Many people feel they are "just partying" when drinking heavily in one sitting. Perhaps they are just partying, or maybe they are doing a bit more than partying--maybe they are binge drinking.
Binge drinking is a term that means the consumption of five or more drinks in a row by men or four or more drinks in a row by women that occurs at least once in the previous two weeks.
Alcohol Treatment Centers have seen a rise in the amount of binge drinkers being admitted to inpatient alcohol abuse treatment over the past few years. Often, binge drinkers admit themselves into alcohol treatment centers to avoid consequences accrued by the court system, such as from a DUI. Many seem to go through the motions in their alcohol abuse treatment program, because they do not relate to the rhetoric associated with "alcoholism."
While these binge drinkers in alcohol treatment centers may not be alcoholic, they could definitely benefit from the alcohol abuse treatment program they have been assigned to. Perhaps alcohol treatment centers should separate these types of drinkers from alcoholics, and create new educational programs to make binge drinkers aware of the dangers of repeating their behavior.
After all, binge drinking costs $746 per person in the United States alone every year for health care costs, crime and lost wages at work. Binge drinkers costs an estimated 62 cents per drink for federal and state governments, even though taxes only totaled 12 cents per drink, and this type of drinking contributes to more than 54 different injuries and illnesses, including car accidents, acts of violence and STD’s. Not surprisingly, the chance of dying from binge drinking is greater than the chance of dying from moderate drinking.
