Alco­hol Use Dis­or­der: What It Is, Risks & Tre­at­ment

This dama­ge can inhi­bit func­tio­ning, inclu­ding reac­tion times, decis­i­on-making, and even the abili­ty to learn new things. Many of the same tre­at­ment approa­ches and the­ra­pies are used to address sub­s­tance use and men­tal health dis­or­ders. In fact, many tre­at­ment pro­fes­sio­nals are inte­gra­ted pro­vi­ders, trai­ned in both addic­tion and men­tal health tre­at­ment.

Like depres­si­on and other men­tal ill­nesses, addic­tion is a very real medi­cal dis­or­der that is roo­ted in brain changes—but the con­di­ti­on is so much more com­plex than that. An alco­hol use dis­or­der is a medi­cal dia­gno­sis to descri­be a per­son or per­sons with an alco­hol pro­blem. Alco­ho­lism is a non-medi­cal term used to self-dia­gno­se an indi­vi­du­al who lacks con­sump­ti­on res­traint. It is rare for a medi­cal pro­fes­sio­nal to dia­gno­se a pati­ent as an alco­ho­lic. Ins­tead, they will seek to deter­mi­ne whe­ther someone has mild, mode­ra­te, or seve­re alco­hol use dis­or­der .

Under­stan­ding The DSM‑5 Cri­te­ria For Alco­hol Use Dis­or­der (AUD)

In many cases, AUD increa­ses the chan­ces of having a co-occur­ring men­tal health con­di­ti­on. For exam­p­le, AUD may tri­ple your chan­ces of expe­ri­en­cing major depres­si­ve dis­or­der (MDD). The into­xi­ca­ti­on and with­dra­wal cycle can also cau­se MDD and other men­tal health con­cerns. In addi­ti­on to being a dia­gnosable men­tal health con­di­ti­on, AUD is also a medi­cal dise­a­se.

• Alco­hol use dis­or­der (AUD) is a chro­nic ill­ness in which you can’t stop or con­trol your drin­king even though it’s hur­ting your social life, your job, or your health.
• Your doc­tor may screen you for this con­di­ti­on by asking you ques­ti­ons about your drin­king habits, inclu­ding how much and how often you drink and whe­ther or not you feel drin­king alco­hol has inter­fe­red with your life nega­tively.
• Alco­ho­lism is an out­da­ted term used to descri­be what’s now cal­led AUD.
• You can search for an empa­the­tic men­tal health pro­fes­sio­nal using our Health­li­ne Find­Ca­re tool to get more infor­ma­ti­on and help fin­ding the right tre­at­ment for you.
• No mat­ter how hope­l­ess alco­hol use dis­or­der may seem, tre­at­ment can help.

It can be dif­fi­cult to pin­point when social drin­king pro­gres­ses into pro­ble­ma­tic alco­hol abu­se. Licen­sed medi­cal pro­fes­sio­nals use cri­te­ria lis­ted in the Dia­gno­stic and Sta­tis­ti­cal Manu­al of Men­tal Dis­or­ders, Fifth Edi­ti­on (DSM‑5) to find out whe­ther a per­son has alco­hol use dis­or­der and deter­mi­ne its seve­ri­ty. If you or someone 5 Tips to Con­sider When Choo­sing a Sober Living House you know is strugg­ling with anxie­ty and/or depres­si­on and drink alco­hol to cope, the alco­hol may be actual­ly wind up con­tri­bu­ting to some of the­se sym­ptoms. So, if you are see­king pro­fes­sio­nal help for other men­tal health issues, it is a good time to accu­ra­te­ly report your alco­hol use to the per­son try­ing to help you.

Mild, Mode­ra­te, & Seve­re AUDs

If you or a loved one is batt­ling a sub­s­tance use dis­or­der and wants to recei­ve help, our team is rea­dy to help. A per­son may feel com­pel­led to drink for many reasons; this includes trau­ma, depres­si­on, stress, coping, anxie­ty, or shame. For someone suf­fe­ring from an alco­hol use dis­or­der , the pre­sence of any one of the­se trig­gers could lead them to expe­ri­ence their dis­or­der on a much lar­ger sca­le. The­re are gen­der dif­fe­ren­ces in alco­hol-rela­ted mor­ta­li­ty and mor­bi­di­ty, as well as levels and pat­terns of alco­hol con­sump­ti­on. The per­cen­ta­ge of alco­hol-attri­bu­ta­ble deaths among men amounts to 7.7 % of all glo­bal deaths com­pared to 2.6 % of all deaths among women. Total alco­hol per capi­ta con­sump­ti­on in 2016 among male and fema­le drin­kers world­wi­de was on avera­ge 19.4 lit­res of pure alco­hol for males and 7.0 lit­res for fema­les.

• Dise­a­se manage­ment requi­res accep­tance of a pro­blem, fol­low-through with tre­at­ment, and an under­stan­ding that a per­son can have peri­ods of sym­ptom fla­re-ups or rel­ap­se (but this doesn’t mean hope is lost).
• If you do choo­se to drink alco­hol, fol­low the Die­ta­ry Gui­de­lines for Ame­ri­cans on mode­ra­te alco­hol con­sump­ti­on (no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men).
• The DSM is an aut­ho­ri­ta­ti­ve gui­de that men­tal health pro­fes­sio­nals in the US use to dia­gno­se men­tal health dis­or­ders.
• Alco­hol with­dra­wal can usual­ly be trea­ted out­side of the hos­pi­tal, but some seve­re cases do requi­re hos­pi­ta­liza­ti­on.

Pover­ty and phy­si­cal or sexu­al abu­se also increase the odds of deve­lo­ping alco­hol depen­dence. Accor­ding to a 2020 stu­dy, alco­ho­lism often co-occurs with other men­tal health con­di­ti­ons such as mood dis­or­ders, anxie­ty dis­or­ders, thought dis­or­ders, or sub­s­tance use dis­or­ders. In other words, it descri­bes a per­son or per­sons who suf­fer from a seve­re form of alco­hol depen­dence or exhi­bits a for­mal ina­bi­li­ty to mana­ge drin­king habits.

Gra­dua­te School of Addic­tion Stu­dies

Men­tal health tre­at­ment often focu­ses on and explo­ra­ti­on of a person’s thoughts, fee­lings and beha­vi­ors, focu­sing on ways to impro­ve tho­se fee­lings through one-on-one coun­seling or group the­ra­py. This type of tre­at­ment often includes medi­ca­ti­on pai­red with psy­cho­the­ra­py. Alco­hol-rela­ted dis­or­ders sever­ely impair func­tio­ning and health. But the pro­s­pects for suc­cessful long-term pro­blem reso­lu­ti­on are good for peo­p­le who seek help from appro­pria­te sources. The soo­ner you reco­gni­ze the­re may be a pro­blem and talk to your health­ca­re pro­vi­der, the bet­ter your reco­very chan­ces. Alco­hol use dis­or­der can include peri­ods of being drunk (alco­hol into­xi­ca­ti­on) and sym­ptoms of with­dra­wal.