An alcoholic thinker doesn't have a middle ground; everything is either all or nothing for them. As far as they are concerned, there is no room for negotiation or compromise in their viewpoint. This further confuses what drinkers can make sense of since they deny their destructive behaviors (to themselves and others).

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"They Should Understand My Situation"

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Alcoholics often display a sense of entitlement and self-pity. Many alcoholics believe they are entitled to a certain level of privilege. To them, a stressful life justifies irresponsibility, carelessness, and selfishness in their behavior. You may deduce that they believe the world owes them something just by watching their actions. Self-pity and the belief that they're victims of circumstances engulf the active alcoholic. They demand less and less of themselves while they desire more from others.

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"The Drinking Problem Isn't That Bad"

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When a person's drinking gets worse, this is sometimes called "bottom." People in recovery frequently say that they haven't hit rock bottom yet. In the mind of an alcoholic, there is always a desire for more drinks. On the other hand, the brain of someone with AUD gets dominated by a chemically dependent desire to drink as much as possible.

On the one hand, a person with AUD has a chemical dependency that drives them to want to consume the most amount of alcohol as possible. It means that the brain has become reliant on alcohol to produce dopamine, a chemical that causes pleasure. The brain's difficulty in getting the intended impact is increased by continuous fluctuations in tolerance levels, which create a persistent craving for more alcohol.

There's always more that could happen, more that might grow worse, and more that could go wrong on the opposite side of that coin. Alcoholic thinking is delusional and twisted. An alcoholic generally cannot understand the damage alcohol is doing to their life or the reality that alcohol is at the root of their issues.

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"It'll Be My One and Only"

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"Too little" (or too much) of something is a phrase that does not exist. Rather than looking at the final drink, the first drink defines whether or not someone is an alcoholic since an alcoholic's brain can only comprehend one sip at a time. This process may continue endlessly as one drink morphs into the next.

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"I'm In Control of It"

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Continuous, excessive alcohol drinking clouds one's judgment. Alcoholics often cannot see the truth of their predicament because of their sense of entitlement, stubbornness, and manipulation. According to the 12-step concept, one reality that needs to be "smashed" is the delusion that an alcoholic may normally drink like other people. Only by eliminating the cause of alcohol abuse from one's life can the disease of alcoholism be declared "under control."