Do You Have A Problem? Heavy Drinkers Find Discreet Answers and Advice Online:

[News Hound]

An informative piece from the Wall Street Journal:

"Whenever Suzanne expressed concern about her drinking, her friends and family members assured her she was fine. Even her physician shrugged off the matter, telling her merely "to keep an eye on it."
Then Suzanne came across a Web site called drinkerscheckup.com. For $25, it offered to analyze her drinking and provide detailed feedback. Ninety minutes after Suzanne signed up, this software program changed her life. "I haven't had a drink in more than two years, thanks to Drinker's Check-up," says Suzanne, a housewife and mother in suburban New York.
The conventional measure of a drinking problem is devastation: lost jobs, broken marriages, ruined health and legal woes. The conventional term for a drinker seeking help is alcoholic.
But Drinker's Check-up is one of a growing number of Web sites devoted to the idea that you don't have to be a wreck or an alcoholic to contemplate cutting back or quitting altogether. Research increasingly shows that early intervention can keep a heavy drinker from skidding into full-blown addiction. "We're finding that as with other medical conditions, it's important to catch it early," says Mark Willenbring, director of the division of treatment and recovery research for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which has funded several studies of Internet programs, including Drinker's Check-up."

Read the whole story here
Here are some Web sites aimed at identifying problem drinking and drug use:

• Drinkerscheckup.com—For $25, offers an analysis of a drinker's levels of consumption and risk. Offers tips on how to cut back or quit.
• e-CHUG.com—Contracts with colleges to offer students drinking survey and advice on cutting back.
• Mystudentbody.com; Alcoholedu.com—Similar to e-CHUG.
• SmartRecovery.org—An addiction-recovery program that offers online meetings, free of charge.
• NA.org—Information and meeting locations for Narcotics Anonymous; some online meetings, free.
• Alcoholics-Anonymous.org—Offers literature, locations of AA meetings and guidance on what constitutes problem drinking.

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