Hello, so I'm 22 and I've started drinking at age 16, ofcourse rarely at that point but it grew to my current situation. To be frank, I've had a lot of bad things happen to me, starting 2 years ago so alcohol was kinda my coping mechanism, but looking at my life now I am completely satisfied and happy about every aspect of my life and yet still drink. To be more specific: I drink when I go out and when I'm alone, I find myself enjoying conversations more when there's alcohol involved and i tend to move meeting with friends to an erlier time, just so I can start drinking earlier. Sometimes I get frustrated because there is no alcohol in the house or wherever I am currently located and I get cranky. But, to be clear: I've only gotten drunk a couple of times in my life, I remember everything when I drink (no blackouts), I don't change my mood when I drink (i don't become violent, just kinda mellow and happy) I've had no physical symptoms of abstinence and I almost always drink only beer (to be precise, never more than 3 0.5L beers a night in a 5-6 hour period). I don't drink to get drunk, I avoid it actually, but drinking relaxes me and makes me more care-free, since I have problems with stress. So, do I have a problem on my hands and more importantly, am I an alcoholic?