Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 2976-2980 (8 - 12 June 2015)
emilygrrl:
--- Quote from: Legasher on 11 Jun 2015, 12:20 ---I'm sorry for posting before lurking for a while, but I only found this forum because I wanted to find an explanation. I found all the posts from the day she fell of the wagon saying "This fits an alcoholic/this doesn't" but it still, after this many comics, feels like a leap to calling her that. She is solving her issue with Angus with alcohol, which is bad, but it's not the only way she solves her problems is it? She can enjoy herself with her friends without it, even though she enjoys it. She got fired from her job for using it as a coping mechanism only days after the breakup, the very first time she had ever had an alcohol related incident at Coffee of Doom. I can fully understand that having done so was bad, but for that one incident to say "clearly you have a problem," seems way off. In this case, Faye says she feels like more of a failure for drinking. Isn't that unnecessary? I've struggled with suicide and depression since I was a kid. About two years ago I had a "breakup" with the church I was immensely involved with in which I've said the exact same lines as Faye about thinking I was stronger than I was and knowing the fault was mine and not theirs. Last year I got arrested and charged with an alcohol related misdemeanor. But for all the failure I feel, I don't let myself consider drinking a failure, because it's not my only coping mechanism, and it makes it a lot easier to enjoy being around people at all, when I might wander the Pit alone in my apartment without it. I can and have (and have legally been forced to) gone many months without it without feeling like I need it - I just can't go out as much because the social anxiety is too much.
Faye wants to stop the wheel a bit. She's just been through a really hard life event, which also led to an immensely depressing feeling of failure. She needs to learn to cope with this another way, but why is coping with it the wrong way once enough to label her as something for the rest of her life? She's handled alcohol normally plenty of times, why can't she learn to do so again? I understand that addiction is a disease and that addicts can't learn to use it correctly, the question I can't get over is: Besides the past two weeks in comic time, what evidence do we have that this is an Addiction, rather than an Unfortunate Event caused by a poor choice?
Honestly, I was at lunch at work when I read this strip and started crying at the last panel because that's the worst realization when you realize that you understand, and sometimes even agree with someone you know having killed themselves. This one hits really close to home, so I can't really help but see this from her side. I need help understanding the other side.
--- End quote ---
I think this week's storyline put that debate to bed.
The fundamental difference is in how easy it is to stop.
Alcohol was problematic for me, in that I suffer from depression, and alcohol triggers that badly, even half a glass of wine once left me feeling suicidal for a week. However, I never felt a need to drink. I only drank once in a while, and once I made the decision to quit, it was easy for me not to go back to drinking. Ergo, I am not an alcoholic.
My wife, on the other hand, long before we met, drank daily, attempted multiple times to stop (even relapsed after rehab one time), and couldn't — in the end, she always had to come back to the drink. It took another stint in rehab (this time a supportive and female-only rehab) and AA to keep her sober. She's now 8 years sober, and I am so fucking proud of her for that, because I know what a challenge that is for her, even today.
Faye's story reflects my wife's. Her behaviour this week just proved it. Yeah, she's definitely an alcoholic.
Neko_Ali:
This is not the first time Faye has been shown drinking to cope with stress. In fact, drinking and violence are her primary ways to deal with stress most times. She's always been seen as a 'hard drinker' to her friends. Nor is this the first time she's been drinking at work 'Emergency bourbon'. All of that put together wouldn't say that is an alcoholic. Probably that she drinks to much, but she is young and in a college town, so that's not unusual. It may well have contributed to how bad she crashed when she did have to go to the hospital. Being a habitual drinker her tolerance to alcohol is likely quite high. So she would have to drink a lot to make the noises in her head stop for a while. In any case, it is a horrible and self destructive way to avoid problems for a while, on all counts.
What really pushed it over the edge for many people was her behavior after the breakup. Trying to stay drunk constantly. Lying to friends about how much she is drinking. Hiding and sneaking drinks at work. And now a craving, a need to drink not to feel going, but to avoid feeling bad for a little while. Those are all signs of addiction.
Zebediah:
The thing that most points to Faye being an alcoholic is her inability to stop. To give some contrast: I am not an alcoholic. I can drink as much, or as little, as I choose, and lately I choose for that to be very little. When I was Faye's age I drank way more than was good for me, but was always able to stop - it's just that at times I chose not to stop.
Faye can't seem to make that choice. She decided to stop, then relapsed quickly. She knows she needs to stop, but can't. This is no longer about trying to use alcohol to escape her problems - alcohol has become the problem that is destroying her life. That's the definition of an alcoholic.
Is it cold in here?:
They could be wrong, of course, but her friends have been alarmed before this.
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1108
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=981
BTW, over in RELATE there's a thread about alcoholism that is getting less traffic than it deserves. Discussions and experiences posted in the WCDT will be harder for people to find later. I haven't done a topic split since the posts here are so relevant to the comic.
AprilArcus:
see also http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=808
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