When I previously mentioned some of the aspects of alcoholism, I failed to touch on alcoholism as a progressive phenomena. What does this mean? To who does it apply? How will you recognize if it is happening to you?
Simply put, progression means that it often takes time to become an alcoholic. Alcohol is not like heroin where you may be hooked by the high quickly. Some people I have worked with knew they were cooked the moment they had their first drink. For most of us this was not the case. We drank with our friends in college and co-workers in our twenties. Somewhere along the road our drinking increased in frequency and intensity. We gradually built a tolerance to liquor. We had to drink more, more, quickly to get drunk, and got drunker then needed over and over. When you begin getting drunker over and over, much more then intended, you have reached your destination. At this point, you are probably an alcoholic.