In a society where wine with dinner and after-work cocktail hours are the norm, it’s difficult to nail down who drinks too much, and it’s often even more difficult to know if you drink too much yourself. And the number of abusive drinkers grows exponentially all time. In fact the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the number of Americans drinking within the danger zone is “exploding” and estimates that 38 million adults participate in binge drinking (drinking to excess) an average of four times per month.
So how do you know if you fit into this over-the-edge drinking category? How do you know if you might have a drinking problem? Well, there are some telltale signs that are pretty standard for all drinkers -- and the more of these signs you identify with, the better the chances that you might need help.
Signs You May Have a Drinking Problem
Binge drinking is often identified as four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men consumed in a short amount of time. And binge drinking doesn’t necessarily make someone an alcoholic. There are many categories of drinkers, and drinking behavior varies drastically from one individual to another. There seem to be many people who fit in somewhere in between teetotaler, social drinker, binge drinker and alcoholic.