What are the Signs of Alcohol Addiction?
Most people would think that it is fairly easy to spot the signs of alcohol addiction – just watch for someone who is drinking too much, right?
But the issue is more complicated than that, and we also have to differentiate between alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse. They are two separate things and the way you go about treatment for them is different as well.
First, let’s look at some terms: “Alcohol abuse” is not the same as “alcohol addiction” (which we can also call alcoholism).
1) Alcohol abuse - is when someone is abusing alcohol, which could be daily or it could be every once in a while. Just because a person is drinking heavily does not automatically make them into an alcoholic. For example, many young people in college abuse alcohol fairly regularly but are not actually addicted to alcohol, nor do they become alcoholic.
2) Alcohol addiction - this is alcoholism (the terms can be used interchangeably). Alcohol addiction is a more serious issue than mere abuse, although in the early stages it can be tough to tell them apart. In reality, the only one that has to identify themselves as being alcoholic is the person themselves, other people’s opinions will not make any difference to them. Alcoholism is characterized by:
* Craving for alcohol
* Withdrawal symptoms when not drinking
* Blackouts
And so on and so forth. Although it is still possible to get some of these things from alcohol abuse as well. So how can you tell the difference? Alcoholism is about a lifelong struggle that happens over time. With alcohol abuse, if you take the booze out of the picture, then there is no problem and the person gets better.
With alcoholism, if you remove the drinking, the problems are just starting. The person will go through detox and if they don’t return to drinking or start working some sort of recovery then eventually they will become uncomfortable enough and they will relapse. This does not occur with alcohol abuse.
So we can see that some of the characteristics of alcohol addiction are:
1) Physical dependency - the need to drink in order to function on a physical level.
2) Withdrawal symptoms - that occur when stopping drinking.
3) Obsession with drinking - the thoughts and mental energy spent thinking about drinking or being drunk when someone is sober.
4) Compulsive drinking - the inability to stop drinking once someone has started. The lack of ability to have just a couple drinks and be done with it.
However, recognize that there are alcoholics out there who are seriously addicted to booze but at the same time will not show heavy signs of physical withdrawal. The issue is not how much we drank or even how frequently we drank, but more about how we felt when we drank and how we reacted to our own habit of drinking.
