E.g. - I won't be able to tolerate the discomfort of sobriety.
I AM CONTROLLED You feel externally controlled, you see yourself as helpless and a victim of fate.
E.g. - The alcohol makes my days tolerable, without it, I'll not be able to function.
I MUST CONTROL You feel that control is an all or nothing thing. Any ease on the reins will result .
in a fall so disastrous you will never regain control. E.g. - Without alcohol I may get depressed, and I will .
never be able to come out of it. .
BLAMING You hold other people responsible for your pain. E.g. - If I give up my drinking, I .
will be a bare wire, forced to face my abuse riddled past. .
These are common patterns of substance addiction, keeping in mind that most alcoholics are unwilling to .
admit they are real alcoholics and fit into one or more of these categories. .
No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from other people. Therefore, it is not .
surprising that their drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove they .
could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday they will control and enjoy their drinking .
is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many .
pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.
The John Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore uses the following questions as a test for alcoholism.
# Yes No.
1 Do you loose time from work due to drinking? .
2 Is drinking making your home life unhappy? .
3 Do you drink because you are shy with other people? .
4 Is drinking affecting you reputation? .
5 Have you ever felt remorse after drinking? .
6 Have you gotten into financial difficulties as a result of drinking? .
7 Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment when drinking? .
8 Does your drinking make you careless of your family's welfare? .
9 Has your ambition decreased since drinking? .
10 Do you crave a drink at a definite time daily? .