Symptoms of Alcoholism
In the last half century, alcoholism has received much needed attention and research has helped the general public and alcoholics alike understand this insidious illness. In 1956 alcoholism was first classified as disease by the American Medical Association taking much of the related stigma away from the idea alcoholism. Some consider alcoholism to be a "disease of denial", meaning a person is unable to admit that there is a problem and is therefore stuck in the disease, however there are a variety of signs and symptoms that the disease of alcoholism exists and is a very real illness.

Some of the symptoms of alcoholism can be recognized from the very first time a person starts drinking and others come much later. People who neglect responsibilities such as family, school, work, friends and other extracurricular activities to drink are usually headed down the path of alcohol abuse. Other symptoms of an alcohol problem include nausea, needing to drink to function, odor of alcohol on the body or breath, memory loss (blackouts), shakes, violent episodes, inability to control the amount taken, and at worst - wet brain, insanity and death.