To think you can develop a massive alcohol dependency so fast?

[vanillaessences]

In your experience , is it possible to go from a casual social alcohol user to full on, chronic dependence where you lose your job, licence, marriage, teenage kids , health and everything that matters in life , in a matter of a few years when up to that point you had it all and why could
this Possibly have happened . The lady in question refused family therapy as part of rehab, twice incidentally .
To go from being a loving committed mother and wife to losing your kids and husband in a matter of years is so heartbreaking and so difficult to understand.
Thanks in advance.

In my life I have known two people who committed suicide. Both were "happy" have it all people. I have come to know that those most keen to show the world a happy face are often the ones hiding the most pain, and keeping that up must be exhausting.

As someone who drinks and loves pub culture its bloody easy. You have a drink once in a while. Then if you male especially but not exclusively, you meet your mates in the pub. You have a couple every Friday after work, then its on Friday lunchtime too, then its Friday afternoons off. Plus it's coming in after work a couple, then a few, then every day. Then its staying to closing time every day. Then its all weekend, Monday and Friday. Then its having one when you wake up to take the edge off.

Quickest ive seen is 3 months from social drinker to full on piss head.

The pub is brilliant in moderation or for someone who has control and something they value at home...

I went from an occasional drink now and then to 'there is nothing I would like more than to drink to oblivion' in about a week. I had met someone who drank to oblivion but he 'got' me - it was a folie a deux. It took a week.

Unless it is yourself you are talking about you have absolutely no idea of this person's alcohol consumption prior to this public revelation of the effects of their drinking. A lot of people are very adept at hiding drinking and dependency.

Clearly she didn’t adore it.

Yes, absolutely possible. I have seen it happen a number of times in people I know.

I’m a recovering alcoholic. I went from a casual social drinker 2-4 times a week to daily drinking to 3 bottles of wine a day, every day, 365 days a year (that’s over 200 units a week) in about 3-4 years.

I’m 3.5 years sober now and have never looked back.

Also, other than Dh, no one ever knew how much I drank. People are shocked when I tell them I’m sober now. I have a very successful career, big house, hobbies, nice life (though a lot of childhood trauma), so I don’t think anyone would have guessed.

A few years? That's not a short period of time.

Yes but often there’s a catalyst eg the chap I know was a skilled artisan shoemaker, then the company sent the work overseas, the town didn’t have many job options and he struggled, he consoled himself with alcohol, his mental health spiralled from not getting work and money getting tight, he drank to self medicate, his house was repossessed , his wife left him, he drank more he is in a homeless shelter… it took one year. Now he openly admits he did like a drink before, the factory closed at 4pm on Fridays and they would drink a couple of beers then he would pick up a bottle of wine for home with his wife, but he is still shocked how quick he went from social drinking to dependency. He is 7 years sober now but chooses to live in a dry community working manual labour

This post makes it all seem much more likely. Children of alcoholics are about four times more likely to develop alcohol problems than someone without a family history.