Alcoholism is like any other addiction. Addicted people need their drugs in order  to function. If they do not get them, they suffer physical, emotional and psychological symptoms known as withdrawal.

Getting drunk on a weekly basis is known as binge drinking. There are strong statistics indicating that people who binge drink stand a considerably greater chance of becoming alcoholics, but it is not known whether this is due to the drinking, or to underlying tendencies that are first expressed in that manner.

The big question is whether you need to have drinks during the week in order to be comfortable.  This is known as maintenance drinking, and it enables alcoholics to get through the week while functioning normally, and then “bust loose” on the weekends.

Only you can decide if you are an alcoholic, but if alcohol — or any other drug — is causing any problems in your life and you still feel that you have to (or “deserve” to)  do it anyway, then you definitely need to look at the issue.