Am I an Alcoholic Questionnaire

Alcohol is notorious for causing a variety of relationship problems, whether it be
with close friends or with family members. In fact, these effects are so pronounced
that there’s even a 12-step program devoted entirely to helping friends and family
of addicted individuals called
Al-Anon.

If you find yourself sneaking away from the people you care about to have a drink,
whether because of shame or fear of what you might do or say when drunk, it’s
clear that your drinking has reached problematic levels and it might be time
to look into rehab.

Using alcohol to cope with painful emotions is one of the most notable hallmarks
of an addiction. Alcohol has a unique ability to force the body into a different
state, one that may not feel these emotions as intensely as if it were sober.

This is part of the reason why alcohol abuse is so common among veterans who have
experienced wartime trauma. If you find yourself drinking in order to avoid feeling
a certain emotion, you’re likely using alcohol intoxication as a coping mechanism
– and not a very effective coping mechanism at that.

According to the
National Institute for Drug Abuse, addiction can be characterized by what’s
known as “tolerance” which is defined as needing to take higher doses of a substance
of abuse in order to achieve the same high.

And if you feel like you need to drink more alcohol than before just to get the same
buzz, you’ve likely built up a tolerance to it which might indicate that you’ve
actually become addicted.

Too much alcohol has a tendency to directly interact with
certain parts of the brain responsible for short-term memory. As a result,
drinking one too many glasses of wine may cause what’s known as a “blackout”
where you have no memory of certain events the night before, but were clearly
conscious for them.

Blacking out should not be considered normal drinking behavior and, if these bursts
of amnesia have become commonplace for your nights out, it’s time to seriously
ask yourself, “Am I an alcoholic?”

Whether you’re taking this quiz on “Am I An Alcoholic?” just to pass the time or
if you seriously think you might have a problem, the fact is you’re probably
at least
a little concerned about your drinking.

If that’s the case, then you may have considered attending an
Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Alcoholics Anonymous is an incredibly helpful
support group that asks for no membership dues, doesn’t discriminate on who it
accepts, and holds numerous meetings around the country.

And if you’ve thought about attending a meeting, it might be an indication that you
are actually struggling with underlying addiction.

Addiction to alcohol can fundamentally alter the way you think and reason about the
world. And when it comes to admitting a serious alcohol problem, most addicts
are simply incapable of coming to terms with what that really means.

If you’re wondering, “Am I an alcoholic?” ask yourself: have your friends or family
ever told you that they think you need help? If so, they may be able to see something
in your behaviors that your addiction simply won’t let you acknowledge.

Binge drinking has become an especially common practice in American culture. In fact,
26.9% of U.S. adults engaged in binge drinking in the past month according
to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

While binge drinking alone is not necessarily a
direct sign of having an alcohol use disorder, frequent binge drinking could
lead to the development of a serious addiction.

Whether it’s because you’re trying to keep loved ones from worrying or you’re unwilling
to confront the truth yourself, alcoholism and addiction in general is associated
with a high degree of secrecy.

And if you’ve found yourself lying to loved ones about your drinking habits, it means
you’re trying to cover up something that you should probably get professional
help for.

One of the core tenets of alcoholism is that you’re unable to really feel normal
without it. Beyond that though, using alcohol as a way to “unwind” and being
unable to do so without it is characteristic of what could be a serious problem.

So, if you feel like a get together isn’t worth going to unless there’s a bottle
of wine involved, it could be a sign that you’ve developed at least some degree
of alcoholism.

Starting your day with a beer or a swig of liquor is a pretty solid indicator of
a serious alcohol problem. Whether you’re doing so to stave off the symptoms
of withdrawal (i.e. headache, tremors, irritability, etc.) or are simply using
alcohol as a means of coping with the stress of your daily life, either situation
points to an alcohol problem that might be more serious than simple abuse.

Shame and guilt are both some of the most common feelings when dealing with a substance
abuse problem. And if you’re struggling with the question
am I an alcoholic? then your feelings of guilt over drinking may be hinting
at a serious dependency problem.

As such, it might be time to re-evaluate whether or not your drinking behaviors are
actually a sign of a more deep-rooted addiction. And rehab just might be the
best path towards taking the
step towards forgiving yourself.

Alcoholism can have a number of powerful and surprising effects. In fact, being addicted
to alcohol can even change the way you perceive the world around you as well
as how you perceive yourself.

As a result, you might be in denial about whether you’re struggling with an addiction.
A SAMHSA-sponsored study actually found that
95.5% of addicts in 2016 who needed treatment didn’t seek it out because
they didn’t think they had a problem.

So, if your loved ones are trying to tell you that you have a problem but you don’t
believe them, you may actually be one of that 95.5%.

Alcohol is inherently toxic. And when you ingest too much of it in a short amount
of time, it can have some pretty substantial effects on how you experience the
world around you.

Short-term memory, for example, is particularly affected by drinking too much alcohol
and, as a result, too much booze can often lead to blackouts. If you’ve ever
felt a general sense of unease, guiltiness, or
fear for your health from blackouts, it could mean you’ve got a serious drinking
problem.

For most people, drinking is primarily a social activity. The freeing inebriation
from alcohol can help quell social anxiety, stimulate conversation, and lend
a sense of joviality to an occasion.

But when the social aspect of drinking is over and everyone else has stopped for
the night, if you still feel compelled to have another (and another), it might
be a sign of an actual alcohol use disorder.

Using alcohol to cope with the daily stresses of life is one of the most notable
signs of a serious substance abuse problem. Rather than numbing yourself to the
effects of your problems with alcohol, a healthy way of coping with life’s problems
is by either dealing with them directly or managing the effects in some other
healthy way.

Using a substance to
avoid dealing with those difficulties, though, is most definitely a problem.

So, if you find yourself taking this quiz on “Am I an Alcoholic” because you aren’t
sure of the most obvious signs, drinking throughout the day to deal with tough
situations is one of the clearest indications of addiction to booze.

Addiction can have a profoundly powerful effect on how you physically feel. Besides
the addictive intoxication from alcohol that results, continued use of alcohol
can also cause a physical dependency that can leave you feeling uncomfortable
if it’s been too long since your last drink.

This is what’s known as withdrawal and is characterized by a number of symptoms such
as agitation, anxiety, physical tremors,
and more.

If you’re feeling these symptoms of withdrawal, it’s likely that you’ve developed
a physical dependency and perhaps even an addiction to alcohol.

Maybe you know you have a problem with abusing alcohol at times, but you tend to
push back when anyone suggests that you might be an alcoholic. Maybe you’ve found
yourself justifying your abuse as the result of “just a tough day at work” or
“a particularly stressful week” with your partner.

And while you may have an excuse for every night you find yourself drinking more
than usual, refusing to acknowledge that these aren’t just disconnected circumstances
but rather are part of a
pattern of behavior could be holding you back from recognizing your true
addiction.

Alcohol consumption causes significant changes in our cognitive abilities. The way
we think, talk, and act when we’re intoxicated is rarely the same as when we’re
sober. And as a result, we may say or do things when drinking that we end up
regretting the next day.

And it’s true – a rise in regrettable behaviors like violence and aggression have
been observed with increased alcohol intake
for quite some time. So, if you consistently find yourself waking up overcome
with regret about the night before, it could be a sign worth paying attention
to.

If you’ve ever wondered, “Am I an alcoholic?” one of the most telltale signs is whether
you’ve tried quitting before, but just couldn’t get through it. In fact, it’s
one of
the 11 criteria used to diagnose substance use disorders in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by licensed physicians
and psychiatrists around the country.

And if it describes you, it might be clinical proof that you may be dealing with
an addiction to alcohol.

An alcoholic tends to feel like being intoxicated is their preferred default state
of mind. As a result, they may try to continually extend their feelings of drunkenness.
Maybe they’ll start drinking in the middle of the day and continue through the
evening. Or perhaps they’ll keep drinking well into the early morning every night
of the weekend.

Either way, trying to extend your intoxication to unreasonable spans of time can
mean you’re more of an alcoholic than you’d like to admit.