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by lukev 5709 days ago
Yes and no. Yes, moderate alcohol consumption is fine for most people.

But a real alcoholic can't just stop at a few drinks. For them, it is a binary decision. It's very rare to find a former alcoholic who now drinks lightly or moderately. Most can only overcome it by quitting entirely.
1 comments
Homunculiheaded 5709 days ago
There was even a study of this. Some, but very few, alcoholics have been able to stop at 'just a few'. But it turns out that after a decade members of that group either relapsed or became entirely abstinent. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12873238

So even if someone anecdotally knows a recovering alcoholic who can drink in moderation this is very likely to only be the case in the short term.

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variety 5708 days ago
What that article says may be true for DSM III (or IV) alcoholics (which as a class may or may not include the OP).

My point is simply that in the general population[1], patterns of alcohol (mis)use seem to fall on a fairly wide spectrum, and are not simply a matter of "isa" or "!isa" alcoholic.

*[1] based on careful sampling and rigorous application of standard methodologies, i.e. "considering people I know."

link