I too sometimes use alcohol [...] to self-medicate, but I am not an addict. I can drink a lot for a period of time and then just sort of forget to drink for months at a time. An alcoholic can't do that.

Oh but they can, its not how much or how often someone drinks, its what the effect the alcohol has on them. I've known alcoholics remain abstinate for yrs then "relapse" and are worse then when they last drunk. I think alcoholism is subjective, its how it makes you feel, I think the one good thing I identified with when I was in AA was somewhere in their "bible" The BIg Book it talks about the 4 horseman of the next morning, and man oh man did they visit me the morning after. This isnt saying anyone here is an alcoholic, as I've spoken to people who drink and it has not psycological effects on them, they suffer no remorse, shame nor guilt, unlike me, I'd shut my curtains the next day and refuse to answer the phone or door from the shame and guilt.