Hey there!

Every month Annie has a call with our Path 365 members and answers their questions.

She tackles a wide range of topics from what to do with big emotions, what kinds of tips and

advice she has for addressing difficult situations, how to deal with cravings, and

so much more. Listen in as she does some real life coaching for our path

members. Hey Annie, why don't you call yourself an alcoholic?

Oh gosh, there's so many reasons I don't call myself an alcoholic. First of all, the term is actually scientifically and medically out of date. So it is not really used in the diagnostic and statistical manual, the DSM-5. It is not used anymore. There's nothing in there that says alcoholic. It is actually alcohol use disorder, which is a spectrum of use and abuse. And interestingly, you only have to answer two of the, I believe, 11 questions as affirmative to have alcohol use disorder.

Two of those questions are,

do you need to drink more than you used to

to get the same effect in the body?

Every single drinker I know, that's true. There's a thing called tolerance if you drink any amount of alcohol over any for a long period of time. You need more of it to do the same thing as that first drink did for you. And one of the other questions is,

have you ever had an instance where you wished you would have

drink less than you did?

Have you ever had an instance basically where you over drink

and you had regret?

And again, every single drinker I know would say yes to that question. So basically based on those two questions, every drinker I know has mild alcohol use disorder. But we have this big intense term alcoholic and if you think for a minute like if you if you were to close your eyes and just ask yourself like am I an alcoholic can you just feel the energy

inside your body drop can you just feel the panic rise can you just feel the tightness and the intensity of that question?

Because there's so much baggage and cultural conditioning and societal norms and so much intensity around that question.

Because that question in our culture means if I've an alcoholic I'm going to be ostracized possibly for my friends and family. I'm not going to be invited places anymore. I'm going to have a lifelong by the way incurable disease which is what a lot of sources say especially from you, you know, traditional recovery communities, that I'm going to have to fight against this disease, be in battle with it for the rest of my life, and there will be no known cure, and that everything is going to feel dark and heavy. And if you

consider like if I'm trying to figure out if I need a doctor and the only way I

need a doctor is if I have to decide ahead of time that I have an incurable disease,

I'm going to put off that decision as long as humanly possible. Let me say that another way.

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