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> If you don’t distinguish binge drinking from daily moderate drinking, that would be due to Americans’ addiction-phobia, which causes them to interpret any dai
by _delirium 12y ago
> If you don’t distinguish binge drinking from daily moderate drinking, that would be due to Americans’ addiction-phobia, which causes them to interpret any daily drinking as addictive.
This is a quite common attitude in northern Europe as well, or at least in the Nordic countries. In Denmark it's highly suspicious to drink alcohol on a weekday (especially at lunch), unless it's a holiday, and will lead people to worry about alcoholism. But it's completely normal to have 6+ drinks on a weekend evening. Maybe even every weekend evening. You can binge-drink as much as you want, as long as it's only Fri-Sat (sometimes Thu). In fact it's even sort of expected; not doing so might raise suspicions that you're some kind of weird religious person (Mormon? Muslim?). Not sure how this arose, but it seems to be the cultural norm: 14 drinks/wk spread out as 1 each with lunch/dinner every day is seen as alcoholic, but the same 14 drinks/wk spread out as 7 each on Fri/Sat evenings is culturally normal. Whereas in southern Europe the opposite is more often true, at least traditionally, with weekend binge-drinking seen as more questionable than moderate daily drinking.
- Stronico 12y agoWell, daily drinking is a good predictor - 100% of practicing alcoholics drink every day after all.
- stefan_kendall3 12y agoThey're also 100% human, and they all tend to breathe at least twice a day.
- pdonis 12y agoThat's not what would make it a good predictor. The proper question is not what percentage of alcoholics drink every day, but what percentage of people who drink every day are alcoholics.
- Retric 12y agoPlenty of alcoholics don't drink every day. It's a question of compulsive and uncontrolled drinking not simply the frequency of drinking. A collage student may destroy their health and social life though binge drinking while not being able to afford drinking every day.
- Stronico 12y agoPlenty of people with drinking problems don't drink every day - alcoholics, which I would define as people addicted to alcohol do. If a person is addicted to alcohol they will have pretty immediate adverse affects, i.e. the DTs, which include shaking, hallucinations and seizures pretty rapidly with no alcohol in their system.
- Retric 12y agoPhysical dependence != addiciton. http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/frequently-asked-questions/there-difference-between-physical-dependence http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addict... Addiction often leads to physical dependence, but you can for example be a light smoker that's addicted to nicotine. However, you generally need to be a fairly heavy smoker before withdraw symptoms show up when you stop. On the other hand people without addiction to caffeine will often display withdrawal symptoms if they stop. This is vary common in people who enjoy soda or tea, but don't use it to stay adjust alertness. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_dependence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_dependence
- dimitar 12y agoBinge drinking can cause deaths and injuries without addiction.