20 Questions
The Twenty Questions that helped me
decide that I was alcoholic.
The 20 Questions
Take this 20 question test to help you decide whether or not you are an alcoholic.
Answer YES or NO to the following questions.
1. Do you lose time from work due to drinking?
YES __ NO __
2. Is drinking making your home life unhappy?
YES __ NO __
3. Do you drink because you are shy with other people?
YES __ NO __
4. Is your drinking affecting your reputation?
YES __ NO __
5. Have you ever felt remorse after drinking?
YES __ NO __
6. Have you ever got into financial difficulties as a result of drinking?
YES __ NO __
7. Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment when drinking?
YES __ NO __
8. Does your drinking make you careless of your family’s welfare?
YES __ NO __
9. Has your ambition decreased since drinking?
YES __ NO __
10. Do you crave a drink at a definite time?
YES __ NO __
11. Do you want a drink the next morning?
YES __ NO __
12. Does drinking cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
YES __ NO __
13. Has your efficiency decreased since drinking?
YES __ NO __
14. Is drinking jeopardizing your job or business?
YES __ NO __
15. Do you drink to escape from worries or trouble?
YES __ NO __
16. Do you drink alone?
YES __ NO __
17. Have you ever had a complete loss of memory as a result of drinking?
YES __ NO __
18. Has your physician ever treated you for drinking?
YES __ NO __
19. Do you drink to build up your self-confidence?
YES __ NO __
20. Have you ever been to a hospital or institution because of drinking?
YES __ NO __
What's your score?
If you have answered YES to any one of the questions, there is a definite warning that you may be an alcoholic.
If you have answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are an alcoholic.
If you answered YES to three or more, you are definitely an alcoholic.
(The test questions are used at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, MD, in deciding whether or not a patient is an alcoholic).
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The first time I remember seeing the "20 Questions" pamphlet, was in January 1971. I remember the time only because the day after I read the 20 questions, I read Bill Wilson’s obituary on the front page of a small town newspaper. I was drinking a nice bottle of cheap wine while reading the newspaper and wondered why they would put the name and picture of a guy... on the front page of a newspaper... when he was supposed to be anonymous!
Late one night, for some reason, probably because I was intoxicated, I was in a coin-operated laundry place. It must have been around two or three o'clock in the morning. I wasn't doing laundry. Perhaps I was just waiting for the dryers to start! (Yep. I sure could have used some drying out!).
The laundromat was empty. I got up out of my seat to look at the dryers and when I returned to my seat I noticed that there was a yellow card with the 20 Questions on the card. Someone must have snuck in and placed the card in my seat! While they were probably outside laughing at me... I read the little card, and my thoughts were "What kind of propaganda is this!!! Must be some outfit that wants to do away with alcohol! Heck! This would mean that everyone in the world is alcoholic!" (Sometimes, it's funny how us alcoholics seem to believe that EVERYONE drinks like we do!)
Over the years, I can now see many instances of how the seed of Alcoholics Anonymous was getting planted inside my head, long before I ever got to A. A. ! And, as I look back over my life, I can now see that I was a real alcoholic many years before I ever suspected that I had a problem with alcohol!
The next time I remember seeing the pamphlet, was in early January 1986. I was sitting in marathon A. A. meetings, trying to "dry out".
I'm sure glad that they let drunk drunks go to those A.A. meetings! I've recently learned that in some places, if a drunk is drunk, they want him to come back to the meeting after he gets sober! I'm sure that myself and many others would not be sober today... if we had to be sober before we could go to A.A. meetings! We would have been excluded. (In the A.A. place where I got sober... the only detox I ever heard about was detoxing in the meetings! The AA members would sit in the meetings sobering up alcoholics during and after the meetings!) But, that's another story for another time!
Here, I just wanted to share the 20 Questions, just like they were shared with me. My head was too foggy to understand much of anything out of the Big Book, or any other literature... but I could grasp the 20 Questions. Of course, it wouldn't be right to say that I didn't have help with them! An A. A. member helped me read and honestly answer the questions. When I answered the questions on my own, I only answered "Yes" to about 17 of the questions. With the A.A. member's help, I was able to pass with flying colors... and answer "Yes" to all twenty questions!
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Thanks for letting me share!
Dallas B.
Related topics: Medical Definition of Alcoholism
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©2006 Step 12 .com - Dallas B
Alcoholics Anonymous
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