Is this alcoholic territory?

[SheABitSpicyToday]

Having 2-3 beers each evening. The pint can ones.

Yabu yea that’s too much.
Yanbu no that’s fine.

Not sure if the drinker has a problem stopping, but they just don’t want to.

IME, when drinkers say 'I can stop but I don't want to' what they mean is 'I can't stop and I'm lying to cover it'. If he is drinking NA beer at times instead it may be a psychological dependence rather than a physical one. He may find it easier to think of it as problem drinking rather than being an alcoholic, but it is a problem.

That's enough to be damaging irrespective of being able to stop. Try and encourage at least 2 consecutive days without drinking each week.

@SheABitSpicyToday

They suffer with depression and their partner has expressed concern but they are in denial abs think after a long day at work it’s how they want to unwind. I’ve been asked for advice but I really can’t tell who’s unreasonable as they both seem fairly valid points!

Alcohol doesn’t help with depression (it is a depressant!) and makes it worse. Any feeling of “unwinding” is just the brain being relieved it’s got it’s fix of alcohol - not dissimilar to a heroin addict getting their fix 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just to be clear, alcohol is a Central Nervous System depressant, so it slows down brain functioning and neural activity. It does alter mood but it's not as simple as thinking 'oh it's a depressant, it makes you depressed'.

From a health point of view, both physical and mental, this is worrying but not necessarily dependancy.