Why do you drink?

BBC News Health section recently reported on reasons people drink heavily.

Research by the Department of Health in England with focus groups found heavy drinkers often fell into one of a number of categories.

These ranged from de-stress and depressed drinkers to people who boozed because of boredom or to bond.

Experts said helping people to understand the reasons for their drinking habits was "very useful".

Apparently, if you are a woman and consume more than 35 units, twice the recommended amount, you type of drinking can be categorized. For men the limit was 50 units.

What is a unit you ask? To me that sounds like 5 beers a day every day of the week, but according to wikipedia:

In Britain a unit of alcohol is defined as 10 millilitres (or approximately 8 grams) of ethanol (ethyl alcohol). It is used as a basis for guidelines on consumption of alcoholic beverages; the number of units contained in a typical drink is publicized and marked on bottles.
It is often misleadingly stated that a unit is supplied by a small glass of wine, half a pint of beer, or a single measure of spirits. Such statements are misleading because they do not reflect the large differences in strengths and measures of wines, beers and spirits.

A large glass of red wine can be up to 3 units folks.

The Nine Types of Drinker

Name	Characteristics	Key motivations
Depressed drinker	Life in a state of crisis eg recently bereaved, divorced or in financial crisis	Alcohol is a comforter and a form of self-medication used to help them cope
De-stress drinker	Pressurised job or stressful home life leads to feelings of being out of control and burdened with responsibility	Alcohol is used to relax, unwind and calm down and to gain a sense of control when switching between work and personal life. Partners often support or reinforce behaviour by preparing drinks for them
Re-bonding drinker	Relevant to those with a very busy social calendar	Alcohol is the ‘shared connector' that unifies and gets them on the same level. They often forget the time and the amount they are consuming
Conformist drinker	Traditional guys who believe that going to the pub every night is ‘what men do'	Justify it as ‘me time'. The pub is their second home and they feel a strong sense of belonging and acceptance within this environment
Community drinker	Drink in fairly large social friendship groups	The sense of community forged through the pub-group. Drinking provides a sense of safety and security and gives their lives meaning. It also acts a social network
Boredom drinker	Typically single mums or recent divorcees with restricted social life	Drinking is company, making up for an absence of people. Drinking marks the end of the day, perhaps following the completion of chores
Macho drinker	Often feeling under-valued, disempowered and frustrated in important areas of their life	Have actively cultivated a strong ‘alpha male' that revolves around their drinking ‘prowess'. Drinking is driven by a constant need to assert their masculinity and status to themselves and others
Hedonistic drinker	Single, divorced and/or with grown up children	Drinking excessively is a way of visibly expressing their independence, freedom and ‘youthfulness' to themselves. Alcohol used to release inhibitions
Border dependents	Men who effectively live in the pub which, for them, is very much a home from home	A combination of motives, including boredom, the need to conform, and a general sense of malaise in their lives

Why are you drinking alcohol?