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Men are more likely than women to become addicted to alcohol.
The slippery slope of alcoholism is pretty predictable for men: by mid
to late 20's, there are binges, morning drinking, and job problems; by
early to mid 30's, blackouts, shakes, car accidents, DUI arrests, poor
eating habits, terminations at work, and divorces; by late 30's to early
40's, there are serious medical problems, such as vomiting blood,
hepatitis, hallucinations, convulsions, hospitalizations, and life in
general is a wreck. The earlier you get off the slope, the better. It can
be a slow suicide, with your only "friend" in the end being a bottle. If
you have any reason to believe you may be in trouble, DO
SOMETHING, NOW! DENIAL IS THE GREATEST RISK.
Do you think you may have a problem? The World Health
Organization defines having over 28 (men) or 18 (women) drinks per
week as "hazardous drinking." Fifteen drinks are more than consumed
by 80% of Americans; 40 drinks per week are more than 95% of
Americans drink. If you only occasionally binge but have 6-8 or more
drinks at a time, you may have a problem. Mayfield, McLeod & Hall
(1974) used four brief questions, called the CAGE questionnaire: (1)
Have you ever felt you should Cut down on your drinking? (2) Have
people ever Annoyed you by criticizing your drinking? (3) Have you
ever felt bad or Guilty about your drinking? (4) Have you ever had a
drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or get rid of a
hangover (Eye-opener)? Two "yes" answers are considered a sign of
possible problems (two yeses accurately identifies 80% of alcoholics).
Peele (1998) suggests asking yourself "How much do I get out of
drinking?" and compare this to "How much is drinking hurting me?" If
you conclude "I'd be better off if I drank less," then you have a self-
improvement project to work on. Westermeyer offers a Self-scoring
features of this questionnaire is that it will help you identify some of
your reasons for drinking. That information may help you know where
to focus your self-help efforts to reduce your need to drink. Another
evaluation of the seriousness of drinking is used by the World Health
but it also provides a quick interpretation and some information about
changing.
Watson and Sher (1998) reviewed all previous studies of people
who changed their drinking habits by themselves, without treatment.
Note: they say 75% of the people who successfully resolve their
alcohol problems do so without treatment (others give a much lower
estimate). It is important to study the self-help methods they used.
The researchers found eight useful self-change processes: (1)
Consciousness raising, learning more about alcoholism, being
confronted by friends, spouse, or employer, being warned by a
physician, etc. (2) Self-evaluation, realizing "I have a problem,"
weighing pros and cons of drinking, "hitting bottom," etc. (3)
