What are some Signs of Alcohol Addiction?

Most people would think that it is fairly easy to spot the signs of alcohol addiction – just watch for someone who is drinking too much, right?
But it goes further than this because we will also want to tell the difference between alcohol addiction verus just abuse. They are two separate things and the way you go about treatment for them is different as well.
First, let's look at some terms: "Alcohol abuse" is not the same as "alcohol addiction" (which we can also call alcoholism).
1) Alcohol abuse - is when someone is abusing alcohol, which could be daily or it could be every once in a while. Just because a person is drinking heavily does not automatically make them into an alcoholic. For example, there are a lot of college students who drink heavily on a regular basis but they are not alcohol addicts nor do they develop alcoholism.
2) Alcohol addiction - this is alcoholism (the terms can be used interchangeably). Alcohol addiction is a more serious issue than mere abuse, although in the early stages it can be tough to tell them apart. Ultimately, the diagnosis for alcoholism must come from the individual in order for it to be meaningful. Alcoholism is characterized by:
* Craving or compulsion for booze
* Withdrawal symptoms when not drinking
* Blackouts
And so on and so forth. Although it is still possible to get some of these things from alcohol abuse as well. So how can we determine the difference? Alcohol addiction is not a short term thing; we are talking about a history of drinking that plays out over time. With alcohol abuse, if you take the booze out of the picture, then there is no problem and the person gets better.
With alcoholism, if you take the booze away, then the real problem has just begun. The person will withdrawal and if they do not drink or start working any sort of program or make any life changes then they will become restless and irritable. This doesn’t happen with alcohol abuse.
So we can see that some of the characteristics of alcohol addiction are:
1) Physical dependency - the need to drink in order to function on a physical level.
2) Withdrawal symptoms - that occur when stopping drinking.
3) Obsession with drinking - the thoughts and mental energy spent thinking about drinking or being drunk when someone is sober.
4) Compulsive drinking - the inability to stop drinking once someone has started. The lack of ability to have just a couple drinks and be done with it.
However, realize that some people who are in fact alcoholics will not necessarily display the classic signs of heavy physical dependence on the substance. It is not about how much we drank or how often we got drunk — it’s more about how alcohol made us feel and how we reacted to it when we did drink.