What’s The Difference Between A Drinking Habit And An Alcohol Addiction?
Here’s how you can distinguish between casual drinking and a drinking problem.
Recently, a friend told me about a co-worker that was openly drinking vodka during a virtual work meeting at 10:00 am. He qualified this story by sharing that people in his office have become increasingly casual while working from home. He then asked if he should be worried about his co-worker.
Obviously, without meeting this person, it is hard to determine whether they made a bad choice, or whether they have a problem…BUT, regardless, the behavior is potentially worrisome for a couple of reasons.
If you are the only person drinking during a work event, you might have a problem.
First, the context of the drinking raises red flags for me as a clinician- If this were a work dinner, a team outing, a work networking event, or perhaps a work happy hour, then I would probably not be concerned. But, this was a work meeting in the morning, when nobody else was drinking alcohol. I think it’s safe to say that most places of business would take issue with an employee openly consuming alcohol during a 10:00 am work meeting. If you are the only person drinking during a work event, then you might have a problem.
