If your pattern of drinking results in repeated significant distress and problems functioning in your daily life, you likely have alcohol use disorder. It can range from mild to severe. However, even a mild disorder can escalate and lead to serious problems, so early treatment is important.
Alcohol dependence usually develops after many years of heavy drinking. Sometimes it begins with social drinking. This becomes more frequent, until you can no longer control your drinking. In other cases, you might use alcohol to cope with problems or difficult times.
What Are The Stages of Alcoholism?
If someone loses control over their drinking and has an excessive desire to drink, it's known as dependent drinking (alcoholism). Dependent drinking usually affects a person's quality of life and relationships, but they may not always find it easy to see or accept this.
Warning Signs of Substance and Alcohol Use Disorder
Changes in Personality When Drunk
People with high-functioning alcoholism may experience significant personality changes when they consume alcohol. These changes can range from becoming more outgoing and sociable to exhibiting aggressive or depressive behavior.
In addition to weekly meetings and literature written specifically for their dilemma, members find new ways to deal with the problems they face. Al‑Anon's Three Cs – I didn't cause it, I can't control it, and I can't cure it – are one of the things many members find helpful early in the program.
People who drink daily do not necessarily have alcohol use disorder. And not all who misuse alcohol or have alcohol use disorder drink every day. But heavy drinking, even occasionally, can have harmful effects.
10 Signs of Alcohol Addiction
'High-functioning alcoholics', or 'functioning alcoholic', are colloquial terms for someone who's dependent on alcohol but is still able to function relatively effectively in their daily life. They'll be able to continue doing many of their daily tasks like going to work and looking after family members.
Health Failure Deaths due to Long-term Excessive Alcohol Consumption. The vast majority of those who pass away from the long-term effects of excessive alcohol consumption pass away due to alcoholic liver disease. In nearly all categories, alcohol causes health failure most prominently via the liver.
Signs and symptoms may include:
The 1-2-3 drinking rule is a guideline for moderation: 1 drink per hour, no more than 2 drinks per occasion, and at least 3 alcohol-free days each week, helping to pace consumption and stay within safer limits. It emphasizes pacing alcohol intake with water and food, knowing standard drink sizes (12oz beer, 5oz wine, 1.5oz spirits), and avoiding daily drinking to reduce health risks, though some health guidance suggests even lower limits.
By far, the most common mental health conditions that co-occur with AUD are depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma- and stress-related disorders, other substance use disorders, and sleep disorders.
Signs of Alcohol Addiction
The major causes of alcohol-related death are alcohol poisoning, cancer, car accidents, heart failure, liver damage, and violence.
Recognizing the warning signs of alcoholism is crucial for early intervention and seeking assistance. Ignoring negative consequences, increased tolerance, loss of control, neglecting responsibilities, and experiencing withdrawal symptoms are key indicators of an alcohol use disorder.
The "20-minute rule for alcohol" is a simple strategy to moderate drinking: wait 20 minutes after finishing one alcoholic drink before starting the next, giving you time to rehydrate with water and reassess if you truly want another, often reducing cravings and overall intake. It helps slow consumption, break the chain of continuous drinking, and allows the body a natural break, making it easier to decide if you've had enough or switch to a non-alcoholic option.
Four key warning signs of a damaged liver include jaundice (yellow skin/eyes), abdominal issues (swelling, pain), fatigue/weakness, and changes in urine/stool color, alongside symptoms like itchy skin, easy bruising, confusion, or nausea, indicating the liver isn't filtering toxins or clotting blood properly.
These include:
Alcoholism is a chronic disorder characterized by an inability to control one's alcohol intake even when it causes problems. Alcohol dependence, alcoholism, or AUD develops differently from person to person. In general, it takes several months or years of heavy drinking to develop alcoholism.
What To Drink Instead of Alcohol
AUD is a medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences. It encompasses the conditions that some people refer to as alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, alcohol addiction, and the colloquial term, alcoholism.
Key signs of stage 1:
Drinking socially but in larger quantities than you intended. Using alcohol as a stress reliever or mood enhancer. Occasional overindulgence, leading to hangovers. Justifying excessive drinking during social events.
A strong urge or compulsion to drink. Loss of control over how much or how often one drinks. Continued alcohol use even when it damages health, relationships, work, or safety. Development of tolerance (needing more alcohol to get the same effect) or withdrawal symptoms when not drinking.