How to Diagnose Your Alcoholism or Problem Drinking

How can you know if you are an alcoholic?

To the normal person who is not suffering from addiction, this sort of question might seem ridiculous at first. This can really be a tricky situation for some people, especially if you are still in the phase of drinking where you still have fun with it but at the same time you get into trouble sometimes.

For some people, they might not drink every single day, but when they do eventually go on a drinking binge, they go all out and it is really bad. So this can be difficult to self-diagnose, because the person can and does maintain abstinence for long periods of time.  In such cases the person might not realize that they should in fact stop drinking.

So how can you know for sure?These are some things you might try to help you out:

1) Try to control the amount you drink. Set a limit on the amount of drinking and cut it down to one beer or shot or glass of wine per day, maximum. Keep this up for at least 12 months continuous.

2) Self diagnosis. This is the only way. Other people cannot tell you that you have alcoholism. You have to accept it personally. Merely admitting to it is not helpful enough. You will need to come to full acceptance of your condition without any reservation about it.

3) Consider this statement: “I didn’t get into trouble every time I drank, but every time I got into trouble, I had been drinking.” Is that true for you? If this is the case then this might be a big warning sign that you have alcoholism.

4) Consider this statement: “When I control my drinking, I don’t have any fun. When I have fun with my drinking, I tend to lose control.” Another big warning flag if this is sounding like you.

So take these ideas into consideration and think about them. Attempt to limit the amounts that you drink over a long period of time (say like 6 months or a year) and then also notice how you feel about having to limit your consumption.  If you come to the conclusion that something needs to change then you might want to start exploring how to stop drinking.