Summer often feels like that three month long vacation with lots of parties and social gatherings. Inevitably there is alcohol present and most people drink. Drinking can be relaxing, a little uninhibiting and make the social moments seem like more fun. However sometimes what started as one drink can become two, four or more. How do you know if you have a problem?

Alcohol is a depressant, in the same class of drugs as the benzodiazepines like Valium. It is both psychologically and physiologically addictive. It is not how much alcohol you drink, so much as the symptoms you develop when you don’t drink anymore. If you have a hand tremor (the shakes), feel sweaty, agitated, anxious, nauseous and can’t sleep without having another drink then you are experiencing alcohol withdrawal. This is because your body has gotten used to the alcohol in your system and needs it if you take it away. This is why a drink later (an "eye-opener" or the "hair of the dog that bit you") makes you feel better physically.

Alcohol dependence is when you experience three of the following symptoms:

1. You need more and more alcohol to get the same desired effect,
2. You experience withdrawal,
3. You keep trying unsuccessfully to cut down,
4. Your drinking effects your personal or job life, and you keep drinking despite it.

Because people are different sizes and have different metabolisms, the number of drinks they have does not define a problem:  It is the effect of the alcohol and the need for continued use. Many people believe they don’t have a problem because they never try to cut down, but when finally in a situation where they can’t drink they realize it is not possible to stop.