[nandm]

I think that for me I quickly moved from moderate drinker through the hard drinker phase right into alcoholism. In fact I think the moderate and hard drinker phases overlapped each other and went directly into alcoholism by the time I reached 21 years of age. I had developed the craving for alcohol. I had started centering my life around activities that gave me excuses to drink. I was unable to stop for any real length of time and when I did stop my mind would be thinking and planning when I would drink again.