Spotting the Signs of Alcohol Addiction
February 28, 2009 8:11 pm HealthWhen it comes to alcoholism and alcohol abuse it can be a little tricky to differentiate between the two.
Alcohol abuse might be characterized by drinking too much and losing control. Now at first this sounds obvious but that is where the definition of abuse ends and the definition of alcoholism begins. You see, the real problem with alcoholism is only starting when you remove the alcohol from the person. Alcoholics do not know how to live successfully without drinking. But this can be tricky because many times a person who is only abusing alcohol will display signs of alcohol addiction but they are not truly an alcoholic unless they behave this way over the long term. The typical alcohol abuser can stop drinking when consequences start piling up.
This is one way to tell the difference between abuse and addiction: the abuser will back off when things get serious, whereas the true alcoholic can not stop even in the face of heavy consequences.