I have a problem with alcohol to a certain degree. But what i question is
am i an alcoholic or just a binge drinker? Or what classes as an alcoholic?
Is it the behaviours of someone who is drunk? Or is it the chemical
addiction?

........................

A little backround:
Started drinking at 14, every single friday and saturday night (and
sometimes week days). Im 21 now. This has been my routine since 14. At
around 16 i began having serious blackouts from drinking spirits. I would
become completely unmanagable and i would start fight with not just
random people, but my closest friends. I seen a video of me one night
and i was in shock. I had turned into the one person i said i never would -
my alcoholic mother. I was in so much shock that i seriously cut down
drinking spirits. I still to this day am not able to drink large quantities of
spirits coz a range of emotions come out of me and i have no control over
it. I have been arrested on several occasions and even rushed to hospital
(the gaurds rang the ambulance). I dont think id be able to just have one
drink if the option of more was available. But one thing, i never drink on
my own...

I realise that coz im young and living in a culture where this happens
everyday, its is seen as the norm. Its when i get a bit older and if my
behaviour remains, my drinking may be classed as worse then it is.

I suffer from chronic anxiety and medicate the anxiety on weekends so
that i can handle being with a group of people. I usually pre-drink before i
meet with these people - which most people my age do, but again, when
im older, this is be looked at as more as a problem then it does be now.
Since i started drinking from an early age, i have become dependant on it
for a sex life - due to having anxiety and medicating it away. So i am
alcohol dependant for some situations

......................

But my question is, what defines an alcoholic, compared to somebody who
drinks to excess and gets into messy situations?

Personally, i believe that i will be classed as an alcoholic when im older,
where as now, the age i am, its acceptable...

Whats your opinion on this?

Tnx for reading