At what point are you considered an alcoholic? Do you have to drink a certain number of drinks in a particular time span (ie. binge drinking)? Is it only after it interferes with your life in terms of work, relationships, mood etc? What about those people who use alcohol as a means to cope when they do drink, but are otherwise fine? What about consuming excessive amounts of alcohol for the same purpose? Is this just a bad coping mechaninsm or is it an actual problem?