definition of an alcoholic?

[rooby]

I have recently come across a situation where a friend has been asked to literally prove that they are not an alcoholic. A liver function test will indicate sustained alcohol use but that doesnt prove alcoholism - or does it? What else can could they do to prove it one way or the other?

[Ethel]

Stop drinking altogether for 6 months.

But if your friend has been drinking heavily for a long time, s/he should get the GPs advice before stopping.

[badlad.biz]

Drinking often does not make an Alcoholic.
Being able to drink and then stop before becoming drunk does not make an Alcoholic.
Drinking to cope with life and not knowing when you've had too much is bordering on Alcoholism.
Its all a matter of control.
The only way to proove its not a problem is to quit for a reasonable period. Bad temper then proves the case.

[Loosehead]

Being an alcoholic is nothing to do with how much a person drinks, It's more to do with why and when. There are a lot of people who drink heavily say at the weekend and then drink nothing during the week, they are not alcoholics. Then again there are people who must have a drink every day in some cases with their cornflakes! They sip booze all day, probably not drinking that much in total, just topping up, they need a drink, they are alcoholics. So on balance I'd say to prove someone is not an alcoholic you would have to ask the person what they would accept as proof. In reality I don't think you can prove it in the legal sense, I mean abstain but how do you prove you've abstained? An alcohilic could at a push abstain for long enough to get a liver test done but start again, that proves nothing. Sounds like a lack of joined up thinking to me.

[Reverandfunk]

Look at the AA website and the questionairre