Alcohol consumption has become a big part of our culture. We don’t think anything of going to a bar and spending an entire night drinking, we’ll happily share a bottle of wine with a partner when out for dinner and for many, the highlight of our day is getting home after a long day in the office and reaching for a drink to help unwind.
Even when someone goes out and gets so drunk they can’t remember what happened the night before, we laugh this off as a crazy night out rather than accept that it’s actually alcohol abuse. Because moderate and even heavy alcohol consumption has become so acceptable, it can make it very difficult to identify when someone has become a problem drinker.
If you’re worried that you or someone you know has developed a serious drinking problem, below are some of the most common signs which suggest that an addiction could be present:
- You regularly end up drinking more than you intended – you say you’re going to have one or two drinks but it ends up turning into a big session. If this happens very occasionally, it’s unlikely that there’s an issue but if you find that you regularly can’t stop drinking once you’ve started, this could be a sign that you’ve lost control of your drinking.
- You seem to be spending all your time drinking or recovering from drinking.
- Your alcohol consumption is affecting other important aspects of your life. You may be calling into work sick because you’re hungover, only socialising with people you know will be drinking or arguing with your partner about your alcohol consumption.
- You continue to drink even though alcohol has repeatedly caused physical or psychological problems.
- Other people have expressed concern over your drinking or you yourself may even worry that you could have a problem. When other people do express concern, you will more than likely get annoyed by this and deny that there’s anything wrong.
- Alcohol abuse is causing problems at home or work.
- You’ve lost interest in things you used to enjoy and only want to drink.
- You need to consume more alcohol in order to get the same buzz from it that you used to. If you have an alcohol addiction, chances are that you will have very high tolerance levels. Many alcoholics may never appear to be drunk which again, can make it hard to spot.
- When you do try to cut back, you experience withdrawal symptoms. This can include shaking, sweating, hallucinations and a strong urge to reach for a drink.
- It’s not always easy to identify when your drinking has crossed the line from moderate or social use to problem drinking. Think about what makes you drink however. If you simply enjoy having a glass of wine with your partner over dinner, there can be nothing wrong with this. If you consume alcohol to help you escape reality, because you struggle to cope with difficulties or to try and cheer yourself up, you could be in dangerous territory.
- You feel guilty or ashamed about your drinking.
- You lie to others about how often or how much you drink.
- There is plenty of available help for alcoholics but many don’t seek it until they’ve hit rock bottom because we all have inaccurate misconceptions of what constitutes an alcoholic. We assume that you’re only an alcoholic if you’ve lost everything. Even people with a serious drinking problem can still manage to hold down a job, function normally and hide it from their family.
- Drinking is starting to affect your physical or mental health. Heavy drinking can lead to anemia, cardiovascular disease, cirrhosis of the liver, dementia, depression, seizures, gout, high blood pressure, nerve damage, pancreatitis and even cancer.
If you think that you or someone you know could have an alcohol addiction, please feel free to contact Toronto Trauma and Addiction Counselling in the strictest of confidence and we will be more than happy to help as well as advise on our alcoholism treatment options.
