what define alcoholism?
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
I knew I had slid into alcoholism......when drinking was no
longer fun.....and yet....I continued to drink.
Please click on this link for a screening test
http://counsellingresource.com/quizz...ast/index.html
Welcome to our recovery community.....
longer fun.....and yet....I continued to drink.
Please click on this link for a screening test
http://counsellingresource.com/quizz...ast/index.html
Welcome to our recovery community.....
SR Fan
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 7,910
Hi jadical and welcome to the forum! There's usually a "cluster" of symptoms that doctors and counselors use to determine alcoholism. This is a fairly long list (there are shorter ones out there). For me, the bottom line is drinking more (or more often) than you intend to, even when there are negative consequences.
35 Tip Offs that You May Be an Alcoholic | You Can Stop Drinking Now
There are certain behaviors that go along with becoming an alcoholic and being addicted to alcohol. Here is an extensive list of 35 tip offs that you may have developed an addiction to alcohol.
Some problem drinkers know they have a problem fairly early in the drinking process, but there are many people who are addicted to alcohol who really are the last to know.
1. You believe you can stop drinking anytime you want to, but just don’t.
2. When you go to the doctor you hide the fact that you are drinking excessively.
3. Your friends and family have a growing suspicion that you have a drinking problem, and may mention it or have a talk with you about it.
4. You deny the mounting evidence of your excessive drinking.
5. You trivialize the amount and frequency of your drinking as much as you can.
6. You can’t acknowledge the serious consequences of your drinking.
7. You are forced to make constant excuses for wild or irresponsible behavior.
8. You have a tenancy to blame others or situations in your life for your drinking.
9. You can’t stop drinking for more than a few weeks.
10. You constantly have the urge to drink.
11. Once you start drinking, you usually can’t stop.
12. You keep drinking until you run out of alcohol.
13. You are spending money you need for necessities for alcohol instead.
14. You see people who “want to help” as a nuisance if not an outright threat.
15. You will sometimes start having money problems, and may have to borrow money (for the first time in some cases).
16. You get angry when someone mentions your drinking.
17. If you go into rehab, will finds reasons or makes excuses to stop treatment.
18. Some will have problems with the law. DUI’s, etc.
19. You are absent or late for work more frequently.
20. More advanced alcoholics can’t keep a job or can’t or won’t get one.
21. If you are a student, you may be suspended from school for drinking.
22. You are more easily upset and have more mood swings.
23. You feel very alone with this problem.
24. You get angry more often.
25. Under the influence you engage in very reckless and/or irresponsible behavior
26. You find yourself continually not meeting your responsibilities.
27. Your relationships become more unstable.
28. Further down the road, you find yourself spending time with people who drink as much as you do.
29. You keep the people close to you at an arms length (keeping a drinking problem secret is difficult particularly with those closest to you) even though you really do want the relationship.
30. Your problem solving abilities don’t seem to work anymore.
31. With more advanced drinking, changing your drinking pattern becomes more difficult if not impossible.
32. You feel much more intense guilt and depression.
33. You need more support from others than you used to.
34. You can’t keep your promises, and tend to avoid social activities.
35. You can’t allow yourself to dwell on your behavior under the influence because it’s too painful.
Some problem drinkers know they have a problem fairly early in the drinking process, but there are many people who are addicted to alcohol who really are the last to know.
1. You believe you can stop drinking anytime you want to, but just don’t.
2. When you go to the doctor you hide the fact that you are drinking excessively.
3. Your friends and family have a growing suspicion that you have a drinking problem, and may mention it or have a talk with you about it.
4. You deny the mounting evidence of your excessive drinking.
5. You trivialize the amount and frequency of your drinking as much as you can.
6. You can’t acknowledge the serious consequences of your drinking.
7. You are forced to make constant excuses for wild or irresponsible behavior.
8. You have a tenancy to blame others or situations in your life for your drinking.
9. You can’t stop drinking for more than a few weeks.
10. You constantly have the urge to drink.
11. Once you start drinking, you usually can’t stop.
12. You keep drinking until you run out of alcohol.
13. You are spending money you need for necessities for alcohol instead.
14. You see people who “want to help” as a nuisance if not an outright threat.
15. You will sometimes start having money problems, and may have to borrow money (for the first time in some cases).
16. You get angry when someone mentions your drinking.
17. If you go into rehab, will finds reasons or makes excuses to stop treatment.
18. Some will have problems with the law. DUI’s, etc.
19. You are absent or late for work more frequently.
20. More advanced alcoholics can’t keep a job or can’t or won’t get one.
21. If you are a student, you may be suspended from school for drinking.
22. You are more easily upset and have more mood swings.
23. You feel very alone with this problem.
24. You get angry more often.
25. Under the influence you engage in very reckless and/or irresponsible behavior
26. You find yourself continually not meeting your responsibilities.
27. Your relationships become more unstable.
28. Further down the road, you find yourself spending time with people who drink as much as you do.
29. You keep the people close to you at an arms length (keeping a drinking problem secret is difficult particularly with those closest to you) even though you really do want the relationship.
30. Your problem solving abilities don’t seem to work anymore.
31. With more advanced drinking, changing your drinking pattern becomes more difficult if not impossible.
32. You feel much more intense guilt and depression.
33. You need more support from others than you used to.
34. You can’t keep your promises, and tend to avoid social activities.
35. You can’t allow yourself to dwell on your behavior under the influence because it’s too painful.
Guest
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 2,013
There is no doubt that I'm an alcoholic. I'm grateful for being absolutely certain of that. I don't think I stood much chance of staying sober more than a few weeks untill I truly accepted that to my innermost self.
You can’t allow yourself to dwell on your behavior under the influence because it’s too painful.
Man, that is so true. Even now when I try to think of hazey times when I drank out in public, then I find it hard as it's too painful. My behaviour wasn't probably that bad, though I can;t remember. But I cringe at the mental place I was in and how I must have acted and conversed to other people, usually sober. That's why I just drank alone i n my room or on a bench, or in the cheapest chain pub with the other alkies.
Grateful to be a recovering alcoholic.
You can’t allow yourself to dwell on your behavior under the influence because it’s too painful.
Man, that is so true. Even now when I try to think of hazey times when I drank out in public, then I find it hard as it's too painful. My behaviour wasn't probably that bad, though I can;t remember. But I cringe at the mental place I was in and how I must have acted and conversed to other people, usually sober. That's why I just drank alone i n my room or on a bench, or in the cheapest chain pub with the other alkies.
Grateful to be a recovering alcoholic.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 2
wow thanks you guys are so helpful. I scored a 5 on that counseling test. Im 19 (just graduated highschool) and ive been drinking since i was 13-14. I notice when i try to go sober for a few weeks im able to have my legit humor and i can be interesting without alcohol. But i always go back to it...i just drank last night (Ten High). I always feel like a zombie the day after drinking, cant be energetic in conversations etc etc..it sucks
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 139
Originally Posted by jadical 
(sorry if this is stickied somewhere)
What exactly defines someone who is an alcoholic?
What exactly defines someone who is an alcoholic?
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
jadical....Congratulations on your HS Graduation!
I wish you well in whatever future you are planning.
You might want to consider finding your way into a sober life.
Drinking is just is not condusive to health and happiness.
Alcohol is a chemical toxin...it damages all drinkers
not only alcoholics.
All my best as you move forward.....
I wish you well in whatever future you are planning.
You might want to consider finding your way into a sober life.
Drinking is just is not condusive to health and happiness.
Alcohol is a chemical toxin...it damages all drinkers
not only alcoholics.
All my best as you move forward.....
Member
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 456
Never took that test before.. It said.
Total score of: 7 (6 or More, Problem Drinker)
Your answers to this alcohol screening test suggest that you are at risk of alcoholism. The authors of this test would recommend that you contact your doctor about your drinking.
Your answers to this alcohol screening test suggest that you are at risk of alcoholism. The authors of this test would recommend that you contact your doctor about your drinking.
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
I've taken that test 3 times for court...(IN Michigan, btw)
If I put myself in the mindset I was in "back then" after DUI #2 of 3 and answer honestly (from the state of delusion I was in at the time) I get: Total score of: 3 (3-5, Early to Middle Problem Drinker)
Looking back at that same time from the position I'm in presently (sober, objective, clear vision of hindsight, no threat to my current egotism, etc) my score goes to: Total score of: 14 (6 or More, Problem Drinker).
That test, and others like it, were part of the evidence I lined up in my head that proved I wasn't an alcoholic. ELEVEN points my delusion kept well hidden (not that I would have believed that test anyway...lol)
If I put myself in the mindset I was in "back then" after DUI #2 of 3 and answer honestly (from the state of delusion I was in at the time) I get: Total score of: 3 (3-5, Early to Middle Problem Drinker)
Looking back at that same time from the position I'm in presently (sober, objective, clear vision of hindsight, no threat to my current egotism, etc) my score goes to: Total score of: 14 (6 or More, Problem Drinker).
That test, and others like it, were part of the evidence I lined up in my head that proved I wasn't an alcoholic. ELEVEN points my delusion kept well hidden (not that I would have believed that test anyway...lol)
Member
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 456
I answered 100% sober minded and honestly.... I think the test might be good for some, but there should have been a question, how much do you drink?
I mean, I was doing 2 gallons a week of hard... So I won't fool myself and say I'm a "problem drinker".. I'll be a dead problem drinker shortly if I don't stay sober.
I mean, I was doing 2 gallons a week of hard... So I won't fool myself and say I'm a "problem drinker".. I'll be a dead problem drinker shortly if I don't stay sober.
Grouch and Brainstorm
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 238
My sponsor has a great way of defining this (cue the Newark, NJ accent):
When you put it inya, does it say give me more?
When you swear it off, do you drink it again anyhow?
Great, now you've done Step 1.
When you put it inya, does it say give me more?
When you swear it off, do you drink it again anyhow?
Great, now you've done Step 1.
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
Just in case....
I wasn't calling you out IRTQ. Not at all. Hope u didn't take it that way.
Seeing that test again brought back the memory of taking it after my 2nd dui. I intentionally lied on a couple in real life so the court wouldn't know my real story. this time, I re-took it and didn't lie (based upon what I believed at the time). For example, at the time I first took it, I truly TRULY believed, beyond allllllll doubt, that my drinking was "normal" in the 1st question - of course, everyone I hung out with drank like fishes. I also would have said no relatives worried about my drinking...that wasn't true but I believed it to be true. A little further down, I truly felt guilty about my drinking but, back then, I wouldn't have called it "guilt about my drinking" I would have called it frustration about my lack of control...that just so happens to include drinking but that frustration is not limited to JUST drinking so then it's not reeeeally a problem with booze so much as it's a problem with my inability to exercise the control over all the things I thought I could control. I could go on but u get the idea.
I wasn't calling you out IRTQ. Not at all. Hope u didn't take it that way.
Seeing that test again brought back the memory of taking it after my 2nd dui. I intentionally lied on a couple in real life so the court wouldn't know my real story. this time, I re-took it and didn't lie (based upon what I believed at the time). For example, at the time I first took it, I truly TRULY believed, beyond allllllll doubt, that my drinking was "normal" in the 1st question - of course, everyone I hung out with drank like fishes. I also would have said no relatives worried about my drinking...that wasn't true but I believed it to be true. A little further down, I truly felt guilty about my drinking but, back then, I wouldn't have called it "guilt about my drinking" I would have called it frustration about my lack of control...that just so happens to include drinking but that frustration is not limited to JUST drinking so then it's not reeeeally a problem with booze so much as it's a problem with my inability to exercise the control over all the things I thought I could control. I could go on but u get the idea.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 273
If you crave it, you're an alcoholic. People who are not alcoholics don't think about alcohol when they're not drinking. They drink for recreation, and they don't feel bad if they don't drink.
You can still be having alcohol too often/too much if you're not an alcoholic, but the difference is that you are not addicted to it. All surveys you find on the internet are just trying to gauge how much you think about alcohol and how much you let alcohol control your life.
You can still be having alcohol too often/too much if you're not an alcoholic, but the difference is that you are not addicted to it. All surveys you find on the internet are just trying to gauge how much you think about alcohol and how much you let alcohol control your life.
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