Symptoms suggestive of alcoholism
- Do you drink more after disappointment or quarrelling, or when your boss caused you difficult moments?
- Do you drink more than usual when you are in trouble or in a situation to solve a problem?
- Have you realized that you can drink more spirits today than at the time when you started drinking?
- Have you woken up with a hangover without remembering some of the events of the previous night, even though your friends said you were not drunk?
- Have you ever tried to secretly drink more while drinking with others so that others don’t realize it?
- Are there situations and occasions when you feel uncomfortable when you do not get alcohol?
- Have you noticed lately that you are in a better hurry with the first drink than in the past?
- Do you sometimes feel a little guilty about drinking?
- Are you secretly nervous when your family or friends talk about your drinking?
- Do you have memory losses more often now than before
- Does it happen often that you want to continue drinking after your friends told they have had enough?
- Do you usually have a reason to drink hard?
- Do you often feel sorry for what you did or said when you were drunk?
- Have you changed brand or type of drink or developed a plan to cut back on your drinking?
- Do you often break your promises to yourself to stop or reduce your drinking?
- Have you ever tried to reduce your drinking by changing your place of work or residence?
- Do you try to avoid family or close friends when you drink?
- Have your financial and work-related problems multiplied?
- Are more people treating you unfairly without a good reason to do so?
- Do you eat little or irregularly when you drink?
- Have you ever had your hands trembling in the morning, but a few drinks helped to stop it?
- Have you noticed that you can’t drink as much now as you could before?
- Did you ever get drunk for days in a row?
- Do you sometimes feel deeply depressed and wonder if it is worth living?
- Did you sometimes see or hear non-existent things after drinking periods?
- After heavy drinking, have you felt terrible fear / were you scared?
According to the National Council on Alcoholism of America, if you answered yes to any of the above questions, you have symptoms that may indicate alcoholism. The affirmative answer to more than one question indicates the following stages of alcoholism:
1-8 questions:
Early stage. According to the National Council on Alcoholism, the average length of this stage is 10-15 years. The exception are people who are problematic drinkers almost after their first drink.
9-21. questions:
Middle stage. It lasts for 2-5 years.
22-26. questions:
The beginning of the final stage of alcoholism.
Source: Nan Robertson
Getting better: Inside Alcoholics Anonymous
New York: William Morrow, 1988, 256-258. p