We find commonalities in the personality attributes of people who are alcoholics. A problem drinker may not demonstrate all of these characteristics, but some of them will be present in someone who drinks alcohol on a regular basis. I would consider anyone who drinks every week to get drunk to fall into the category of being an alcohol abuser.
The medical dictionary defines the term like this:
“5+ alcoholic drinks on any one occasion at least once/month–’heavy drinking’
One or more alcohol-related social consequences–eg, drunk-driving, public drunkenness arrests, alcohol-related criminal arrests, traffic or other accidents when drinking, confrontations about alcohol-related health problems by a medical practitioner, alcohol-related family or on-the-job problems
One or more symptoms of alcohol dependence–eg, having an alcoholic drink upon awakening–an ‘eye-opener’, shaking hands, awakening not remembering the events that occurred while drinking”
Alcoholics Lie
This is one of the most common things that people struggling with an addiction have in common, they seem to tell white and darker lies. There are many reasons that this personality attribute seems to be common among people who drink a lot. It is a very deep subject to explore. Here are a few basic reasons that we can look at to help us understand why they do not always tell the truth.
Why does the problem drinker lie?
-To cover up how many they’ve actually had to drink
-To tell us the things they think we want to hear so we will accept their behavior
-Because their behavior is too unacceptable
-They miss appointments and make excuses
Alcoholics Breaking Promises
This can be understood by realizing that if they are not going to be able to drink alcohol at a certain function, they may not show up. Here’s the thing though, they will tell us that they will be there because they think that’s what we want them to do. It kind of smooths things over for the moment when they do this. Problem drinkers seem to all do this at one point or another. The best thing we can do is to NOT expect them to do anything that they say they will do. Maybe they will show up and maybe they won’t is the attitude we should adopt. Either way, we should make up in our minds that we will enjoy life whether they are there with us or not.
Drinking to Get Drunk
This personality characteristic is the most pronounced of all and is the one that truly defines them as being an alcoholic. Many people can just have one or two drinks and be fine with not having anymore. Drinking to get snookered is an attribute that we see in the problem drinker. If they were not smashed, they would not have a problem with drinking alcohol.
Alcoholics Use Anger and Anxiety
They keep the focus off of them and on other people. If they can create enough chaos around them to make other people act in unacceptable manners, then they can point the finger at everyone else’s poor behaviors. They can take the littlest thing and blow it way out of proportion. Oftentimes it is a method that they use to escape and go get something to drink. After all, who would want to be around people who are really mad at them? If things get heated up enough they will have plenty of excuses to get a few drinks to settle their nerves.
They Make Excuses to Drink
This personality characteristic of the problem drinker is something that we must just accept as one of the ways they justify having a drink. They will drink over the littlest or biggest problems. They will drink if the dog wee-wees on the floor or if the wind blows from the South instead of the North. Anything that can be blown out of proportion to give them an excuse to consume alcohol will work for them.
The personality of an alcoholic will for sure have some or all of these characteristics present that I’ve listed. There are other attributes such as emotional, physical and spiritual abuse. Some alcoholics are just lazy and others are workaholics. If you are exhausted from dealing with an alcoholic please seek out help in your local community.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
