So, I’ve never gotten drunk before. I’ve had a drink or two on occasion, but never enough to get more than buzzed. And realistically now that I’m on antidepressants I probably won’t any time in the near future.
Something I’ve wondered about is when it comes up in movies or real life news stories is: Exactly how responsible are you for things you do while drunk? Not legally, that’s more concrete, but practically. If alcohol inhibits your decision making capabilities, to what extent is anything done while drunk something you “decided” to do? You could still be held accountable for getting so drunk in the first place that this was able to happen, but that seems at least somewhat different from the actual act made during inebriation. Like say, drunk driving: Is the act of deciding to drive drunk merely the act of drinking a lot plus a roll of the dice to see if you end up making a decision you wouldn’t have made sober?
Like I said though, I have no personal experience with this, so maybe I’m way off base in understanding the nature of how in control a drunk person is of their behavior.
get drunk.
it’s different for everyone. some people lose total control, others don’t. everyone has different chemistry and body mass and alcohol affects them differently both physically and emotionally.
generally drunk people are not falling down or slurring words… for most people who aren’t alcoholics being that drunk is dangerous and is a sign of alcohol poisoning.
alcohol mostly makes you more of what you are. so if you are a shitty aggressive irresponsible person, alcohol will enhance that. if you are friendly and nice it will make you friendly and nicer.
for some people it ‘flips’ their personality… but that’s because they are hiding who they are on the inside often due to the fact they massively overcompensate.
That is an often repeated but false saying.
People are not who they truly are when drunk.
If someone is going through a tough time they might act out when drunk, and deeply regret it the next day because they acted exactly how they are not.
Or someone might be going through a great time and revel a bit too much and in ways they would normally not. And again feel great shame and regret the day after.
Anyone that’s been really drunk has done stupid shit. That stupid shit definitely doesn’t define who they are.
It’s such nonsense. Imagine telling every alcoholic that has gotten sober that they are defined by all the fucked up shit they did when drunk and that’s who they really are.
what you do is who you are. whether you regret it or not or whether you intended it or not.
just because you feel bad about something doesn’t mean you didn’t do it.
yeah and I understand that is ‘harsh’ and lots of people don’t agree. But also I don’t identify as catholic, and yet other people ID me as catholic because my parents were, even though never believed in god or religion, funny how that works.
lots of alcoholics I knew admit they were shitty people, they just decided to change. The took accountability for their past and didn’t deny it. and plenty I have met never did that and whine about who it’s not their fault because of alcohol.
Which type do you think relapses and which one do you think stays sober?
“Emotionally” is most of it I think. Shitty drunks WANT to be shitty and they feel excused.
yeah, i mean that’s not exclusive to alcohol. it’s their general way of thinking. other people make them feel a certain way so what they did was totally justified, no matter how awful it was. they would not have hit you if you had been nicer to them!
some folks go through life operating on an entirely reactive level.