You cannot determine an alcoholic solely by how much a person drinks. It's a fine line between your control of alcohol and its control of you. The following questions (selected from an Alcoholics Anonymous questionnaire) may improve your understanding of your drinking habits.

1. Have you ever felt you ought to cut down on your drinking?

2. Have people annoyed you by criticising your drinking?

3. Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?

4. Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or ease a hangover (eye-opener, 'hair of the dog' etc)?

5. Do you drink to solve problems?

6. Do you drink when you're depressed, in order to feel better?

7. Do you prefer to drink alone?

8. Do you feel your drinking might be causing your job performance to slip?

9. Did you ever try to stop drinking, or drink less, and fail?

10. Do you gulp your drinks?

11. Do you lie about your drinking?

12. Do you get drunk when you drink, even when you don't mean to?

If you have two or more "yes" responses to questions 1 to 4, it is a strong indicator of alcohol abuse. If you have any "yes" responses in the remaining questions, you should pay close attention to your drinking behaviour and to make adjustments accordingly. Otherwise, alcohol will probably bring you a world of trouble. Be careful and mindful.

In the next issue, we'll suggest some tips for sensible drinking.

(This is a translation of part of the Psychological Services Group's Sensible Drinking booklet. For any enquiries, please contact Police Clinical Psychologist Esther Lau at 2866-6206.)

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