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From the Question Board Archives:

Date Answered: 12/1/1992
Question:: Dear Q.B. (Quarter Beer): Would I be considered an alcoholic if I have gone out drinking every night except for 4 in the last month and a half? Signed, Concerned Boozer
Answer:: Dear
Concerned Boozer: Alcohol is generally thought of as a stimulant,
because it makes us talkative, aggressive and uninhibited. In
truth, however, it depresses the activity of the nervous system and
acts as an anesthetic.

Alcohol tolerance, in which larger and larger amounts are required
to produce the same effect, develops rapidly. There is however, no
identifiable point at which someone becomes alcohol dependent.
Rather there is a sliding scale from occasional drinking to total
dependence, and drinking problems begin well, before chronic
alcohol dependence sets in.

Ask yourself the following questions, which are based on a
questionnaire compiled by the National Council on Alcoholism:

1. Do you drink heavily after a bad day?
2. Do you drink more heavily when under pressure?
3. Can you drink more than you used to?
4. Do you have twinges of guilt about drinking?
5. Are you impatient for your first drink of the day?
6. Do you feel uncomfortable without a drink?
7. Do you try to sneak a few extra drinks secretly?
8. Do you ever have memory blackouts after drinking?
9. Do others often discuss your drinking?
10. Do you usually drink for an identifiable reason?
11. Do you regret things you say or do when drunk?
12. Have you tried to control your drinking?
13. Do you want to continue after others stop drinking?
14. Have your good intentions about cutting down failed?
15. Have you ever moved home or left a job to try to give up
drinking?
16. Are you beginning to feel a little persecuted?
17. Have your financial and work problems increased?
18. Do you prefer to drink with strangers?

19. Do you eat irregularly when drinking?
20. Do you drink in the morning to steady yourself?
21. Do you sometimes feel depressed or hopeless?
22. Are you sometimes drunk for days at a time?
23. Do you find you cannot drink as much as you once used to?
24. Do you see or hear imaginary things after drinking?
25. Do you sometimes feel terribly frightened after you have been
drinking?

If you answered "yes" to any questions, you have a drinking
problem. You need to seek assistance. "Yes" replies in each of the
following groups indicate the following stages:

Questions 1-8: You are entering the risky area
Questions 9-20: You are in the middle stages
Questions 21-25: The final stage is beginning. Signed, QB
Source(s) Used to Answer Question:: The
Complete Manual of Fitness and Well-Being; Source Call Number(s): 613
C7382

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