The 8 signs of alcohol addiction
Alcoholism can manifest itself with subtle symptoms and signs during its early stages.
Alcoholic beverages are one of the substances that, despite being highly addictive, are socially accepted. This makes alcohol an element with a very widespread presence in all kinds of events; from weekend parties and family celebrations to gatherings at friends' houses, dinners and meals at home or in restaurants.
However, this has a great disadvantage, the use and abuse of these drinks is so normalized that it is difficult to detect the first signs of alcoholic beverages. it is difficult to detect the early signs of alcohol addiction.. This is a fact with serious consequences for the health of a good part of the population.
Warning signs of alcohol addiction.
Below you can find a series of signs and symptoms that alert you to the onset of alcohol addiction.. They are indicative and do not cover exactly all the dimensions of alcoholism, but they can serve to prevent and act quickly in situations of risk.
1. Saving time with alcohol
People who have alcoholism problems, or who are starting to have them, tend to drink in anticipation of times that "justify" the possibility of drinking more.. For example, if you are waiting for friends to arrive home to watch a soccer game by drinking cans of beer, you start drinking a bottle of wine when it is still an hour before the appointed time.
This is a way of "stretching" the socially accepted excuse so that it also covers moments when there is really no social reason to consume alcohol.
2. Certain beverages start to be considered "non-alcoholic".
With alcoholism, the consumption of this substance becomes so commonplace that it is strange to drink something that does not contain alcohol. For this reason, a large number of people with this health problem begin to consider that low alcoholic beverages, such as beer, for example, are not true alcoholic beverages, are not true alcoholic beverages.. Consequently, they have an excuse to consume more.
3. In social contexts, always with a glass in your hand.
This is true not only at parties, but also in momentary visits to neighbors' houses and, in general, in any social context. Any time when you cannot drink, even if it is very brief, is experienced as something that causes discomfort, especially if there are bottles in sight.
4. Checking your drink stocks
One of the daily chores is to make sure that there are plenty of bottles left over and that there will not be a situation where there is no alcohol left and there is nowhere to buy it. and there is nowhere to buy it. It is something that requires a certain amount of time and breaks moments of concentration to go and check the pantry, but it is considered that it would be worse to run out of stock.
5. When arriving at a hotel room, check the mini-bar.
This is one of the first things you do when you arrive at a new room, and it is curious, since usually this kind of rooms have many novelties that can be explored long before opening the place where the bottles are usually found.
In addition, before you have decided on that particular hotel, you will have sought confirmation that there is a mini-bar..
6. You use a logic that allows you to "subtract bottles".
One of the signs of alcoholism has to do with the way you think about the amount of alcohol consumed per day or per week. Thus, in some cases it is as if one had drunk a bottle less because one thinks that having been walking briskly for ten minutes has compensated for the influence of alcohol, etc. The point is to find excuses, however original they may be, to find excusesThe idea is to find excuses, however original they may be, to believe that one does not have a drinking problem and to continue to have a good self-image.
7. Drinking too fast
This is one of the most striking warning signs of alcohol addiction, and is often seen at meetings. Alcoholics tend to drink more quickly than others than the rest, since others tend to sip as a "support" to the social context, and not as if it were one of the main tasks of the meeting.
Thus, where alcoholism is present, the action of drinking is in itself one of the main actions to be performed on a daily basis, and therefore there is no time to lose.
8. Contact with non-drinking friends is broken off
People with alcohol addiction structure their entire social life around meetings where, by default, they drink. In this way, gradually, contact with people who are teetotalers will deteriorate. with people who are teetotalers or light drinkers will gradually deteriorate.
(Updated at Apr 13 / 2024)