Only you can decide if you are an alcoholic or not. Is your drinking interfering with your life in any way? Have you tried to quit before and been unable to? You say you drink to change how you feel - that's kind of risky, and a lot of alcoholics start out by drinking to change how they feel.

Personally I couldn't cut back. I am an alcoholic and once I start drinking I can't stop, so my only option was to stop completely.

Have you heard of harm reduction? That sort of sounds like what you're asking about. That's the idea that the person can continue to use their substance but modify it so that it has less impact on their lives. You might begin by setting goals, such as only drinking half a bottle of wine, or only drinking on weekends. I do know a few people who have successfully cut way back on their alcohol or drug use using harm reduction techniques so it can work for some people. But it's pretty hard to do alone. Most people I know who have successfully used harm reduction have had some form of group therapy around goal setting and behaviour modification. You might try contacting some addictions counsellors or even therapists and see if they are willing to work on a harm reduction plan with you.

It's really good that you're looking at your drinking and thinking about doing something about it.

--splitimage