Am I an Alcoholic? Walking the Fine Line of Alcoholism

Have you ever woken up from a late night of parting and ask yourself, “Am I an alcoholic?” Many people find themselves in this same situation everyday. Does partying on Friday nights and having a hangover Saturday morning make you an alcoholic? It is a fine line to between partying and being an alcoholic and some do not know where the line begins and ends, that even includes people related to the alcoholic in question.

Writer, Anna Davies, often found herself in that position. She would wake up in strange places, with strange men, and could not remember what happen the night before. Anna states, “There’s a list I keep on my hard drive: “Things I’ve regretted doing while drunk.” Every entry causes me to cringe; some make me cry.” Anna continues on, “I’ve broken five i Phones. Irrevocably damaged two “best” friendships.” Anna describes one of her worst moments, “One time, when I was 24, I woke up from a blackout naked and in an unfamiliar van. A man I didn’t know was lying on top of me.”

Anna began seeing a therapist after that incident. She was surprised that the therapist kept focusing on how much she drank, instead of the issues she wanted to talk about. Anna wanted to talk about how she was stressing out at work, about how she was panicking as her friends were settling down and she was not, and about how she was grieving over the recent deaths of her mother and grandmother. Instead of focusing on what Anna thought were stresses in her life, the therapist asked how many drinks she would have when going out. Anna did not think anything of it stating that she would have 3 or 4 drinks, which was not that far off from what everyone else was having.

Her therapist was trying to make her see that her drinking was what was getting her into these dangerous situations and not the fact that she had a lot of stress in her life. It is how she was coping with the stress. She was drinking what she thought was a normal amount compared to everyone around her, but alcohol tolerance is different for everyone. Anna did not understand how she could be an alcoholic when the alcohol she had purchased for her home was gathering dust on top of her fridge.

Anna was a social drinking and never thought to drink alone. She claimed she never paid for her drinks, therefore making it easier to consume more drinks. So how is she an alcoholic? There are many types of alcoholics, including binge drinkers, heavy everyday drinkers, and high functioning alcoholics. The most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, states a woman must exhibit at least 2 of 11 possible traits when it comes to diagnosing alcoholism, like drinking more than intended, failing to attempt to stop drinking, or drinking past your drinking limit you set within a year.

https://www.yahoo.com/health/am-i-an-alcoholic-how-to-tell-if-youre-drinking-117786764150.html