dry drunk
White-knuckling sobriety daily
A dry drunk is someone who has stopped drinking alcohol but hasn't addressed the underlying emotional or behavioral patterns of addiction.
The term, from recovery culture, suggests that sobriety alone isn't enough—the person still exhibits the irritability, selfishness, or denial associated with active alcoholism: He's been sober for years but acts like a dry drunk.
Persistent bitter displeasure
- irritabilityProneness to agitation
- angerIntense hostile emotion
- bitternessSharp, unpleasant taste or feeling
- self-pityExaggerated focus on own suffering
discontent · restless · emotional volatility · defensiveness · rigidity · isolation · anxiety · depression
Enduring through tension alone
- maladaptiveHarmful to one's wellbeing
- compulsionIrresistible urge to act
- obsessionPersistent, intrusive preoccupation
- denialRefusal to accept reality
craving · impulsive · dysfunction · behavioral issues · self-will · noncompliant · fixation · avoidance
Strategies against returning symptoms
- therapyCurative mental treatment
- personal growthIntentional self-improvement over time
- self-awarenessInsight into one's psyche
- coping mechanismsMethods for handling difficulties
unresolved issues · self-help groups · sober living · life skills · AA · sponsor · inventory · amends
resentment
Persistent bitter displeasure
- irritabilityProneness to agitation
- angerIntense hostile emotion
- bitternessSharp, unpleasant taste or feeling
self-pity · discontent · restless · emotional volatility · defensiveness · rigidity · isolation · anxiety · depression · nostalgia
white-knuckling
Enduring through tension alone
- maladaptiveHarmful to one's wellbeing
- compulsionIrresistible urge to act
- obsessionPersistent, intrusive preoccupation
denial · craving · impulsive · dysfunction · behavioral issues · self-will · noncompliant · fixation · avoidance · people-pleasing
relapse prevention
Strategies against returning symptoms
- therapyCurative mental treatment
- personal growthIntentional self-improvement over time
- self-awarenessInsight into one's psyche
unresolved issues · coping mechanisms · self-help groups · sober living · life skills · AA · sponsor · inventory · amends · pink cloud
- recoveryrecovery, sobriety, rehab, recover, recovery room
- Alcoholismalcoholism, alcoholic, alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol dependence
- sobrietysober, sobriety, abstinence, abstinent, abstainer
- alcohol problemsalcoholic, alcoholics, alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, alcohol dependency
- abstainersteetotaler, non-smoker, abstainer, celibate
- nondrinkersteetotalers, teetotaler, nondrinker, abstainers, abstainer
dry drunktransformed
Fundamentally changed in nature
healed · serenity · self-aware
dry drunkdrunk
Impaired by alcohol
drinking · wet · intoxicated · falling off the wagon · relapsed
dry, drunk, dryly, dryness, dryer, drier, dried, drying, drink