Editor’s Note: The following survey
was compiled by Alcoholics Anonymous and is
reprinted here with the group’s permission.
Only you can decide whether you want to give
AA a try. We who are in AA came because we
finally gave up on trying to control our drinking.
We still hated to admit that we could never
drink safely. Then we heard from other AA members
that we were sick. (We thought so for years!)
We found out that many people suffered from
the same feelings of guilt and loneliness and
hopelessness that we did. We found out that
we had these feelings because we had the disease
of alcoholism.
We decided to try to face up to what alcohol
had done to us. Here are some of the questions
we tried to answer honestly. If we answered
YES to four or more questions, we were in deep
trouble with our drinking. See how you do.
Remember, there is no disgrace in facing up
to the fact that you have a problem.
Check YES or NO to
answer the following questions.
1. Have you ever decided to stop drinking
for a week or so, but only lasted for a couple
of days?
Most of us in AA made all kinds of promises
to ourselves and to our families. We could
not keep them. Then we came to AA. AA said, “Just
try not to drink today.” (If you do not
drink today, you cannot get drunk today.)
YES
NO
2.
Do you wish people would mind their own business
about your drinking – stop telling
you what to do?
In AA we do not tell anyone to do anything.
We just talk about our own drinking, the trouble
we got into and how we stopped. We will be
glad to help you, if you want us to.
YES
NO
3. Have you ever switched from one kind
of drink to another in the hope that this
would keep you
from getting drunk?
We tried all kinds of ways. We made our drinks
weak. Or just drank beer. Or we did not drink
cocktails. Or only drank on weekends. You name
it, we tried it. But, if we drank anything
with alcohol in it, we usually got drunk eventually.
YES
NO
4. Have you had to have an eye-opener upon
awakening during the past year?
Do you need a drink to get started or to stop
shaking? This is a pretty sure sign that you
are not drinking “socially”.
YES
NO
5. Do you envy people who can drink without getting
into trouble?
At one time or another, most of us have wondered
why we were not like most people, who really
can take it or leave it.
YES
NO
6. Have you had problems connected with drinking
during the past year?
Be honest! Doctors say that if you have a problem
with alcohol and keep on drinking, it will get
worse – never better. Eventually, you will
die or end up in an institution for the rest
of your life. The only hope is to stop drinking.
YES
NO
7. Has your drinking caused trouble at home?
Before we came into AA, most of us said that
it was the people or problems at home that made
us drink. We could not see that our drinking
just made everything worse. It never solved problems
anywhere or anytime.
YES
NO
8.
Do you ever try to get “extra” drinks
at a party because you do not get enough?
Most of us used to have a “few” before
we started out, if we thought it was going to
be that kind of party. And if drinks were not
served fast enough, we would go someplace else
to get more.
YES
NO
9. Do you tell yourself
you can stop drinking any time you want to, even
though
you keep getting
drunk when you don’t mean to?
Many of us kidded ourselves into thinking that
we drank because we wanted to. After we came
into AA, we found out that once we started to
drink, we couldn’t stop.
YES
NO
10. Have you missed days of work or school because
of drinking?
Many of us admit now that we “called in
sick” lots of times when the truth was
that we were hung over or on a drunk.
YES
NO
11.
Do you have “blackouts”?
A “blackout” is when we have been
drinking for hours or days, which we cannot
remember. When we came to AA, we found out
that this is
a pretty sure sign of alcoholic drinking.
YES
NO
12. Have you ever felt that your life would be
better if you did not drink?
Many of us started to drink because drinking
made life seem better, at lease for a while.
By the time we got into A.A., we felt trapped.
We were drinking to live and living to drink.
We were sick and tired of being sick and tired.
YES
NO
What’s
your score?
Did you answer YES four or more times? If
so, you are probably in trouble with alcohol.
Why
do we say this? Because thousands of people
in AA have said so, for many years. They
found out
the truth about themselves – the hard way.
But again, only you can decide whether you think
AA is for you. Try to keep an open mind on the
subject. If the answer is YES, we will be glad
to show you how we stopped drinking, ourselves.
Just call. AA does not promise to solve your
life’s problems. But we can show you how
we are learning to live without drinking, “one
day at a time”. We stay away from that “first
drink”. If there is no first one, there
cannot be a tenth one. And when we got rid
of alcohol, we found that life became much
more
manageable.
ALCOHOLICS
ANONYMOUS® is a fellowship
of men and women who share their experience,
strength and hope with each other, that they
may solve their common problem and help other
to recover from alcoholism.
The
only requirement for membership is a desire
to stop drinking. There are no dues
or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting
through our own contributions.
AA
is not allied with any sect, denomination,
politics,
organization or institution; does
not wish to engage in any controversy;
neither endorses nor opposes any causes.
Our
primary purpose is to stay sober and
help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
