What Are the Alcoholism Stages?
Almost everyone knows about the twelve steps to recovery from alcoholism. But what are the stages someone goes through on the way to alcoholism? Alcohol addiction stages are generally defined as early, middle, and late. These three stages, however, are very broadly defined and are going to look a little different in each alcoholic. One person may never move past the early stages, while another may zoom through the early and middle stages like a rocket and land squarely in the late stage. In the early stage of alcoholism, the drinker may not consciously admit he or she has a problem, but realizes there’s some sort of social opposition to the alcohol consumption. At this stage the alcoholic begins to drink alone, sneak drinks, feel guilty about drinking, and avoid or refuse to talk about drinking. Beyond that, the second or middle stage of alcoholism includes such symptoms as trying and failing to reduce drinking or quit altogether. At this point the drinking has gotten to the point wher
