Warning signs of alcoholism (idea)

Early warning signs of alcoholism include, but are not limited to:

• Attempting to limit one's consumption of alcohol
• Anger when confronted about one's drinking
• Feelings of guilt centered around one's drinking
• Use of alcohol in the morning as an "eye-opener"
• Relief drinking, or using alcohol to cope with anxiety/stress
• Planning one's schedule around drinking
• Negative consequences associated with one's drinking, including but not limited to: legal entanglements (DUIs, Public Intoxication, etc.), alienation of nonalcoholic friends and family, difficulties involving one's professional or school work
• Experiencing blackouts, which may last for very brief periods of time or may be longer episodes
• Drinking alone, or attempting to conceal one's drinking
• Drinking more than one intended to, or having unpredictable drinking episodes

It is important to note that no one incident is necessarily indicative of alcoholism, but multiple or repeated indicators would suggest a problem. Quite simply, social drinkers do not experience problems as a result of their alcohol consumption and always possess the ability to control their drinking. Multiple alcohol screening exams exist, many of which can be found through a simple search engine query. Some employed by service centers include the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), the Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test (SMST), the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS) and the CAGE questionnaire.