{"id":122502,"date":"2021-05-13T11:00:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=122502"},"modified":"2023-03-12T14:03:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T14:03:34","slug":"binge-drinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/binge-drinking.htm","title":{"rendered":"Is Binge Drinking Really a Big Deal? A Psychological Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"binge<\/a>

By: Matthias Ripp<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

by Andrea M. Darcy<\/span><\/p>\n

We all know binge drinking isn\u2019t fantastic for physical health. It’s connected to all sorts of fun stuff, including a higher risk of brain damag<\/a>e than just chronic drinking<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But what about mental health<\/a>? Is it really a big deal if you like to go on benders a few times a month?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

What is binge drinking?<\/span><\/h2>\n

European medical professionals define it<\/a> as “episodic excessive drinking’.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Binge drinking means you do all your drinking in one go. Not one for a glass every now and then or with dinner, you put aside time to drink to excess, often with the express intention of becoming very drunk. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBut I really meant to just have a few\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Nobody actually goes out with friends<\/a> they only see for drinks, and who they know get blinding drunk, truly believing they will just ‘have a few’. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you are going out to drink, with people you know drink a lot, <\/strong>you generally know deep down you are going to binge drink. Otherwise you would have stayed home, or have gone out with friends who don\u2019t drink that much. <\/span><\/p>\n

I stayed within the recommended intake <\/span><\/h2>\n

Starting to monitor our units can be a decent<\/span><\/strong> start if we are worried about our drinking habits. <\/span>But as a standalone approach to binge drinking, it doesn\u2019t tend to go very far.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn’t take into account<\/strong> individual differences. T<\/span>he NHS page on binge drinking<\/a> lists how many alcoholic units is and isn\u2019t a binge, but with a caveat. \u201cThis is not an exact definition for binge drinking that applies to everyone, as tolerance to alcohol can vary from person to person.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"binge

By: Umberto Brayj<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

There isn’t even a consensus on how many units is a binge.<\/strong> For example, in the UK, the advice is that a female is bingeing if she has more than six drinks. In America, this lowers to four. This works out to roughly the same amount of alcohol when you take into account different measurements per country, but it’s a confusing system.<\/p>\n

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Once we get that \u2018units allowed\u2019 into our head, it can just become license to drink too much.\u00a0 It means we ignore if we are already drunk two drinks in. Unit monitoring might have its place, but it\u00a0 also green lights heavy drinking, while never encouraging discussion around why we are drinking so much in the first place. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And if you are obsessed with your units so you can thereby show you<\/strong> \u2018don\u2019t have a problem\u2019? You probably have a problem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is an alcohol \u2018problem\u2019?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Obviously quantity matters. But an alcohol problem is actually less to do with quantity of alcohol than it is to do with quantity of thoughts about alcohol and your behaviours around alcohol.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Alcohol is a problem when it distracts us and when we can\u2019t control how we relate to it.<\/strong> Let’s take someone who ‘only has one glass of wine a night’. But then also:<\/span><\/p>\n