Fictitious Examples

Please note: we respect the confidentiality of our clients, so our examples are not of real clients, but, rather, are fictions based on combinations of people we may have known in our personal or professional life.

Meg is a mother, wife and homemaker who is 32 years old. She has a little girl in school, 7 years old, and a little boy, 2 years old. Her son sleeps two hours in the afternoon. Her husband is a successful lawyer who works long hours and provides well for his family. Meg keeps her home tidy and the children seem to be well cared for and loved. What is invisible to her neighbours and her husband is Meg’s pattern of having three to four glasses of wine with lunch. She then goes to sleep with the baby for two hours and by the time her daughter comes home from school, Meg is usually fully alert, although a little headachy. By the time her husband gets home, around eight o’clock in the evening, she is ready to put her feet up and watch him eat his dinner. She usually has one or two glasses of wine with him as he winds down and they discuss their day. No one has ever seen Meg drunk. Meg has had this pattern of alcohol use for about six years, interrupting it only when she was pregnant or nursing her children.

Is Meg an alcoholic?

Joe has worked construction for thirty-five years, since he was 18 years old. He has been a steady and reliable worker, although he has never risen in the ranks of his trade. A smart man with a marvelous sense of humour, he has always had a lot of good buddies. For many years, he played baseball in the summer and hockey and bowling in the winter, in recreational leagues. From the beginning of his work life, he always drank a couple of beer after work, stopping at his favourite pub on the way home. Friday nights, he stays late with his buddies, often getting home at midnight after about 12 to 14 beer. When his wife complains, he points out that he has never missed a day of work in his life and she should count her blessings that they have all the things they enjoy. Recently, Joe has noticed that he thinks about the after-work beer all day long, and on Saturday mornings, he is not only hung over and irritable but he has the shakes and feels self-conscious about needing two hands to lift his coffee cup.

Is Joe an alcoholic?

Mark, age 40, only drinks four times a year: New Years Eve, his birthday, the first day of spring and the first day of fall. He jokes about it, but he decided to do this when he was 25 years old and his father died of cirrhosis of the liver. He never wants to be a drunk like his old man. On those four occasions, however, he really cuts loose. He knows it is a binge, but he enjoys drinking for the complete abandon and freedom he feels. He figures that drinking only four times a year won’t trap him in alcoholism, because his dad drank everyday from noon until he went to bed. Mark would never do that. He is concerned however, that the last two times he binged, he lost three days. He does not remember what he did, and the last time, he did not even wake up at home. He was in a hotel in one of the suburbs of his town.

Is Mark an alcoholic?

Jerry is 18 years old and has been drinking since he was 13. In fact, he clearly remembers getting drunk and very ill on the rye that he and a buddy stole from his father’s stash in the kitchen cupboard that first time. Now, even the smell of rye can turn his stomach. As a result, he has decided not to drink hard liquor, and sticks to beer or wine. His friends used to be amazed at how much he could drink and not show it, but he has noticed that none of his friends drink every day like he does. He has had difficulty getting up in the morning to go to school and he has been in conflict with his parents all year because he has rejected all their household rules. Now, his dad is suggesting he find a job and his own room some where else, but, in his heart, Jerry worries that he can’t make it on his own. Who would get him up in the morning? What if he gave in to his craving to drink all the time? How could he afford to drink the way he does if he didn’t have access to his father’s wine cellar?

Is Jerry an alcoholic?

Carol is a 38 year old business woman who has risen in the ranks of her corporation because of her vivacious sales skills and her excellent organizational abilities. She earns more money than she can spend, especially because she works long days and rarely takes holidays. She is single and has some good friends, both men and women, who are as career oriented as she is. She lives in a condo in a luxury high rise in the central part of town, but doesn’t see much of her place because of her long work days and frequent business trips. She learned to drink white wine when she started in sales, because she was told, and believed what she saw, that “you had to drink with the clients to make the sale”. Everyone did it. Now, she looks forward to the minibar in the hotel rooms, the free cocktails on business class air flights, and her well stocked bar at home when she is in town. In fact, Carol sometimes wonders if her preoccupation with the alcohol is preventing her from doing some of the things she used to enjoy. She recently turned down an evening out to the movies with an old friend because she would have to go two hours without a drink. She’d rather rent a movie at home and have a drink while watching it.

Is Carol an alcoholic?

Conrad is 68 years old. He misses his management level job since he retired three years ago. Conrad doesn’t mind the summers too much, because he gets out to the golf club and sees his golf buddies, but the winters are hell. He hates the ice and snow and spends most of his time at home watching TV His wife would like him to make some things for his grandchildren in his wood working shop in the basement, but he just hasn’t had the motivation. Besides, he doesn’t know the kids well enough to figure out what they might want. He finds himself thinking about his working days and sitting around drinking. Even in the summer, he and his golf chums spend a lot of time at the “nineteenth hole” drinking and rehashing the game. Conrad doesn’t say much but enjoys listening to the banter. His wife doesn’t like his drinking but he figures he is too old to be an alcoholic. He knows, for sure, that he is too old to change his ways now. If only he could feel interested and happy again.

Is Conrad an alcoholic?

The short answer to the questions about Meg, Joe, Mark, Jerry, Carol and Conrad is: yes. It is highly likely that all of them have developed a dependency on alcohol that would lead them to withdrawal symptoms, possibly to the point of seizures, if they stopped drinking.

Many people think that alcoholics are skid row bums, and anyone with a good job or very young or very old cannot be an alcoholic. Wrong! Many fine people of all ages and all walks of life are alcoholic. People with all types of personalities have become addicted to alcohol. What then defines an alcoholic?