Do You Wonder If You Have a Problem with Drinking?
Maybe you find that you drank heavily over the holidays or continue to find yourself in social settings that are permissive to lots of drinking, and you are thinking, "Wow, I should really cut back." Or maybe you set January goals to abstain from alcohol only to find that you lasted only a certain number of days, leaving you wondering, "Do I have a drinking problem?"
Below are five indicators that you may have a problem with alcohol:
Drinking becomes a mental focus. Drinking becomes something that you look forward to. You find that all if not most of the activities you engage in revolve around alcohol. You are beginning to look forward to a specific time of day because it means you can have a drink. You notice you have a preoccupation with alcohol, seeing yourself spending a lot of time getting, using, and recovering from alcohol use.
You experience negative impacts due to your drinking. At the beginning of regular alcohol use, alcohol may seem like "it helps" with stress. As time goes on and a person's alcohol use may cause more problems than it is helpful. Like maybe you find you are spending a lot of money (money that you do not have) on alcohol or that someone at work says they can smell alcohol on you after a night of drinking. Some people begin to experience legal issues or health issues as a result of continued, heavy use. Relationship problems can be an indicator because it is often our loved ones who can give us see things that we may have a hard time looking at.
You wonder if you have a problem. You think, "Am I an alcoholic?" Or things of that nature. You question the different between a alcoholic or heavy drinker? You look to your friends to justify your drinking. "All my friends are just the same as me, so I must not have a problem." You defended your drinking, "I've earned it!" "Ugh, what a shitty day!" Most mental roads lead to you taking a drink. You minimize you drinking. "I can quit for three days in a row, so that must mean I'm not an alcoholic."
You have developed a tolerance. The thing about problem drinking is it progresses. Over time, it takes more alcohol to achieve the same effects. Are you spending more money or going to the liquor store more often? Do you drink the same amount faster? Do you start drinking earlier in the day? "It used to be 5 pm, but what's the harm in having a drink at 4 pm? Oh! Why not 3 pm!"
You make unsuccessful attempts to cut back or down. You try to make behavioral goals regarding your drinking that do not stick. Like, "I'm just going to drink beer for now on." Or "I'm only going to drink on the weekend." Or, "I'm going to take January off from alcohol." Only to find yourself right back on the merri-go-around that you were trying to get off of.
A lot of people feel ambivalent about quitting drinking, meaning that part of them wants to stop while the other part does not. This is normal; however, it takes a little work (or a wake up call) to get out of ambivalence into action; this is where I come in. I do not believe in pressuring my clients into making changes. We can start by exploring the four quadrants of ambivalence to get more information about the benefits and consequences of changing. If the above indicators are resonating with you, I can help you get clear on how to move forward!