Dry Drunk is a slang expression which describes a person who no longer drinks or drugs but is still behaving in a dysfunctional way.
What is a dry drunk, and the ‘dry drunk syndrome’ as it is sometimes called? It can best be described as someone in alcoholism recovery who fits one of two conditions.
1. The first is someone who has given up drinking and drugging and not made any internal or emotional changes, they stay the same but the substance is gone.
2. Or in the second case, someone who once was abstinent and on a progressive path of recovery, but has slowly returned to chaotic and unrealistic thinking, which may be leading back toward relapse.
Being active in your addiction, sets up many trains of thought, attitudes, feelings, and actions that are destructive. Simply removing the alcohol or drugs without changing these underlying factors will produce a ‘dry drunk syndrome’. The dry drunk really refers to a condition and not the person.
It is important to recognize a reversion back to our old ways of thinking and acting, or lack of progress in moving forward in recovery.
The dry drunk can be a precursor to the beginnings of relapse. The AA Big Book describes this condition as being “restless, irritable, and discontented”. This set of attitudes can apply to anyone who is chemically dependent, or even those were not.
A way of looking at the dry drunk syndrome is that it generates two distinct dangers to our alcoholism recovery:
1. Dangerous attitudes and mental postures that exist or can develop in a person who has not worked on “underlying issues”, or move forward growing in recovery.
If left unchecked or unresolved…
2. These can result in certain sobriety threatening actions or behaviors.
One of the first challenges in getting help for yourself or a loved one, is knowing where to start. We can help with a free assessment and someone to talk with right now. Click Here For Immediate Help And AnswersLast 3 posts in Alcoholism
- Alcoholism Signs Symptoms - How To Tell If A Loved One Suffers From Alcoholism - January 2nd, 2009
- Overcoming Alcoholism - What Are the 5 Essential Mindsets in Overcoming Alcoholism? - January 7th, 2009
- What You Can Expect If You Drink For the Next, Say 5 to 15 Years - January 9th, 2009
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