A man who is recovering from alcoholism has identified ‘three different types of drinkers’, challenging common misconceptions about addiction.
Corey Warren, hailing from Michigan, battled addiction from a young age. Following several rehabilitation attempts, he has maintained sobriety since 2011.
Corey frequently shares his path to sobriety on social media, detailing his experiences during the years of addiction.
The father, who once confessed to being ‘drunk by 10 o’clock in the morning’, has shed light on the varied manifestations of addiction in individuals.
According to him, there are three distinct categories of drinkers, with a significant warning sign indicating potential addiction.
On his YouTube channel, Corey explains: “This is the guy that all of us wish we were. This is the guy that can have one, two, maybe even three and then go home for the night.
“He knows his limits, he knows his boundaries. If he is drinking, it’s usually a Friday night, a Saturday night, a special occasion, a wedding, an event.
“This guy’s not taking it too far.”
Corey mentioned that determining if someone is a social drinker can be done with a straightforward test.
He pointed out that social drinkers ‘probably wouldn’t have thought about alcohol at all today’, and they have the ability to ‘take it or leave it’.
The second type of drinker Corey described is the ‘escape drinker’.
“This guy from the outside looking in looks like he’s got his whole life together, he’s probably raising a family, got a good job, taking care of business, smiling for the pictures, everything looks good,” he said.
“But what you don’t see is why this guy is drinking. When he’s sad, he’s drinking. Lonely, drinking. Bored, drinking. Happy, drinking. Angry, drinking.
“Alcohol is a coping mechanism. See, it has nothing to do with how much you’re drinking, but why you’re drinking, that’s what starts to make it a problem.
“And this guy, the escape drinker, is a perfect example of that.”
“This is not what you may think,” Corey clarified.
“A lot of us think the dependent drinker is a guy that wakes up in the morning, drinks, blacks out. We associate this with jail, rehabs, hospitals, DUIs, alcoholism.
“But that’s not always the case. The dependent drinker doesn’t drink for fun anymore; he drinks because he needs it.
“It’s not about partying too much, and it’s not about being weak, it’s about the fact that alcohol has hijacked the brain and now we need alcohol in order to survive, or at least that’s how we feel.”
Corey shared that he spent ‘many years’ as a dependent drinker.
“Alcohol has such a hold on me and I didn’t even realise it,” he noted.
Today, Corey discusses his battle with alcoholism and his recovery journey. Recently, he highlighted a major red flag indicating when someone is no longer drinking ‘casually’.
This occurs when an individual drinks to the point of blacking out, resulting in an inability to recall events during intoxication.
“If you’ve ever blacked out, you probably think it’s because you drank too much,” he said in a video. “I used to think that blacking out was just a part of drinking, part of having fun, a part of the story I’d tell the next day.
“What I didn’t realise is that blacking out is not what happens when I drink too much one time. Blacking out is what happens when my tolerance is so high that I drink past my body’s limit and I don’t even realise it.”
If you’ve been affected by addiction and want to speak to someone in confidence, you can call American Addiction Centers on (888) 324-0595, available 24/7, or contact them through their website.