Originally Posted by bchris02

Personally I think if you are able to control your drinking to the point where its only every once and a while and only one or two drinks then you aren't an alcoholic. It's not uncommon at all to go through a period of heavy drinking in college or your twenties and then moderate naturally later in life. Alcoholics have to stop cold turkey and can usually not decrease the consumption down to what is considered "moderate" on their own. The question I would ask yourself is this. Could you have only one drink and be completely satisfied with that? True alcoholics can try to limit themselves but its mental torture to not be able to have as many drinks as they would really like. In fact, from the perception of the alcoholic, its more enjoyable to not drink at all than to limit it to one or two drinks.