At what stage of alcoholism does moderation become impossible?
There are many stories of people who were heavy drinkers in their younger years but learned to drink moderately later in life. Their drinking habits may have looked like alcoholism, but today they can have two drinks with dinner and stop with that. Their tolerance has also returned to normal after being much higher when they were drinking heavier. For them, it's safe to say they did not cross the point of no return.
The stages I am going by are as follows
Stage One: Pre-alcoholic (binge drinking, increasing tolerance)
Stage Two: Early alcoholic (blackouts, anxiety if alcohol not available, further increase in tolerance)
Stage Three: Middle alcoholic (Alcoholism becomes more obvious, job performance suffers, alcohol is brought into inappropriate situations where it otherwise wouldn't be)
Stage Four: Late alcoholic (Drinking becomes an all-day affair, end of job/relationships, health problems set in)
At one point on that timeline do you think moderation is no longer possible? I would say anybody who has reached stage three or four has no choice but to never touch another drop, but what about stages one and two?