<p>We were at the doctor’s office the other day and one of the questions they ask for their new computer system is how much do you drink?</p>
<p>I rarely drink, even when others in the group are, and if I do I will have one drink and nurse it. DH will have a beer or another drink in the evening almost nightly, but only one unless we are out at an event where drinking is part of the scene then he might have two. </p>
<p>Hubby answered that he is a social drinker because he doesn’t drink much at a time. But, in thinking about it, I wouldn’t call it social drinking, because he is not drinking with someone else, so how is that social?</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t drink a lot and it is not an issue, I just wondered how you would classify social drinking. I think of a social drinker someone who usually only drinks at events or special occasions. </p>
<p>I know a lot of people will have a beer or a glass of wine at the end of the day to relax or unwind, but would you call that being a social drinker?</p>
<p>Silly question, I know, but it just struck me funny when he answered that way.</p>
<p>It seems easier if the Q is how much alcohol is consumed in an average month (or other time period). In my case, I’d estimate I drink about 4 glasses total a year so I am pretty close to a teetotaler, but consider myself a “social drinker.” H drinks whenever my dad asks him to split a beer with him–maybe once a month or sometimes once/week. He is also a “social drinker.” My S drinks maybe one or two beers a week or more, when he is with friends and is also a social drinker–he has no alcohol in his apartment but is fine with having a glass or more when we go out for a meal or celebration. I have another relative I consider a more habituation drinker, as he has a bottle of wine or several glasses of alcohol (often beer or wine) most nights. </p>
<p>I consider myself a social drinker because I rarely drink alone or even in my own home with my H unless we have company. Having said that I found that the last few weeks I was going out to dinner or to meet friends a LOTmore than usual and thus was drinking more than usual. Because it is summer and I was not working, I knew that this was temporary but I wouldn’t want to get into a habit of drinking that frequently on a regular basis. When I went for my last physical I got the same question and answered honestly about how much I partake. After the fact, a friend of mine who is a nurse, told me that the docs routinely DOUBLE the amount that you tell them when they write it in your charts! Lol!</p>
<p>Physician here. Being a “social” drinker will not tell me anything about your alcohol consumption practices. What is considered “normal”, "social’ et al varies from area to area and within subcultures. The amount of alcohol consumed at one setting/in one time period and the frequency can help me determine how used to alcohol your liver is used to metabolizing and therefore how other drugs may affect you. It can also tell me what to look for with symptoms and lab results.</p>
<p>Asking patients how much- ask how many cases of beer instead of how many beers, ask about exaggerated amounts of wines and hard liquors as well…then you might get near to factual amounts from patients. Many don’t think beer counts as alcohol. either. For some a case is “normal” and it is social if among friends… I learned to ask different questions in different states.</p>
<p>Enjoying a beer or glass of wine when alone is no different medically than when with others.</p>
<p>Good points, Wis75. Yes, I find it interesting to see what folks “count” as alcohol–“only hard liquor”? wine? beer? blended drinks? Well drinks? Hard ciders?</p>
<p>I would say that a social drinker is someone who primarily or solely consumes alcohol in social situations where others are doing the same.</p>
<p>I would say that a habitual drinker is someone who drinks on a regular basis, at least several times a week.</p>
<p>I would say that a binge drinker is someone who, when they drink, often/usually/always drink to inebriation.</p>
<p>I would say that an alcoholic is someone who is dependent on alcohol to the point where they are unable to go any significant length of time without consuming.</p>
<p>None of these are mutually exclusive OR dependent - you can be any combination, or none at all. None of them explicitly indicate the overall quantity of alcohol consumed - a petite female alcoholic might consume less total alcohol than a large male social drinker who never drinks anywhere close to inebriation.</p>
<p>FWIW, I would call your husband a habitual drinker, and you a social drinker.</p>
<p>That’s the definition I would use to define a social drinker and one which fits me to a point as there are occasions when I’m with friends in bars/musical performance venues when I cannot drink due to work commitments the following morning/day or just don’t feel like it. Never felt any pressure.</p>
<p>Never saw the appeal in drinking alone or at home unless I’m hosting a family gathering/party. IMO, drinking alone…especially at home is like watching paint dry. </p>
<p>This is a little off topic but have any of you had to deal with a friend who you think has a drinking problem? I am in that situation and have tried to approach it with her several times and she denies it. This summer alone she has cancelled plans on me four times because she supposedly took too much allergy medication and couldn’t drive to meet me. I think that she had been drinking or maybe a combination of allergy meds and alcohol. </p>
<p>I had a friend once who was in AA and told me that it’s not impossible for alcoholics to go a very long time without drinking at all. The problem is, they are completely unable to drink “just a little.”</p>
<p>I never know how to answer that question. I might go a couple weeks without drinking and then I might have a weekend where a consume a bottle of wine in a day or have several drinks in a night. I usually put down 1-2 a week and figure that averages out over the year. Sometimes I have drinks when I’m with friends, but I would also pour a glass of wine or two or make a drink or two if I decided I wanted one on a Friday or Saturday night just because. So I guess I’d say I’m a social drinker, but I don’t necessarily need someone drinking with me if I want a drink.</p>
<p>NJTheaterMom, I agree with your statement. H & I have several recovering alcoholic who were functioning people, just when they drank…they drank a ton - we all used to call them “weekend alcoholics” because they’d get to work just fine on Monday morning and never drink during the week, but they all definitely had a problem on the weekends which led indivdiually to all sorts of things like marriage breakups, rehab, health issues, etc. </p>
<p>On a standard form I might call light drinking “social drinking” depending on what other choices are given. In the OP’s case I or 2 drinks a day sounds more accurate but maybe there was no box for that situation. Mostly, what it means to me is this is not a big deal and whether it’s with or without a party is not really relevant to anything, anyway. Although if it’s not a problem none of it matters and if it is filling out a form is not going to do much to solve it. I’m guessing a lot of alcoholics check the wrong box, too. </p>
<p>for my opinion on the op’s query, I agree a guy that drinks one beer every night at home is a habitual drinker, not a social drinker, though not to say it demonstrates a drinking problem. Agree with sylvan, a bottle of wine most every night could be a problem drinker.</p>
<p>A friend of mine went through AA though, he said everything pointed to a problem drinker.
Did you ever drink beyond remembering all that happened that night?
Do you sometimes go stretches w/o drinking?
Do you think you have a drinking problem?
Have you ever been drunk?</p>
<p>He was single and 25, it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary to me that he might have drunk too much at some time in his life, but that does not necessarily mean he is an alcoholic. No one escaped the meeting, he said, w/o being convinced they were an alcoholic and had no control over their disease. </p>
<p>I wouldnt agree that someone who has been drunk on at least one occasion has a problem.
It is easy to underestimate the effect of strenght of a drink.</p>
<p>In fairness, I should add that I know, and my friend knows AA has helped many people. Not all agree alcoholism is a disease, but if a person believes it is, it can help them with the guilt associated with past problems caused by drink and that can be a factor in helping them to improve their life moving forward. And I think everyone would agree that improving one’s life is a good thing, no matter what belief led to it.</p>