When Drinking Becomes an Issue
How do you know that you have a problem with your drinking? When is it apparent that you are engaging in abusive drinking?
If you have ineffectively attempted to quit drinking or if you have given your word to yourself that your drinking days are over and then you were made aware that you were drinking in an excessive way just a few days later, chances are very good that you have drinking problems. The key point is that if you have made an effort to quit drinking and cannot get this done, then your drinking is controlling you, instead of the other way around.
In much the same way, if it takes increasingly more amounts of alcohol to get the same “high,” more likely than not you need to realize that you have a problem with your drinking.
You may be telling yourself that the justification for your drinking is so that you can lessen your nervousness or get rid of the distress that you feel. In a similar manner, you may be trying to avoid an unsafe situation and may be looking for something more beneficial, more constructive, or less mournful.
As you maintain your drinking, on the other hand, you will become aware that drinking does not result in the same high and you will also grasp the fact that drinking doesn’t help eliminate whatever elicited your sorrow in the first place.
Along the way, unfortunately, you may become addicted to alcohol and, as a consequence, you may add another fundamental problem to manage rather than discovering more successful and wholesome ways of managing your alcohol-related issues.
When an Alcohol Appraisal is Necessary
If you have determined that you have a problem with your drinking, perhaps the most positive thing you can do for yourself is to call your physician or healthcare provider and schedule an appointment for a complete physical and for a review of your drinking behavior.
If you honestly feel that you have a dangerous drinking problem, it might be a good idea to get prepared to find out that you need to get alcohol treatment.
At this point, what are your alternatives? You can positively decide against seeing your health care practitioner and carry on with your pattern of out-of-control drinking.
It actually doesn’t take a mastermind, nevertheless, to have a handle on the fact that continuous, excessive drinking, if left untreated, will go downhill over time and quite possibly bring about an early death. Thus, your healthiest option is to face your drinking problem and obtain the alcohol counseling you require.
The Pretense of the Functioning Alcohol Dependent Individual
It is ironic to note the fact that many alcohol addicted individuals lead busy and active lives and have houses, pets, families, vehicles, jobs, and any number of material possessions similar to individuals who are not alcohol dependent.
Many of these “functional” alcohol addicted people may have never been cited for drunk driving and may have been fortunate enough to avoid all alcohol generated legal issues. In spite of this fortunate situation, to the contrary, these alcohol dependent individuals need to drink in order to deal with life on a day by day basis while preserving their facade as they interact with the outside world.
Ask anyone who has seen them when they are out on a drunken binge or in a drunken stupor or ask a family member about the problem drinker’s alcohol addiction, to the contrary, and they will be quick to assert the validity of the drinker’s situation and the facts about the alcoholic’s drinking predicament and about his or her alcohol-related problems.
Why Do Alcohol Addicted Individuals Fail to Focus On Their Drinking Problems?
As alcohol dependency research and statistics on alcohol abuse have emphasized, no matter how obvious the alcohol-related problems seem to those who interact with the alcohol dependent person, alcohol dependent individuals often deny that drinking is the root of their alcohol-related problems. Not only this, but alcohol addicted individuals often blame their alcohol induced predicaments on other individuals or upon other situations that surround them instead of seeing their part in the difficulty.
The root of the difficulty is that alcoholism is a disease of the brain. Once the drinker has become dependent on alcohol, he or she normally resorts to denial, manipulation, and deceit as a way of dealing with the fact that his or her drinking is out of control. And to make things more problematic, the experience of alcohol withdrawal symptoms regularly thwarts the alcohol addicted individual’s rare attempts to abruptly abstain from drinking. As grim as the alcohol dependent person’s existence is, to the contrary, the encouraging news is that quality help is widely available – if the alcohol dependent individual reaches out and seeks alcoholism therapy.
Summary
Coming to grips with the fact that drinking is leading to issues in your day to day functioning is perchance the most straightforward way to find out if you have a drinking problem. Stated differently, if your drinking is causing difficulties with your health, at work, in your relationships, with your finances, at school, or with the law, then you have a drinking problem that needs to be resolved.
If you have a drinking problem, what is more, this means that you are involving yourself in alcohol abuse.
While some individuals may be able to come to grips with their “alcohol signs,” pinpoint their difficulties, and substantially reduce the quantity and incidence of their drinking, other individuals, to the contrary, need to tackle their drinking problems by getting professional alcohol rehab. What’s more, due to their propensity to deny the facts and bend the truth, alcoholics absolutely need proficient alcohol counseling for their hazardous drinking.
