Am I an alcoholic?
If you are unsure whether you need AA, try answering the questions below. See how you do. Remember, it takes courage to face up to the fact that you have a problem.
Answer YES or NO to the following questions:
Most of us in AA made all kinds of promises to ourselves and to our families. We could not keep them. Then we came to AA and AA said: “Just try not to drink today.” (If you do not drink today, you cannot get drunk today.)
In AA we do not tell anyone to do anything. We just talk about our own drinking, the trouble we got into, and how we stopped. We will be glad to help you, if you want us to.
We tried all kinds of ways. We made our drinks weak. Or just drank beer. Or we did not drink spirits. Or only drank on weekends. You name it, we tried it. But if we drank anything with alcohol in it, we usually got drunk eventually.
Do you need a drink to get started, or to stop shaking? This is a pretty sure sign that you are not drinking socially.
At one time or another, most of us have wondered why we were not like most people, who really can take it or leave it.
Be honest! Doctors say that if you have a problem with alcohol and keep on drinking, it will get worse – never better. Eventually, you will die, or end up in an institution for the rest of your life. The only hope is to stop drinking.
Before we came into AA, most of us said that it was the people or problems at home that made us drink. We could not see that our drinking just made everything worse. It never solves problems.
Most of us used to have a ‘few’ before we started out if we thought it was going to be that kind of party. If drinks were not served fast enough, we would go somewhere else to get more.
Many of us kidded ourselves into thinking that we drank because we wanted to. After we came to AA, we found out that once we started to drink, we couldn’t stop.
Many of us admit now that we called in sick lots of times when the truth was that we were hungover.
A blackout is when there are drinking hours or days we cannot remember. When we came into AA, we found out that this is a pretty sure sign of alcoholic drinking.
Many of us started to drink because drinking made life seem better, at least for a while. By the time we got into AA, we felt trapped. We were drinking to live and living to drink. We were sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Did you answer YES four times or more? If so, you are probably in trouble with alcohol. Why do we say this? Because thousands of people in AA have said so for many years. They found out the truth about themselves – the hard way.
If the answer is YES, we are here to show you how we stopped drinking ourselves. Just call us.
Only you can decide whether you think AA is for you. Try to keep an open mind.
In AA, you will meet many who suffer from the same feelings of guilt, loneliness, and hopelessness – all symptoms of alcoholism.
By joining AA, you have decided to face up to what alcohol has done to you and join the thousands of people in AA who have put their drinking problem behind them.
We can show you how we are learning to live without alcohol one day at a time. We stay away from that first drink. If there is no first one, there cannot be a tenth one. When we got rid of alcohol, we found that life became better.
You are in safe hands. Call us free in complete confidence on 0800 917 7650, message us using the Chat Now via this link, or email help@aamail.org
