Myths About Alcohol:
- “It’s only beer”
Beer contains alcohol, and a person can get just as drunk on beer as on wine or hard liquor. You can be an alcoholic and drink only beer.
- “Most alcoholics are on skid row”
Only 3-5A% are. Most alcoholic people (70%) are married employed, buying a house and car, normal average people. Less than half the derelicts on skid row are alcoholic.
- “He’s too young to be an alcoholic”
A Univ. of California research team has found that the highest proportion of drinking problems is among people in their earliest twenties.
- “People are friendlier when they’re drunk”
Maybe, but they are also more hostile, more dangerous, more criminal, more homicidal, and more suicidal.
- “Drunks are funny people”
Perhaps in movies, or television or radio, but not when you live with a person with a drinking problem, particularly if you care about that person. The person who is drunk is no funnier than a person with any other illness.
- “It’s impolite to tell a friend he/she’s drinking too much”
Maybe if we weren’t all so polite, we wouldn’t have so many friends with drinking problems.
- “People who drink too much only hurt themselves”
And their families, and their friends, and their employers, and strangers on the highway…and you.
- “If the parents don’t drink, the children won’t drink”
Sometimes, but the highest incidence of alcoholism occurs among offspring of parents who are either teetotalers or alcoholics. Perhaps the extremism of the parent’s attitudes is an important factor.
- “Drug” alcohol is a drug- a depressant- not a stimulant as most people think. In fact, alcohol is the number one drug abuse problem in this country with 10 million American alcoholics and 10 million more in the pre-alcoholic stage.
If these thoughts were good stimulations for you (food for thought, as they say), then be sure to visit this other helpful resource on understanding the dangers of drinking. And most of all, seek the help of a licensed counselor or similar resources, such as AA.