Lawyers - or anyone else for that matter - with a drinking problem may fall into the category of alcohol abusers, or alcoholics. What is the difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse?
Alcoholism is when the person drinking is physically addicted to alcohol. An alcoholic will continue to drink even though he or she has physical health or mental health problems; or drinking interferes with social, family, or job responsibilities. Alcohol may control a person's life and relationships, because drinking may be all that person thinks about.
Alcohol abuse is when a person's drinking leads to problems, but not physical addiction. What kind of problems? Well, someone may have too much to drink and get into a fight. An isolated DUI may be another problem. A person who begins to have many of these problems may be in danger of suffering from addiction. When I was in the Marine Corps we used to keep track of a Marine's "alcohol related incidents" such as those mentioned above. Whenever a Marine started to rack up more that two or three of these incidents that Marine would receive education in alcohol abuse prevention.
To read more about alcoholism and alcohol abuse read here.
Return to Substance Abuse CLE.
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