Indicators that alcohol may be taking over your life

by | Jan 12, 2017

Are you unsure of whether or not you have a drinking problem? Do you worry that you may be following in the footsteps of an alcoholic parent but your friends only encourage you to join the party and not worry about it?

Here are some other indications that alcohol may be a problem:

  1. There is drama in all of your relationships. (The one common denominator is you.)
  2. You think all women are bitches. Your close friends are all males.
  3. You have an acute fear of failure, and you drink to erase that feeling of impending doom.
  4. When people don’t do what you want them to do, your go-to coping skill is to have a drink at them.
  5. You feel inferior in spite of great accomplishments.
  6. Enough is never enough—of anything: money, love, attention, success, etc. . . .
  7. Everything you do is full-speed ahead.
  8. You like that buzzed feeling. You chase that buzzed feeling a lot.
  9. You assume the victim role often. You like the attention you get from being the victim, and you wallow in self-pity.
  10. You mask emotional pain with alcohol/drugs/food/sex.
  11. You understand the sentiment: “treat me special so I can feel normal.”
  12. You are selfish and self-centered.
  13. You participate in activities such as art and wine, volleyball and beer, painting and vodka. You do these activities because of the alcohol involved, not because you love the activity.
  14. You bring your own stash to places and functions that don’t serve alcohol.
  15. You promise yourself you will only have one or two drinks, but you frequently miss that mark.
  16. You can’t quit drinking even for a few months. If you do manage to quit, you think about alcohol every day.
  17. You hide alcohol in your purse.
  18. You pre-drink/pregame, and you justify those pre-party drinks.
  19. You lie to cover up mishaps that occurred while drinking.

Alcohol is not the sole problem. As you can see from the list above (and believe me, this list is not all-inclusive), the behaviors have more to do with thinking and craving alcohol than they do with actually drinking alcohol. It’s helpful not to focus on quantity.