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Alcoholics Anonymous KwaZulu-Natal

Home/Am I an alcoholic?

A private question

Am I an alcoholic?

Only you can answer that, and honesty is the whole of it. These questions are not a test you can pass or fail — they are the sort of thing most of us in A.A. eventually had to ask ourselves.

Nothing here is saved or sent. The questions run entirely in your browser. Close the page and it is gone. A.A. does not diagnose anybody — if you want a clinical opinion, see a doctor.

1.

Have you ever decided to stop drinking for a week or a month, and not managed it?

2.

Do you wish other people would stop commenting on your drinking?

3.

Have you switched drinks — from spirits to beer or wine, say — hoping it would keep things under control?

4.

Have you needed a drink in the morning to steady yourself?

5.

Do you envy people who can drink without it becoming a problem?

6.

Has your drinking caused trouble at home, or with the people closest to you?

7.

Do you find yourself choosing occasions by whether there will be drink there?

8.

Do you drink alone, or drink more than you let on to others?

9.

Have you ever been unable to remember part of an evening you had been drinking?

10.

Has your work, studies or business suffered because of drinking?

11.

Do you drink to escape worry, boredom, guilt or shyness?

12.

Have you got into financial difficulty because of what you spend on alcohol?

13.

Have you told yourself you could stop any time you really wanted to?

14.

Have you been in trouble — with the police, on the road, at work, in hospital — after drinking?

15.

Do you hide bottles, or arrange things so that supply never runs out?

16.

Has a doctor, employer or family member ever suggested you cut down?

Whatever you answered

A.A. does not pronounce anyone alcoholic or not alcoholic. What we can tell you is that almost every member arrived doubting it, argued the point for a while, and got sober anyway. Nobody is going to ask you to label yourself before you are ready.

If some of those questions landed uncomfortably, the useful next step is usually the smallest one: one phone call, or one hour in the back row of an open meeting.

Find a meeting in KZN Over 130 a week, in person and online. New to A.A.? What alcoholism looks like, and what happens next. How a meeting works Exactly what to expect the first time.