The 8 signs of alcohol addiction

Alcoholic beverages They are a part of the substances that, despite generating a great addiction, have great social acceptance. This makes alcohol an element with a very general presence in all kinds of events; from weekend parties and family celebrations to gatherings at friends' houses, to dinners and lunches at home or in a restaurant.

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 alcohol addiction. It is a fact with serious consequences for the health of a good part of the population.

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Warning signs of alcohol addiction

Below you can find a series of signs and symptoms that warn of the appearance of addiction to alcoholic beverages. They are indicative and do not cover exactly all the dimensions of alcoholism, but they can be used to prevent and act quickly in risky situations.

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1. Saving time with alcohol

People who have alcohol problems, or who are beginning to have them, tend to drink in anticipation of moments that "justify" the possibility of drinking more. For example, if you are waiting for friends to come home to watch a soccer game while drinking cans of beer, you start drinking a bottle of wine with an hour to go indicated.

This is a way of “stretching” the socially accepted excuse to cover times when there really is no social reason to consume alcohol.

2. Certain beverages are being considered "non-alcoholic"

With alcoholism, the consumption of this substance becomes something so daily that the strange thing is to drink something that does not contain alcohol. For this reason, a good part of people with this health problem begin to consider that low alcohol drinks, such as beer, they are not real alcoholic beverages. Consequently, they have an excuse to consume more.

3. In social contexts, always with a glass in hand

This is true not only at parties, but also in momentary visits to neighbors' houses and, in general, in any social context. Any moment in which you cannot drink, even if it is very brief, is experienced as something that produces discomfort, especially if there are bottles in sight.

4. Check your drink reservations

One of the daily chores is to make sure that there are bottles of leftovers and that the situation in which there is no alcohol left will not occur and there is no where to buy it. It is something that requires spending a certain time and breaking moments of concentration to go to check the pantry, but it is considered that it would be worse to run out of reserve.

5. Upon reaching a hotel room, check the mini-bar

This is one of the first movements you make when you arrive in a new room, and it is curious, since normally this class bedroom houses many novelties that can be explored long before opening the place where the bottles are usually found.

Also, before you have decided on that hotel in question, confirmation that there is a mini-bar will have been sought.

6. A logic is used that allows "subtracting bottles"

One of the signs of alcoholism has to do with the way in which you think about the amount of alcohol consumed per day or per week. Thus, in some cases it is made as if one less bottle had been drunk because it is thought that having been walking briskly for ten minutes has offset the influence of alcohol, etc. It's about finding excuses, however original they may be, to believe that you don't have a problem drinking and still have a good image of yourself.

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7. Drink very fast

This is one of the most striking signs of alcohol addiction, and it is often seen in meetings. Alcoholic people tend to drink more quickly than the rest, since the others tend to take sips as "support" to the social context, and not as if it were one of the main tasks of the meeting.

Thus, where there is alcoholism, the action of drinking is in itself one of the main actions that must be carried out on a day-to-day basis, and therefore there is no time to lose.

8. Contact is broken with friends who don't drink

People with alcohol addiction structure their entire social life around meetings where, by default, they drink. In this way, little by little the contact will deteriorate with people who are abstainers, or who drink little.