If you are wondering if you are an alcoholic or not, this site is not to convince you you are or are not an alcoholic. This site is to just to share some information and personal experience about Alcoholics Anonymous and recovery. If you are newly sober or trying to get sober I suggest you get the book Alcoholics Anonymous or get it here (free) and read The Doctor’s Opinion. If you can identify with the physical allergy the doctor describes and what happens to an alcoholic when they quit drinking (irritable, restless and discontent) perhaps AA has a solution for you. If when you honestly want to quit drinking you can’t quit entirely, or if when you start you can’t stop, you may be an alcoholic.
AA is not the only way to get sober. I have met a handful of people who I believe to be real alcoholics get sober using other methods. From what I have experienced, AA works for alcoholics who actually participate in AA. If you think you can get sober reading a book or taking a vacation or joining a clean and sober commune, go for it. Try everything you think will help you to quit. AA has no monopoly on recovery, we simply wish to be helpful to those afflicted with alcoholism.
I’ve been sober 10 years, and I’ve seen 100’s of real alcoholics recover from alcoholism. I’ve seen men so far gone from alcoholism, men who talk to telephone poles, get sober and become productive, helpful members of society. I’ve seen families reunited. I have had the privilege to to take many men through the 12 steps and watch them become happy and usefully whole. I have watched the same men take other alcoholic men through the 12 steps and a fellowship and a real friendship has formed in my area.