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Alcoholic

A person who continues to consume alcohol in spite of the negative impact in their lives as a result of their continued drinking.

All addictions are characterised by a mental obsession and a physical compulsion and alcoholics often speak of not being able to stop once they’ve had the first drink. Being diagnosed an alcoholic revolves around loss of control over starting drinking, amounts drank and when they stop drinking. Tolerance and withdrawal are also important features as is neglecting important social, recreational or vocational activates in favour of drinking and time taken to recover from drinking.

Source: http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/terminology/ICD10ClinicalDiagnosis.pdf

This Glossary article was created on 22nd February 2010