People who drink themselves to sleep, wake up in the middle of the night when the depressant wears off. Steady drinkers who quit have a hard time falling asleep for awhile. The most extreme form of these withdrawal symptoms is delirium tremens. If you have never experienced tolerance or withdrawal symptoms, you do not know what I am talking about. If you do know what I am talking about, you have a measure for your addiction.
Addiction is the first stage of alcoholism.
There are later stages, blackouts for example. Having a blackout does not mean that you pass out. It means that you do not have total recall of what happened while you were drinking. My friend Bob s wife taped his drunken ravings one night because the next morning he never remembered having said them. If you call your best friend and say I know I had a great time at your house last night.