Quite a lot of people ask themselves the following question: am I an alcoholic? But is there a definite measure to tell if someone is an alcoholic? Because everyone is different and their body functions differently, making a definite conclusion is difficult. Yet, scientifically it is known that every person eliminates alcohol at a constant rate.
Men and women, in general, should adhere to a certain number of drinks per week, and so on. Thus, there are also scales and recommended figures that tell the difference between low-risk drinking and addiction to alcohol. To find out whether you are an alcoholic, there are various ways.
Am I an Alcoholic and Do I abuse Alcohol?
If you want to know whether you are addicted to alcohol and whether you should consider rehab, there are a few conclusive things to do. These are basic medical clinical tests or drug tests that can give an idea. By taking standard AUD or alcohol use disorder tests, you can understand where you stand on the scale. If you meet the diagnostic criteria, your alcohol drinking can be labeled as ‘Mild’, ‘Moderate’ or ‘Severe’. In fact, there are three levels as per NIAAA and this is an important scale. Similar to CIWA-r, there are scales that different people with various drinking patterns.
People often try to figure this out from their habits and common life experiences. From those who have been diagnosed with this addiction, one can take some tips. By answering a few questions like the number of times you have consumed alcohol in the past month if you have tried to cut down on drinking and failed, how long do you spend drinking, or trying to buy or obtain alcohol and whether you’re craving for alcohol and a specific brand type is very strong? These are simple basic questions that can give a suggestive idea.
To figure out if my drinking problem is pervasive and if I am an alcoholic, I should also take some tests. But, friends can also help you before it gets worse. There are differences between alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Do I have an alcohol drinking problem? If you think it is ‘Yes’ from most of your friends, you should consider cutting down on it.
Use of Alcohol and its Pervasiveness
Because our society is built up around drinking, it comes in all shapes and sizes. Many find it glorious and manly while others see it as a derogatory gesture. It can be difficult to gauze one person from another’s perspective. But science has made up some safe levels for both genders. And, breaking them can put you in the place for higher risk of AUD, which can be difficult to escape.
Today, alcoholism affects more than 14 million people in the US, and the saddest thing is that it includes the age gap of 12 years old to higher. This is from an older survey from 2017 by NSDUH. And, it kills an excess of 88,000 people each year as well. Thus, if you think the answer to ‘am I an alcoholic’ is perhaps yes, do consider tests and take the help of professionals immediately.
