Originally Posted by
ScoobyWoo 
People will give you different definitions, but for me, I always thought that a person is likely an alcoholic if something like a mental "switch" goes off after the first couple of drinks, to where they are then set into a "spell" of unstoppable binge drinking from there on out. This continues until they pass out or become as "high" as time/money allows. This "spell" completely takes a hold of the person; perhaps negative behavior will arise, but it does not always (in fact, for many "functioning" alcoholics, it often doesn't) - the most central characteristic of this "spell" is just that it renders a person utterly incapable of stopping once started.
So to me, alcoholism is not defined by the negative consequences of drinking -- rather, it's the way of drinking itself; the mental obsession, the inability to stop.
I think this summary pretty much nails it. It isn't the whole problem, but it is the defining characteristic. If you want to know if you are alcoholic, put away the 50-question screening test and just see how you feel after 2 drinks. It isn't rocket science, really.
I don't know if medical science yet fully understands the root cause of the powerful craving for more alcohol that is triggered by the initial intake in alcohol dependent people (aka alcoholics). I believe there is active neuro-biological research on the subject that may shed some light. I tend to think that physiological factors have not received enough attention historically. I know from my own experience that the "spell" that kicks in feels almost like an involuntary reaction; I can't help but continue. By contrast, the craving that occurs after one abstains for a period of time is a somewhat different beast -- because it is
possible to overcome it.