Alcoholism signs & symptoms are well documented these days. However, most people still do not know what they are. There's a good reason for that - It's the "It will never happen to me" syndrome.

Alcoholism Signs - Hitting Bottom

• Getting a third DWI charge - a felony in most states

• Being served divorce papers

• Lost or Losing a career

• Alcohol involved motor vehicle accidents

• Illnesses secondary to alcoholism - Hepatitis, Cirrhosis, or pancreatitis, gastritis, heart disease, etc.

• Emotional Disorders secondary to the alcoholism - Anxiety, Depression, suicide attempts

Do you see a common thread in the list above? That's right - these are late stage alcoholism signs. There are very clear alcoholism signs in the early and middle stages.

But not until I, or someone I care about is touched personally by this illness do I sit down and do my homework. Even then I will have to go through an acceptance process - also known as the grief process - before I can fully accept that this is really happening to me!

To anyone with good judgment the question has to be "Why couldn't they see it earlier and stop drinking?" It's a very good question - In fact, the answer is in the question...

By the time they reach the late stages of their addiction they can't stop drinking for long, so they can't emotionally afford to see it earlier.

It seems to be a feature of addiction that the person is unable to grasp the full extent of their problem until he/she absolutely must. Most people who have recovered from any addiction will tell you they had to "hit bottom" or "get a wake-up call" before they could give any serious consideration to their alcoholism signs and symptoms.

They have impaired judgment and - by definition - impaired judgment doesn't know it's impaired! The real shame is that most people don't usually see the problem until it is in the late stages. It's much easier to treat in the early stages.

Now, remember... most people who come to counseling are in pain and they all usually want the same thing - comfort and relief. But they do not necessarily want to know what's bothering them. This is especially true of people with addictions.

Alcoholism Signs - Three Processes

A process has a beginning, middle, and a late stage. Alcoholism is a biological, psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual Disease Process that progresses through the stages outlined above.

Recovery and healing from alcoholism signs must also be on the biological, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual levels. The Recovery Process also has an early, middle and late stage as outlined in the chart below.

Between the disease process and recovery process are the stages of transition and stabilization identified by Terrence Gorski. These are the tenuous stages where the alcoholic has hit bottom and is involved in creating the neural networks needed for recovery to take root.

Many times inpatient treatment is necessary simply for the need to establish a whole set of new behaviors - i.e. new networks - as quickly as possible. This is to give the alcoholic every chance in the world of making the transition into recovery.

There is a common misconception that treatment will end with a complete remission from alcoholism...

Transitioning out of alcoholism into recovery is usually a period of crisis that takes about 6 to 8 weeks... Stabilization can take another three months. Treatment is for transition and stabilization ONLY - What the person does...or does NOT do... after treatment will make all the difference in the world.

Do not be mislead about this - The Recovery Process begins after treatment when the newly recovering person becomes responsible for doing the things necessary to support their own recovery.

They must grow new networks that are both internal neural networks AND external networks of other recovered people... Recovery from alcoholism and other addictions does not take place in a vacuum.