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How do I know if I'm an alcoholic?

In short:

  • The Big Book leaves the answer to you. "We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself." (p. 31).
  • Its plainest test is in Chapter 4: "If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic." (p. 44).
  • It describes three kinds of drinker, the moderate drinker, the hard drinker and the "real alcoholic," and the mark of the last is losing control once he starts (pp. 20–21). It also suggests two experiments: try some controlled drinking (pp. 31–32), or try leaving liquor alone for a year (p. 34).
  • A.A. itself doesn't diagnose anyone. Today's group pamphlet says A.A. does not "Make medical or psychological diagnoses or prognoses" (P-16, 2018).

Three kinds of drinker (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 sorts drinkers this way (pp. 20–22): - The moderate drinker has "little trouble in giving up liquor entirely if they have good reason for it" (p. 20); he can take it or leave it alone. - The hard drinker may harm his health, but given a strong enough reason, such as ill health, falling in love or a doctor's warning, he "can also stop or moderate, although he may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need medical attention" (p. 21). - The real alcoholic "may start off as a moderate drinker" but "at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink" (p. 21). The chapter describes him for a page and a half, then adds that this "is by no means a comprehensive picture of the true alcoholic" (p. 22).

The chapter's center is the first drink. Once the alcoholic takes any alcohol, something happens "both in the bodily and mental sense" that makes it virtually impossible for him to stop (pp. 22–23); and at certain times "We are without defense against the first drink." (p. 24).

Diagnose yourself (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 is about who is and isn't "one of us": - The first admission is inside. "We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics." (p. 30). - The methods that didn't work are listed at length: beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never in the morning, switching drinks, swearing off, and more (p. 31). - The barroom test. "Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking." (p. 31). Try to drink and stop abruptly, more than once. "It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it." (p. 32). - The year test. "If anyone questions whether he has entered this dangerous area, let him try leaving liquor alone for one year." (p. 34). If he is a real alcoholic and far advanced, there is "scant chance of success" (p. 34). But passing the test doesn't settle it either: "Though you may be able to stop for a considerable period, you may yet be a potential alcoholic." (p. 34). - Length and amount aren't the measure. "To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have." (p. 33). Several early members of thirty or less had been drinking only a few years and found themselves "as helpless as those who had been drinking twenty years" (p. 33). - Why it's hard to see. Most members had been unwilling to admit they were real alcoholics: "No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows." (p. 30). The obsession that "somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking" (p. 30) is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker.

The chapter states its own aim: to help readers "determine, to their own satisfaction, whether they are one of us" (p. 34).

The doctor's description

In "The Doctor's Opinion," Dr. Silkworth names one thing all his types of alcoholic have in common: "they cannot start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving" (p. xxx). He also describes the restlessness, irritability and discontent of the alcoholic who can't feel at ease without a drink (pp. xxviii–xxix).

No one else's verdict

The book is careful that this is your conclusion, not someone else's. A member talking with a prospect should "be careful not to brand him as an alcoholic" (p. 92), and let him draw his own conclusion. Bill W.'s 1946 essay on membership says a newcomer can join A.A. "on the mere suspicion that he may be one" (P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?", 1946). And A.A. today does not diagnose (P-16, 2018). A doctor may tell a patient he is alcoholic; the book welcomes that (p. 92).

For the spouse's side, Chapter 8 sorts husbands into four kinds, from the heavy drinker to the one his family despairs of, and says the second kind, who can't stay on the wagon even when he wants to, shows "the earmarks of a real alcoholic" (p. 109). See My husband (or wife) drinks. What does the Big Book say to do?

Read it yourself

Sources

Source Pages First published
Alcoholics Anonymous, "The Doctor's Opinion" xxviii–xxx 1939
Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 20–24, 30–34, 44, 92, 109 1939
P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?" — 1946
P-16, The A.A. Group 39 2018

Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001).

Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book and P-16 are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; the P-17 articles are © AA Grapevine, Inc.

These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.