Am I Drinking Too Much?

• You find that you are drinking more now than you were this time last year.
• You drink more to get the same effect.
• You drink the same amount but it doesn't seem to "work" as well.
• Friends and/or family have started to make comments like, "Are you sure you are ok to drive?" or "Do you really think you need another one?"--or they argue with you about your drinking.
• You lie about how much you drink.
• You hide your booze in soft drinks, juice, or coffee.
• You use breath mints and such to hide the smell of booze on your breath.
  
• You hide bottles and cans (for example, shoving them under other trash).
• You have a health problem that you know is aggravated by drinking, but you do it anyway.
• You are on a medication you know you should not drink with, but you do it anyway.
• You have gone to work drunk, still high from the night before, or hung over more than once.
• You drank more than you meant to drink on more than one occasion.
• You skip meals, medications, or sports or social/family activities in order to drink (or drink more).
• You drink before you go to the party, or before the guests arrive at yours.
• You drink to relax. You drink to celebrate. You drink because you are mad. You drink for courage.
• You drink to get drunk. Or at least to achieve and maintain a good buzz.
• You've suffered consequences of drinking such as DUIs, falls, or other accidents/arrests but you continue to do it anyway.
• You drink enough on occasion to get sick, hungover, or have trouble remembering what you did or said.
• You think about alcohol more often than, say, you think about artichokes.
• You spend money you don't really have on alcohol.
• You hang out with people you would not normally hang out with because they supply you with alcohol.
• You've been told by a professional that you are alcoholic, you've been in treatment for alcoholism, or you've been in A.A.
• You've tried unsuccessfully to quit or cut back.
• You spend any amount of mental energy at all trying to convince yourself that you do not drink too much.