Definition: binge drinking

A trend that emerged in the United States in the 1990s. Binge drinking is an Anglicism that can be translated as excessive drinking or periodic alcoholism. Popular synonyms include getting wasted, binge drinking, and getting hammered.

It is a practice that involves consuming a large amount of alcohol in a short period of time. Young people occasionally engage in these massive, methodical drinking sessions, most often in groups. Arriving in Europe from the Nordic countries, this practice has been on the rise in Switzerland in recent years. It particularly affects adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16. When practised repeatedly, binge drinking can reveal significant psychological difficulties in some teenagers.

However, this behaviour should not be confused with alcoholism, which is an addiction, a chronic condition that is not on the rise.
This awful Anglicism describes a dangerous activity among teenagers, which could be translated as "torch minute". Or, more scientifically, as "dipsomania": a morbid impulse to drink alcoholic liquids excessively and in bouts. As in Thun, for example, where a bar recently offered an evening where it was possible to consume all drinks at will, for a derisory price of 50 francs. An English expression that can be translated as "binge drinking". More and more young people are engaging in binge drinking. Rather than a sign of malaise, specialists see the "binge drinking" practised by teenagers as a fashion phenomenon. There is nothing new about this rite of passage, but to reach intoxication, young people today drink very quickly and mix different types of alcohol.
In the past, people would get drunk at the end of a fun evening. Today, getting wasted is a prerequisite for having fun. They even start the evening drunk. To play the "neighbourhood thug" under pressure from the group, whose parents have given up, it's a 15-year-old kid who, if no limits are set for him, won't set any for himself.
These collective binges are more than worrying. Or is it just a phase of youth? Without being alarmist, toxicologists do not want to trivialise the issue. Beyond the serious risks associated with frequent alcohol poisoning, binge drinking causes significantly greater damage to public health and costs society more than chronic alcoholism. Not to mention that the latter begins in adolescence. Heavy drinkers were all early drinkers: that's the trap.
The term binge drinking comes from the United States. Initially, it referred to the behaviour of certain alcoholics who drink continuously for a day or a weekend, often alone. Today, it extends to collective binge drinking, a trend that is spreading from American campuses and permeating all social cultures. We are witnessing a globalisation of alcohol consumption. This taste for getting high has long been satisfied with other products, including cannabis and other drugs. Now that these are less accessible, binge drinking could be the result of a transfer, and most heavy consumers mix different types of products. Heavy drinking is the preserve of 15- to 24-year-olds, who then settle down to drink more regularly but less. It is therefore important to realise that binge drinking among teenagers is more serious than chronic alcoholism.
With their accompanying alcohol poisoning, binge drinking parties are commonplace in Germany and Austria. They are spreading in Switzerland (2007).