Am I an Alcoholic? – Self Test

Have you ever asked yourself: “Am I drinking too much?” Or: “Is there an issue with my drinking?”

You might be drinking after a long stressful day, with your friends on the weekends, even several times a week and still have doubts about whether your drinking behavior is a problem for you. The crucial point here is not just how often do you drink but whether you have a problem controlling your drinking or it starts influencing your health, relationships, work, emotions and other aspects of your life.

Nowadays, healthcare providers tend to use such terms as AUD (Alcohol Use Disorder) instead of “alcoholism.” This condition is characterized by a problematic pattern of alcohol consumption that leads to serious problems or distress.

Alcohol is a psychoactive substance and its abuse is related to many health and social issues.

Is My Drinking a Problem?

Some individuals use alcohol as a means of coping with pressures of work, troubles in their relationships, loneliness, grief, and other kinds of stresses. The past Ahana Hospitals article pointed to such behavior, one of which was the use of alcohol to cope with work stress.

Drinking as a form of coping with difficulties or feelings is not necessarily a symptom of alcohol use disorder. Nonetheless, it might be helpful to take a break and reflect on whether your alcohol use has become a habitual form of dealing with problems or hard times.

Some warning signs include:

• Using alcohol more than you meant to initially
• Wanting to reduce drinking but being unable to
• Spend much time drinking and recovering from drinking
• Experience urges or cravings for alcohol
• Continue drinking despite troubles at home, at work, or with family members and friends
• Give up activities because of your drinking
• Drink in situations where it is potentially dangerous
• Build up a tolerance
• Have withdrawal symptoms when sober

What Is Alcohol Use Disorder?

Alcohol Use Disorder is determined on the basis of a symptom profile for the past year. As per DSM-5-TR, the appearance of at least two symptoms is sufficient for diagnosing AUD; the severity depends on the number of symptoms and ranges from mild to moderate or severe. It is best for the diagnosis to be done by a qualified specialist, not an internet questionnaire.

This is a key difference from the older concept according to which people were supposed to reach rock bottom before the problem became a medical one.

A person may function normally – go to work, have relationships, take care of themselves and yet experience alcohol abuse problems.

CAGE Screening Questions

The original Ahana Hospitals paper discussed the CAGE test which is a set of questions formulated on the basis of the following words – Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty and Eye-opener.

Answer Yes or No to the questions:

• Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?
• Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
• Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
• Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or get rid of a hangover (an “eye-opener”)?

For each “yes” answer you receive one point.

The CAGE test can help to detect potential cases of alcohol abuse, however, it is only a screening tool and cannot diagnose a problem. Two or more positive answers are the commonly accepted criteria for further examination, but the result must be considered in a broader context.

Also, there is a very important drawback: currently the NIAAA recommendations say that the CAGE test is an outdated tool which fails to detect all the people who need intervention, especially hazardous drinkers without clear consequences.

What Does a Positive Screen Mean?

It is important to remember that a positive CAGE screen does not necessarily mean the following:

“You are an alcoholic.”

The positive screen indicates that there is the need for further discussions with a medical professional due to the way you answered the questions.

Your pattern of drinking needs to be taken into account along with the following factors:

• How much and how often you drink
• Whether you experience cravings
• Whether you have tried unsuccessfully to cut down
• Whether drinking affects work, family or relationships
• Whether alcohol is causing physical or psychological problems
• Whether you experience withdrawal symptoms

In order to conduct a more thorough screening for alcohol, the WHO AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) tool is used. It screens for the recent drinking, dependency and problems with alcohol.

When Should I Seek Professional Help?

You do not have to wait for your drinking to become problematic enough for a crisis situation to happen before seeking help.

You may want to see a professional if:

• You frequently drink more than you intended to
• You made an effort to limit your alcohol consumption but were unable to
• Alcohol interferes with your relationship with your family members or work
• You find yourself needing alcohol to relax
• You have developed cravings
• You need more and more alcohol to produce the same result
• You suffer from withdrawal symptoms
• Someone you know has raised his or her concerns about your drinking

Consulting a professional will help you determine what category of drinking yours is and how best to address it.

Alcohol Withdrawal and Safety

One of the most important issues not covered by many articles of self-assessment for alcoholism is safety during the withdrawal period.

Those individuals who have developed physical dependency on alcohol are prone to go through withdrawal when they lower their intake of alcohol or stop drinking it. Withdrawal may include both mild symptoms and serious problems, up to seizures.

Thus, people who drink a lot and are likely to have physical dependency cannot take for granted that it will be safe for them to suddenly give up alcohol.

Treatment and Recovery

Alcohol Use Disorder is treatable. The treatment could consist of different treatments such as behavioral therapy, medication, counselling, family help, rehabilitation and others as per individual need. There is no one way of treating Alcohol Use Disorder for all.

For the recovery, apart from the treatment of alcohol consumption, the factors which lead to the consumption such as stress, anxiety, depression, interpersonal problems or any psychological issues might be handled through Psychological Therapies.

For Ahana Hospital, people who have addictions and related issues can opt for psychiatric and psychological assistance available at Ahana Hospital.