How can we know if we are alcoholics?

In my experience as a psychologist in the field of addictions and alcohol, many times I have been asked this question from family and friends.

How can we know if we are alcoholics?

Alcohol is undoubtedly the most widely used drug in our society. In addition to being one of the legal drugs, it is also a drug of daily consumption linked to gastronomy, social gatherings and weekend fun.

For these reasons, it is normal for many people to wonder if by consuming it daily they are addicted to it..

In order to clear these doubts, the first thing we have to know is how alcoholism is defined and what happens in a person's body so that we can call her addicted to this substance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently names alcoholism "alcohol dependence syndrome" and it is included in the International Classification of Diseases No. 10 (ICD-10). Alcoholism is in turn part of a category called. "Mental and behavioral disorders due to the use of psychotropic substances".

The main component of alcoholic beverages is ethanol (CH3CH2OH), this is a central nervous system depressant, that is, it progressively numbs brain and sensory functions.

Sometimes it is mistakenly confused with a stimulant, since at first it produces euphoria and behavioral disinhibition. This is because it first affects the brain centers responsible for self-control, which leads to us being carried away by the effects of the consumption of this substance. In addition to this false belief about alcohol, many others accompany it, such as that it is good to consume it once a day.

The effects of alcohol consumption vary by person, age, weight, and gender. Women are more susceptible to alcohol, so are younger people, especially if they are in stages of development such as adolescents and people with lower body mass index. If we have a full or empty stomach and how our body is that day, it will influence the effects that alcohol causes us.

What criteria must be met to know if a person is an alcoholic?

The criteria would be the following:

We cannot determine what dose in grams of alcohol is the minimum that a person has to ingest daily to be considered alcoholic since, as we have said, it depends on many personal factors. But we can determine what series of conditions have to be met.

First the abstinence syndrome, defined as the use of alcohol consumption to alleviate the symptoms of discomfort caused by the lack of this substance in the body.

Also, our body has to acquire tolerance to the substance, that is, the need to consume increasing amounts of alcohol to achieve the same effect.

And finally, a certain degree of dependence must be given. Alcohol dependence is usually characterized by the urge to drink alcohol and the inability to limit the amount or stop drinking once you start drinking..

If we see that a person meets these three criteria, not necessarily on a daily basis but every time they consume alcohol, we could be facing a clear case of alcoholism.