Are You an Alcoholic? Here’s the Test
Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco can have deadly effects on your organs and constitute one of the leading contributors to the need for organ transplantation. I have long contended that while organ donation is important we just aren’t making enough headway under the currents system. Too many people are dying because of the organ shortage. One way of reducing the organ shortage is to diminish the demand. Healthier living could help achieve that goal. I am a recovering alcoholic (since 1982) and know first hand how Alcohol probably caused me to get a heart transplant and cigarettes left me with serious Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COPD). Since I began Blogging in November of 2007, I have published six posts on alcohol’s deadly effects on internal organs. They are Alcohol and Drugs – Cunning, Mysterious, Deadly; Alcohol May Have Ruined My Heart, How Much Do You Drink; Think Outside the Bottle; Should Alcoholics Get Liver Transplants and How Alcohol Can Kill Your Liver and You.
These posts have generated numerous responses and questions. The most common question, though, is, “How can I tell if I am an alcoholic? A simple answer is, “If Alcohol is causing problems you have an alcohol problem!” The “Gold Standard” of the treatment industry is the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST). The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence at http://www.ncadd-sfv.org/downloads/mast_test.pdf is a great resource if you want more information. I have copied the test and printed it below. You can take it in the privacy of your home and grade yourself according to the instructions which follow the test.
In order for the results to be accurate your answers must be absolutely truthful, you do no good by lying to yourself so BE HONEST! I hope you find this information helpful.
If you take the test and determine that you need help a good starting point is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Government (SAMHSA) http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/links/
MICHIGAN ALCOHOLISM SCREENING TEST (MAST)
Please check one response for each item.
1. Do you feel you are a normal drinker? (“normal” – drink as much or less than most other
Yes
No
2. Have you ever awakened the morning after some drinking the night before and found that you could not remember a part of the evening?
Yes
No
3. Does any near relative or close friend ever worry or complain about your drinking?
Yes
No
4. Can you stop drinking without difficulty after one or two drinks?
Yes
No
5. Do you ever feel guilty about your drinking?
Yes
No
6. Have you ever attended a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)?
Yes
No
7. Have you ever gotten into physical fights when drinking?
Yes
No
8. Has drinking ever created problems between you and a near relative or close friend?
Yes
No
9. Has any family member or close friend gone to anyone for help about your drinking?
Yes
No
10. Have you ever lost friends because of your drinking?
Yes
No
11. Have you ever gotten into trouble at work because of drinking?
Yes
No
12. Have you ever lost a job because of drinking?
Yes
No
13. Have you ever neglected your obligations, your family, or your work for two or more days in a row because you were drinking?
Yes
No
14. Do you drink before noon fairly often?
Yes
No
15. Have you ever been told you have liver trouble such as cirrhosis?
Yes
No
16. After heavy drinking have you ever had delirium tremens (D.T.’s), severe shaking, visual or auditory (hearing) hallucinations?
Yes
No
17. Have you ever gone to anyone for help about your drinking?
Yes
No
18. Have you ever been hospitalized because of drinking?
Yes
No
19. Has your drinking ever resulted in your being hospitalized in a psychiatric ward?
Yes
No
20. Have you ever gone to any doctor, social worker, clergyman or mental health clinic for help with any emotional problem in which drinking was part of the problem?
Yes
No
21. Have you been arrested more than once for driving while under the influence of alcohol?
Yes
No
22. Have you ever been arrested, even for a few hours, because of other behavior while drinking?
Yes
No
About Scoring this Alcoholism Test Questionnaire
This quiz is scored by allocating 1 point to each ‘yes’ answer — except for questions 1 and 4, where 1 point is allocated for each ‘no’ answer — and totaling the responses.
So in other words, please score one point if you answered the following:
1) No
2) Yes
3) Yes
4) No
5-22) Yes
(Note that this is the current revised version of the MAST; the original MAST included 25 questions and used a more complex scoring method.)
Your Alcoholism Test Score
0-2 = No Apparent Problem
3-5 = Early or Middle Problem Drinker
6+ = Problem Drinker
Please comment in the space provided or email your thoughts to me at bob@baronson.org. And – spread the word about the immediate need for more organ donors. On-line registration can be done at http://www.donatelife.net/index.php Whenever you can, help people formally register. There is nothing you can do that is of greater importance. If you convince one person to be a donor you may save or positively affect over 50 lives. Some of those lives may be people you know and love.
You are also invited to join Organ Transplantation Initiative (OTI) http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=152655364765710 a group dedicated to providing help and information to donors, donor families, transplant patients and families, caregivers and all other interested parties. Your participation is important if we are to influence decision makers to support efforts to increase organ donation and support organ regeneration, replacement and research efforts.
