20 Questions About Alcoholism and Addiction

Are You an Alcoholic?

If you want to know whether someone in your family is an alcoholic, here are 20 important questions to answer. They were developed by a research team at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, MD.

Do you become absent from work due to drinking?
Is drinking interfering with your home life by making it unhappy?
Do you drink to cover up your shyness around other people?
Is alcoholism interfering with your reputation?
Do you feel remorse after drinking?
Do you experience financial difficulties as a result of your habit?
Do you prefer to associate with lower companions when drinking?
Are you careless of your family responsibilities due to drinking?
Are you not ambitious anymore as a result of drinking?
Are you craving a drink at a specific time of the day?
Do you feel like drinking the next morning?
Do you find it difficult to sleep due to drinking?
Has drinking affected your efficiency?
Has drinking interfered with your vocation or business?
Do you feel like drinking to escape from your worries?
Do you usually drink alone?
Do you experience a complete loss of memory as a result of drinking?
Have you been treated by a physician for drinking?
Do you drink due to low self-confidence?
Have to been to a hospital or institution due to drinking?

In case you have answered YES to any of these questions, there is a high possibility that you might be an alcoholic. In case you have answered YES to at least two of these questions, the chances are that you are already an alcoholic. In case you answered YES to three of these questions, you are definitely an alcoholic.

Are you addicted to drugs?

The questions that are highlighted below will help an individual make a self-diagnosis as to whether he or she is addicted to drugs. It could be either prescription drugs, narcotic drugs or drugs that are not narcotics. The questionnaire was developed by Narcotics Anonymous.

Do you use drugs alone?
Have you ever substituted one for another drug – assuming that the first drug was the problem?
Have you lied to a healthcare provider to obtain prescription drugs?
Have you stolen money to obtain drugs or stolen drugs?
Are you using a particular drug when you wake up in the morning or before going to sleep at night?
Have you taken a drug in order to overcome the effects of another?
Do you feel like avoiding people or places that don’t approve of your habit?
Have you used a particular drug not knowing what the drug was and how it would affect you?
Has drug use interfered with your job or school performance?
Have you been arrested by the law enforcement authorities as a result of using drugs?
Have you ever lied about the name of the drug and the amount you consume?
Do you purchase drugs even when you don’t have enough money?
Have you ever tried to control or stop the use of drugs?
Have you been in hospital, prison or a drug rehabilitation center as a result of your habit?
Does the habit interfere with your eating and sleeping patterns?
Does the thought of running out of drugs frighten you?
Do you feel like it’s impossible to live without using drugs?
Have you ever questioned your own sanity?
Is your life at home unhappy due to drug use?
Have you felt ashamed of using drugs?
Have you ever felt that you cannot fit in or have a good time without the use of drugs?
Do you worry a lot about drugs?
Have you ever experienced irrational fears?
Has the use of drugs interfered with your sexual life?
Have you ever taken drugs that you don’t like?
Have you used drugs due to stress and emotional issues?
Have you overdosed on any kind of drug in the past?
Do you still use drugs despite the negative consequences you experienced due to the habit?
Are you aware that you may be having a drug problem?

Am I Really An Addict?

You are the only person who could answer this question properly.

You may have answered YES to one or more questions listed above. But the actual number of YES responses isn’t as important as how you feel inside and how the addiction is affecting your life.