Step12.com

[Dallas]

The Twenty Questions that eventually helped me decide that I was alcoholic.

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 for breakfast, (the breakfast of Champions!) 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!

I had been hiding out in a little logging town, in southern Oregon, with a population of about 85. Late one night, for some reason, probably because I was drunk, 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!).

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. !

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!

--------------------------------------------------------

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).

--------------------------------

Thanks for letting me share!

Dallas

[Dallas]

Another 20 Questions for sober alcoholics

Take this 20 question test to help you decide whether or not some changes may be needed.

Answer YES or NO to the following questions.

1. Do you lose time from work , even while your sober?
YES __ NO __

2. Is being sober making your home life unhappy?
YES __ NO __

3. Are you still shy with other people now that you’re sober?
YES __ NO __

4. Is being sober affecting your reputation?
YES __ NO __

5. Do you still feel guilt and remorse now that you’re sober?
YES __ NO __

6. Do you still get into financial difficulties now that you’re sober?
YES __ NO __

7. In sobriety, are you seeking lower companions and hanging out in an inferior environment?
YES __ NO __

8. Does your sobriety make you careless of your family’s welfare?
YES __ NO __

9. Has your ambition decreased since being sober?
YES __ NO __

10. Do you still crave a drink at a definite time, even though you’ve been sober for a while?
YES __ NO __

11. Do you still think about having a drink?
YES __ NO __

12. Does sobriety cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
YES __ NO __

13. Has your efficiency decreased since getting sober?
YES __ NO __

14. Is your attitude (now that you are sober) still jeopardizing your job or business?
YES __ NO __

15. Now that you are sober... have you acquired new behaviors, still trying to escape from worries or trouble?
YES __ NO __

16. Do you stay sober alone?
YES __ NO __

17. Have you ever had a complete loss of memory while sober?
YES __ NO __

18. Has your physician ever treated you for being sober?
YES __ NO __

19. Has your self-confidence hit an severe low spot now that you’re sober?
YES __ NO __

20. Have you ever been to a hospital or institution because of your sobriety?
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 on shaky ground.

If you have answered YES to any two, you could be a sober alcoholic who is still suffering from untreated alcoholism..

If you answered YES to three or more, you may be getting real close to the “jumping off place”.

(These test questions were made up and re-arranged by me while I had nothing better to do. However, there may have some value, if it helps you discover that you may have a problem with sobriety. IF sobriety is causing you problems... THERE IS A SOLUTION! It’s the 12 Steps of A.A. ).

Dallas B.

[anniemac]

I was so incapable of being honest with myself when I first saw the AA 20 questions that after I answered them, I was most decidedly NOT an alcoholic.

Love those 20 Questions for Sober AA's! I do have to say, though, that at one point, #19 was so true that it was frightening. I felt lower than I had ever felt while drinking. Of course that was because while drinking, I didn't have the ability to feel much of anything, other than rage. I could answer yes to a few others, but they are not consistenly yes's, and some of them are okay with me (i.e., #13, I'm glad my pace has slowed down a bit, now I can stop and smell those roses).

[Amy S]

Well, I have to say after answering these questions I am without a doubt an alcoholic. I've waivered back and forth for years and at times even now I hope that one day I'll be able to drink normally but now I know I can't, it sucks in a way but in a way it's a relief to know for sure. Thanks, I'm really starting to like this forum, I didn't think I would at first but it's very helpful.

[anniemac]

Hi Amy ~

I think many of us felt, at first, that it sucked knowing that we could not drink normally again. We spent so many years drinking that the thought of life without alcohol seemed impossible to imagine.

I have to tell you, though ~ I am so incredibly thrilled with my sober existence that I don't think that I would drink even if a new techological and medical breaktrhough was discovered that would enable me to drink normally.

I feel physically healthier than I have in my whole life. Alcohol is a depressant. Why would I want to take a healthy body and add something to it to cause it to feel sluggish?

Emotionally, I am in love with the clear-headedness of life now that I'm not drinking. I don't have a psychological need to block my feelings, yet I am not overwhelmed by my emotions either, because I've learned to cope with life on life's terms in a healthy manner.

There are some spiritual disciplines that believe that alcohol interferes with the connect to the Divine, even in non-alcoholics. I sure don't want to diminish the spirituality I've gained since sober.

I hope that you, too, will come to feel that, even if you could miraculously "drink normally" again, that you would not want to.

[DebbieV]

I heard on a speaker tape the other night, I think it was Dr. Paul, and he said put 'thinking' in the place of 'drinking' I laughed so hard I about wet my pants
Just had to share that, when I think of it I always have to smile and laugh.
Sometimes I just take life too serious, and it's nice for this alcoholic to laugh at things some don't find so funny.
Not trying to poke fun at ( as some of us from down south say) to the 20 Questions , I think they have helped me when I was ready to be honest with myself. I think they hit the nail on the head. but still got a kick out of Dr Paul.

Have a good night all
Deb

[anniemac]

Debbie, YES! I have that Dr. Paul tape and it's hysterical! Thanks for the reminder - it brought a smile to my face just reading about it! He should have been a stand-up comic instead of a doctor.