Signs of Alcohol Addiction and Excuses the Alcoholic Makes

Just because alcoholism (or alcohol addiction, or alcohol dependency) is a progressive degenerative disease that includes the following four symptoms: craving, physical dependence, tolerance, and the loss of control, it is obviously hard for alcoholic to understand that he has a serious problem with alcohol. Some tools may be used to identify a loss of control of alcohol use. These tools are mostly self-reports in questionnaire form.

Most well known is the CAGE questionnaire, named for its four questions. The CAGE questionnaire, among others, has been extensively validated for use in identifying alcoholism. Two "yes" responses indicate that the respondent should be investigated further. The questionnaire asks the following questions:

- Have you ever felt you needed to Cut down on your drinking?
- Have people Annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
- Have you ever felt Guilty about drinking?
- Have you ever felt you needed a drink first thing in the morning (Eye-opener) to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?

Behavior of a person affected by alcoholism is not determined by his own will, but by the will of the addiction, that now creates his reality. The alcoholic believes that he is making his own choices when in fact they are being made for him by his alcohol addiction. One set of signs of alcoholism is the regular excuses the alcoholic makes to himself and others for the abnormality of his thinking and behavior:

Problem? What problem?
Thus an alcoholic with multiple and perfectly obvious negative consequences from his pathological drinking may, and (from his perspective) honestly deny, that he has a serious problem with alcohol.

I am not THAT bad!
The alcoholic admits that problems connected with his alcohol addiction exist, but he stoutly claims that they are not really as bad as others make them out to be.

It wasn't my fault or it is not the way it looks!
Attempt to distance the alcoholic from the aftereffects of his actions. Alternative explanations are composed or persons (responsible for) were founded, for instance, the employer, who fired him, or the officer, who arrested him, or the wife, who divorced…

All I want is a little relief!
Blind to the fact that it is his alcohol addiction and its consequences that are making him miserable, alcoholic falsely believes that the addiction is the only source of comfort for him.

I am not hurting anybody, but myself!
Frequently expressed as "Leave me alone! I'm not hurting anybody, but myself!" this excuse appeal to a legalistic right to self-harm at the same time as it disagree with the social realities of the alcoholic's destructive behaviors. The alcoholic unable to identify how his behavior does in fact affect and harm other people.

I've got to be me! or you knew this when you married me!
Unable to distinguish himself from his addiction, the alcoholic cannot visualize existence without the addiction. The possibility of "losing" the addiction is impossible to him since it would, he believes, mean the loss of himself and of everything that makes life worth living.

Other common stereotyped excuses alcoholics use are include, but not limited to the following:
- I have to drink for my work!
- You're not so pure yourself!
- Trust me - I know what I am doing!
- I can stop any time I want to!
- I am not nearly as bad as other people!
- I have to drink to drown my sorrows!
- Now is not a good time to stop!
- Nobody is going to tell me what to do!
- I would be OK if it weren't for you!
- Look at all I have done for you! or this is the thanks I get!
- I do not have time (or money) to get help!
- I will handle it myself!

The fact that many alcoholics actually believe above-mentioned transparent foolishness is a striking illustration of the power of alcohol addiction.