somewhat surprised if it weren't true), but the reality is that rich people have a lot more support to help them through their struggles than poor people.

csallen 7y ago

> Sorry, but walk into any once a week church AA meetings and you will find many wealthy alcoholics there. This type of anecdata is meaningless for assessing anything. Not only is your sample size tiny and biased based on where you live, but there's selection bias due to the fact that some types of alcoholics don't go to church AA meetings. > The difference is that… As usual, there are likely many differences, rather than just one. Studies have shown that wealthy people drink more, likely because they can afford to drink more. They're also more likely to seek and afford healthcare, therapy, gyms, healthy food, etc., not just lawyers.

deleted 7y ago

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barrkel 7y ago

Per Wikipedia, where you can follow up on the sources: "In a medical context, alcoholism is said to exist when two or more of the following conditions are present: a person drinks large amounts of alcohol over a long time period, has difficulty cutting down, acquiring and drinking alcohol takes up a great deal of time, alcohol is strongly desired, usage results in not fulfilling responsibilities, usage results in social problems, usage results in health problems, usage results in risky situations, withdrawal occurs when stopping, and alcohol tolerance has occurred with use" Many of these don't apply to wealthy people who drink regularly, simply because they have more resources to avoid the consequences. Thus they may not be classified as alcoholics, where the same degree of consumption would classify them as such if they had fewer resources.