Alcoholic shares the three differences between himself and a normal drinker

Warning: This article contains discussion of alcoholism which some readers may find distressing.

An alcoholic who has been sober for over a decade laid down the three big differences he'd seen between himself and normal drinkers over their relationship with alcohol.

Corey Warren had spent several stints in rehab before he finally ditched the booze, having explained that his sign he was an alcoholic was 'obsessing about it Monday through Thursday' until he could start drinking a lot again at the weekend.

He said that he got into fights with his friends, picked up a DUI and kept saying 'sorry' before turning around and doing it all over again and again.

Fortunately, he got sober in 2011 and has put a lot of effort into explaining alcoholism to other people and encouraging them to drop the drink, with his videos on YouTube gaining plenty of views and positive reactions.

Corey Warren has been sober since 2011 (Instagram/@icoreywarren)

Among the things he's spoken of are the three main differences he'd seen between alcoholics and people who can drink without being addicted to it.

'They don't think about drinking when they're not drinking'

This was Corey's first point of difference as he laid out how he'd be thinking about alcohol pretty much all the time, save for the times he'd actually been drinking it.

He said: "I think about it at work, I think about it at dinner. If I'm not drinking, I guarantee I'm thinking about drinking."

As he'd explained in other videos, he had a fixation with alcohol and the time when he wasn't drinking it was spent counting down the time until he could start up again.

'They can have one or two and then leave it'

For those who would see one drink as too many and two drinks as not enough, you might think that they couldn't stop themselves when they start, but Corey said that he could.

However, it was the feeling he got when he stopped that he considered a major difference between alcoholics and people just drinking alcohol.

A normal drinker might be able to stop after a couple, but while he explained that he could also 'have one or two and stop' he would 'never want to' as it 'never feels like enough' and he would 'always want one more' drink.

He said even if he could stop drinking after a couple he'd 'never want to' and would still have the desire for another drink (YouTube/iCoreyWarren)

'They always have a reason not to drink'

His third and final major difference was that a normal drinker would have plenty of reasons why alcohol wasn't the right thing to be drinking.

"I have to wake up early, go to work or I have to drive tonight," he suggested as possible reasons why a normal drinker would avoid alcohol.

"But me, I always had an excuse to drink. So if your drinking is anything like mine I hate to break it to you but that's not enjoyment, that's control.

"You want to better your life, start by getting the alcohol out of it."

Please drink responsibly. If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support.