Rethinking Drinking
Rethinking drinking is an important concept to talk about. Why? Because we often think of drinking as either normal or alcoholic, yet there is a middle stage stage not fully understand, and it’s alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is what causes the chemical and structural changes in the brain that in turn make a person more susceptible to their risk factors for developing alcoholism.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has launched a new website, “Rethinking Drinking,” as reported in today’s Wall Street Journal Online article, “To Your Health: New Website Helps Predict Alcohol Problems.”
Often people have a nagging sense that their drinking may be a problem, and likely, perhaps more often than not, they have a family member who is convinced there’s a problem. This website allows visitors to remain anonymous, while plugging in different amounts to see where their (or their loved one’s) drinking patterns fall in terms of likely risk for alcohol problems. Not only does this website allow you to assess your alcohol use (or that of your loved one), it also provides:
- a drink content calculator so you can determine how many standard drinks are in your favorite cocktail (some as high as 3) or bottle of table wine (5 standards drinks);
- what’s the harm (explanations of the risks involved with various drinking levels – a.k.a. alcohol use disorders);
- strategies for cutting down, such as “space and pace” (the importance of consuming no more than one drink per hour), “avoiding triggers” (identifying the situations or emotions that tempt you to drink – bad day at work or a fight with your spouse), and “tracking urges” (the idea of keeping track of the times you wanted a drink – why, what you did (drink or not?) and what you can do differently next time).
There is so much on this site, I urge you to check it out. Studies show that 19 – 20% of Americans drink at levels likely to cause alcohol related problems (defined as more than 3 per day OR 7 per week for women and more than 4 per day OR 14 in a week for men) and approximately 5% are alcohol dependent (alcoholics). But it’s not just the person with the drinking problem who is affected. More than half of all Americans have a loved one who has a drinking problem (NIAAA), and one in four children will live with alcohol abuse or alcoholism before the age of 18 (NCOA). And, the repercussions for these individuals is significant, as well (but that’s a whole other post topic).
According to the WSJ article and to other studies I’ve followed, brief interventions, like what this website can provide – basically identifying one’s drinking patterns and understanding the new (and/or more broadly reported) research on addiction and alcohol abuse, can have a significant impact. Check out this website and pass it along. It’s well worth the look.
Lisa Frederiksen
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