What makes someone drink?

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:27 pm

Helen;974932 wrote: i did have a bit of a problem a few years ago.

it didnt get to the stage were i wasnt paying my bills or neglecting my kids but life looked better for a while, through a sort of numbed haze, then my son in law caught me with a bottle of vodka and promptly tipped it down the sink.

they kept a close watch on me for some time and in the end i got over it.

for a couple of years i didnt tempt fate by going to the pub then i started playing darts again and found i could sit there all night with just a glass of coke.

i have a bottle of vodka in the fridge now and last night, cos things were getting on top of me again, i poured out a big glass of it.

it was still there when i got up this morning and ended up down the sink again and im feeling a bit proud of myself.
You should be proud of yourself. :yh_clap :yh_clap

Odie · Post by **Odie** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:04 pm

Indian Princess;601082 wrote: What pushes you to have a drink?

nothing has ever made me drink, but I do enjoy a pina colada when out.

mmmmmmmmmm!

ButterflyPrincess · Post by **ButterflyPrincess** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:05 pm

I drink when I am with a bunch of friends.. or when i am really depressed.

Matthew · Post by **Matthew** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 1:55 am

Stress can make a person to have drink.

ohsnapitstez · Post by **ohsnapitstez** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:40 pm

While I don't drink to get lit, faded, hammered, or any other synonyms, I do enjoy the taste of drinks that don't taste like alcohol. I like Smirnoff Ice Green Apple Twist. It tastes like a soda.

Oldschoolguy · Post by **Oldschoolguy** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:30 pm

You can't make the willing....:yh_dance

Oldschoolguy · Post by **Oldschoolguy** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:50 am

I never drink on a day that doesn't end in Y. And, I only drink when I am alone or with friends.

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:30 am

Indian Princess;601082 wrote: What pushes you to have a drink?

The 1970s.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 10:53 am

Indian Princess;601082 wrote: What pushes you to have a drink?

My wife and I almost never drink. 2 or 3 times a year I buy a bottle of wine if we're eating lasagne or pizza or some other appropriate dish. We somethimes share a bottle of cold beer. And we do take a shot glass full of liquer maybe once a month. If it's a particularly stressful flight I'll take one of those small bottles of whatever and mix it with cola. That's it.

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:13 am

I drink wine daily with my main meal between 5:30 to 7:30 PM and sometimes during mid afternoon with crackers,cheese and fresh fruit. I think of wine as food. I was a Scotch drinker when younger and drank it socially but gave up all hard liquor as a choice when I retired 25 years ago. People that over do it do it as a choice, the reasons don't matter, it's always a choice unless you are a bona fide alcoholic.

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 12:52 pm

High Threshold;1460542 wrote: My wife and I almost never drink. 2 or 3 times a year I buy a bottle of wine if we're eating lasagne or pizza or some other appropriate dish. We somethimes share a bottle of cold beer. And we do take a shot glass full of liquer maybe once a month. If it's a particularly stressful flight I'll take one of those small bottles of whatever and mix it with cola. That's it.

Ahh, c'mon, it's your Birthday, let your hair down!!!

Not!

:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

Guppers · Post by **Guppers** » Sat Dec 03, 2016 10:07 pm

I don't drink very often. About once a month if that...I just don't see the fun in it.

magentaflame · Post by **magentaflame** » Sat Dec 03, 2016 10:29 pm

Oh god! May I?

What makes people drink?....... people asking. "What makes people drink!"

The proper question is..... why does a person "need" to drink.....well not everyone does. Some enjoy a beer, or wine or nip. Who cares right? .......the answer is in the question. "Need" .... i need a smoke, i need a joint..... i need icecream.

Its the how why where art thou "need" .

Stupid freakin religious plants on world forums!

Guppers · Post by **Guppers** » Sat Dec 03, 2016 10:46 pm

magentaflame;1503459 wrote: Oh god! May I?

What makes people drink?....... people asking. "What makes people drink!"

The proper question is..... why does a person "need" to drink.....well not everyone does. Some enjoy a beer, or wine or nip. Who cares right? .......the answer is in the question. "Need" .... i need a smoke, i need a joint..... i need icecream.

Its the how why where art thou "need" .

Stupid freakin religious plants on world forums!

Now ya talkin. I need to smoke, I need chocolate on a daily basis. I need diet mountain dew in the morning....I don't need to drink...it's odd.....

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 4:14 am

There are times when I need it simply to block out the real world.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 4:56 am

Wanting and needing are two different things.

"Needing" anything, apart from the obvious.....food, water,etc.etc. is dangerous.

Post by **spot** » Mon Dec 05, 2016 4:13 am

Availability is a large part of the problem, but that applies to all potential addictions not just alcohol.

I can't think of anything worse than alcohol though. At least tobacco takes decades to kill someone. Alcohol can do that within a year, and it can totally destroy quality of life in the process.

barrykid · Post by **barrykid** » Wed Aug 02, 2017 6:52 pm

There's this improvement with the quality of conversation whenever an alcohol is involved. It's easy to disclose your thoughts to someone.

â€œHereâ€™s to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of lifeâ€™s problems.â€ - Homer Simpson.

Post by **LarsMac** » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:34 pm

barrykid;1511435 wrote: There's this improvement with the quality of conversation whenever an alcohol is involved. It's easy to disclose your thoughts to someone.

â€œHereâ€™s to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of lifeâ€™s problems.â€ - Homer Simpson.

You misspelled "quantity"

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Thu Aug 03, 2017 4:06 am

The trouble is, "easy" goes to "inappropriate" far too easily. Also the amounts required increase and often barely noticed, the frequency increases.

I'm speaking as someone who's strictly limited their intake in part for those reasons. Basically now I don't drink. Only at a Wake or something like that. Champagne will be sipped once for a Wedding toast in the same way as Communion wine. That's it.

I'm especially serious about that if you are drinking to relax inhibitions and get self confidence. Drinking is probably the easiest way but it's also one of the worst. Cocaine would be the other. Both will wreck you before you even know it's happened.

Post by **spot** » Thu Aug 03, 2017 11:31 am

I'm always inappropriate, drink doesn't come into the picture.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Fri Aug 04, 2017 4:33 am

chuckle. Yeah, but drink takes away the choice (if it affects someone that way and for many it does).

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Sun Dec 08, 2019 5:25 am

Indian Princess;601082 wrote: What pushes you to have a drink?
A well-prepared meal of beef or fowl.

Attached files

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Sun Dec 08, 2019 5:34 am

Bruv;1503490 wrote: Wanting and needing are two different things.

"Needing" anything, apart from the obvious.....food, water,etc.etc. is dangerous.
I neither "want" nor "need" a drink. I am "inspired" to partake.

Post by **spot** » Sun Dec 08, 2019 6:25 am

It's a thread that ought to be continued, I reckon. The question relates to addiction and I don't think society copes well with addicts.

I think there are two forms of addiction. One is a brain response to feedback and stimulation, where any behavior at all can become addictive. The difference with alcohol is that the external chemical itself creates that particular feedback, it's different to the behavioral cycle. Or I could be wrong, I don't think I've ever been chemically addicted to any external trigger.

Crack cocaine famously does the same thing.

On the other hand - and again I could easily be wrong - lots of recreational drugs traditionally accused of being addictive, like opium or nicotine, act far more as though they're the focus of behavioral feedback just like gambling. I would describe it as a hijacking of built-in mammalian drives. Alcohol and crack cocaine are not in the same category. The latter is a chemical entrapment, the former (gambling and drugs) is psychological feedback misusing the necessary hormonal feedback routes of brain function.

Whatever it is that makes someone drink is far harder to escape from. It just happens to be the historical trap which Western civilization has had since pre-history and now can't eliminate. Prohibition failed when it was tried, and Britain in particular is far too reliant on the tax revenue to abandon it as a golden goose. And yet it won't just add the recreational drugs to its revenue stream, which leaves all those profits to anyone prepared to break the law. I have a hard time understanding why.

Post by **LarsMac** » Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:55 am

I have been known to drink too much. However, it is mainly because I simply forgot to stop.

I have finally learned when I have had enough, and have actually learned when to listen to that part of me that keeps track of when that point has been reached.

I do have some relatives who never learned that, and seemed to have a physical addiction to Alcohol. My cousin and I have been discussing the alcohol in our family. My father could simply turn away when there was a need to remain sober. My uncle, on the other hand, could not. he needed the the alcohol, and hid his addiction from nearly everyone.

My cousin, like his father, needed the alcohol. He is now in treatment, and has medicine that reduces the "need" for the stuff. He recognizes that he has to stay away from alcohol.

My brother may, or may not have had that addiction. Now that he has passed, we shall never know for sure. He never thought that he needed to stop drinking. He simply avoided the issue, until it destroyed his liver.

I enjoy a good Beer, or a good Whiskey now and again, but can take it or leave it. I never drink when "I need a drink" or when I have had a rough go, and need to "settle my nerves." I never drink when I am angry.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Sun Dec 08, 2019 1:35 pm

I'm sure there are lots of reasons people become addicted. I think one is that those people are not challenged enough intellectually. When one engages themselves intellectually, any altered state of mine feels like a bad acid trip. If anyone knows what I mean by that. I guess that is more in line with the hijacking mentioned.

I've had to become familiar with all this in the recent past due to two people very near and dear to me succumbing to drugs and alcohol abuse. It can be very expensive and emotionally draining.

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:17 am

Right now, a wheezy chest infection is leading me to drink.

A Lemon & Ginger infusion, with a generous application of Brandy works wonders.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:28 am

FourPart;1528769 wrote: Right now, a wheezy chest infection is leading me to drink.

A Lemon & Ginger infusion, with a generous application of Brandy works wonders.

I'm taking notes.