Alejandro is a 30 year old junior marketing executive. He shares an apartment with his brother Quentin and is not in a relationship. Alejandro has a very active social life. Almost every night of the week, Alejandro can be found at some sort of festivity that is at a bar, club or restaurant. At all of these occasions, liquor is present. Alejandro often jokes about how he must look like an alcoholic because in most pictures he is holding a drink. In addition, the woman he has begun a flirtation with finds that every time she calls him he is drinking. She thinks nothing of it, since this man must just enjoy one or two social drinks. The fact that he drinks every night does not flag him as an alcoholic in her eyes. They have spoken on the phone scores of times, spent time together and been in constant communication for a two month period. In addition, he really is such a nice guy. He casually mentions that his mother has asked him to promise not to drink. They laugh about how parents often refuse to view their children as adults.

One night before Alejandro goes out with his new lady friend, he tells her a few stories. One included waking up one morning after a night of drinking with blood on his shirt. The caveat being he had no idea where the blood came from. On another occasion, upon being shoved by a young woman in a club after drinking for a while, Alejandro pushed her back and the woman went flying across the room. Alejandro admits that at this point, he realized he did not know what his alcohol limit was. He stated this in past tense; these events had happened about a year prior and since then, Alejandro had allegedly altered his drinking habits. This statement was made as Alejandro pulled out two small bottles of vodka. One was for himself one for his lady friend. When she declined the offer of drink he downed both bottles himself.

Two hours later at the club the couple had gone to Alejandro has drunk two beers and was ready for a shot of tequila. He at this point is holding his liquor well. However; once the shot of tequila comes into play Alejandro succeeds in alienating his new friend. He spills salt all over the bar then begins dancing sloppily and says more than a few insulting things to his date. By the end of the evening the young lady wants nothing more to do with him. Alejandro can’t understand why.

Alejandro is in a state of denial about his drinking problem. The main issues here include the following: 1. An inability to stop drinking 2. Inability to see conflicts