Have An Excessive Drinking Problem?
The moment someone says that you have a drinking problem, you probably realized the unfortunate fact is that they’re probably right. If you have to ask, that’s also a bad thing.
You may think that you don’t have an excessive drinking problem lurking around because you’re still working hard and moving through life as you think you should. You’re still going to work, you’re not beating people up or visibly staggering to the liquor store – how could you have a drinking problem? How could you find out?
First off, you need to figure out if it’s doing anything bad for you, on a personal, professional or economic level. Don’t let the aforementioned arguments fool you – there is such a thing as a functional alcoholic, or someone who is still a valuable member of society despite having a drinking problem.
The unfortunate fact is that no online test or email will help you figure out that you have an alcohol problem – same goes for trying to treat it. The reason that it’s a problem is usually because you have no control over it anymore – that already means you can’t beat it on your own.
A drinking problem is already tough enough to have on its own – while some people simply developed a habit for it, others may have unconsciously developed it as a coping mechanism, which can spiral into a very nasty end.
The best thing to do when you’re in this situation is first admit there’s a problem. Might be cliché and you might get sick of hearing it, but it really is the first step if you really can’t stop drinking. If you don’t admit you have a problem, psychologically you’ll be blocked and you’ll rarely have the motivation to go get yourself treated.
The biggest hurdle in acknowledging it lies in the public and general idea of what a person with a drinking problem should be – someone in the gutter with no way out, not understand that it could be someone who functions in society, or that it is not a sign of moral weakness.
For the most part, treatment is a matter of helping you break the habit and receiving the help you need if you’re dependant on it as a coping mechanism. Chemical dependence in particular can get nasty I’ve heard – at that point, your body’s systems are actually expecting alcohol, the way a junkie’s body might need their fix if they want to avoid a severe crash. Fact is, you may need that crash to truly flush that out of your system so you can go back to making the decisions based on you and not the demon in the bottle.
I’m no expert on excessive drinking or on how to handle a drinking problem, but I do know that not handling it can drive the most successful person off a cliff and headlong into a pit of regret and most of all, lost time. Time that no one can get back. If you’re not sure you have a problem, take the safe route and get yourself checked out – better safe than sorry.