Author: Gary Jackson

SOBER meaning

Psychological, genetic, and behavioral factors can all contribute to having the disease. Early sobriety may come with feelings of fatigue and the stress of dealing with challenges (people, places, and things that stimulate the urge to use). It’s impossible to know how you’ll react and how your life will change when getting and staying sober.

sober alcoholic meaning

The social drinkers, problem drinkers, high-functioning alcoholics, dry drunks, and sober alcoholics. For a close look, you can use these terms to identify a tiered system of drinking patterns and behaviors. If you believe you might have a drinking problem or want additional help to abstain from alcohol, consider talking to your doctor or a mental health professional.

More from Merriam-Webster on sober

The Healthline FindCare tool can provide options in your area if you need help finding a mental health specialist. Therapy is useful to help teach someone how to manage the stress of recovery and the skills needed to prevent a relapse. Also, a healthy diet can help undo damage alcohol may have done to the person’s health, like weight gain or loss.

  • And these communities make the person with an alcohol addiction accountable and provide a place to turn to if there is a relapse.
  • Sobriety is a general term for staying away from mood- and mind-altering substances, though there is no commonly agreed-upon medical definition in terms of what sobriety means.
  • An addiction counselor once told me that people have gone to treatment because they couldn’t stop smoking pot, which means, in effect, that they were addicted to it.
  • They may not have been alcoholic in the first place, but instead are heavy or problem drinkers (see my past post on differences between social drinkers, problem drinkers, and alcoholics for more information).

Outpatient treatment provides daily support while allowing the person to live at home. They have also treated their underlying issues (mental health, spiritual, physical) that led to or resulted from their drinking. They have made significant changes that have allowed them to find peace in removing alcohol from their life and to have emotional stability.