The symptoms of alcohol addiction
The signs and symptoms of alcohol addiction are easy to spot. While they may vary slightly from person to person, most alcoholics present the same patterns of behaviour.
At Life Works alcohol rehabilitation centre, we believe that drinking has become a problem when you continue to drink in spite of negative consequences.
Recognising the signs of alcohol addiction
- Have you started neglecting your responsibilities because of your addiction to alcohol? For example, performing badly at work, failing in school or university, neglecting your children, skipping out on commitments because you’re hungover, not feeding yourself properly, etc?
- You may be abuse alcohol in situations where it’s dangerous to do so, such as drinking and driving, operating machinery while intoxicated, or mixing alcohol with prescription medication against the doctor’s orders
- You may have started experiencing legal problems on account of your addiction to alcohol. For example, getting arrested for driving under the influence or for drunk and disorderly conduct
- Perhaps you are continuing to drink even though your alcohol abuse is causing problems in your relationships. Getting drunk with your friends, for example, even though you know your wife will be very upset, or fighting with your family because they dislike how you act when you drink
- Drinking as a way to relax or reduce stress. Many drinking problems start when people abuse alcohol to self-soothe and relieve stress. Getting drunk after every stressful day, for example, or reaching for a bottle every time you have an argument with your spouse or boss. While this does not mean drinking every day, it is still binge drinking and can be dangerous
Denial: a key symptom of alcohol addiction
Denial is one of the key signs of alcohol addiction. It may sound strange, but one of the symptoms of alcohol addiction is that it tells you that you don't have a problem. This is one of the reasons why individuals struggle to find alcohol addiction treatment and often stay trapped in alcohol addiction for a lifetime. We advise you to stay open to the feedback from others and professionals and look at the evidence. Denial is a common effect of alcoholism and symptomatic of problem drinking, so you may deny that you have a problem both to yourself and to others, through:
- Minimising the effects of your drinking
- Criticising those around you for making too much fuss about your drinking
- Considerably underestimating the amounts you drink
- Placing the blame for your drinking on other people or situations in your life, such as "I drink because my job is so stressful"
Get help
As a leading private alcohol rehabilitation clinic, Life Works is able to help you. We can answer any questions or concerns you may have and help you find the right alcohol addiction treatment.