Health Pages
Alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism or alcohol use disorder (AUD), is a broad term for an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. A person who suffers from alcoholism is called alcoholic. People with alcohol use disorder often have a physical and/or psychological desire to consume alcohol beyond their capacity to control it (regardless of how alcohol affects their life). This dangerous disorder was previously divided into two types: alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence.
In the 2013 update of U.S. DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition), the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which serves as the principal authority for psychiatric diagnoses and treatment recommendations, alcohol abuse is combined with alcohol dependence to create one unified disorder, alcohol use disorder (AUD).
In a medical context, alcoholism is said to exist when two or more of the following conditions are present:
- a person drinks large amounts over a long time period and/or requiring a larger quantity of alcohol to feel its effect,
- alcohol is strongly desired (sweating, nausea, insomnia, or even shaking when not drinking),
- usage of alcohol results in risky situations (drinking and driving, aggressive behavior, drinking and operating machinery, or having unsafe sex),
- a person has difficulty cutting down alcohol or being able to limit how much alcohol is consumed,
- usage of alcohol results in not fulfilling responsibilities (money problems, work problems, school problems, relationship problems),
- acquiring and drinking alcohol takes up a great deal of time (spent in obtaining, using, or recovering from alcohol),
- usage of alcohol results in social problems,
- withdrawal occurs when stopping,
- usage of alcohol results in health problems (alcohol use continues despite awareness that drinking is causing physical or emotional problems),
- not being able to remember chunks of time (blacking out),
- alcohol tolerance has occurred with use.
The DSM-5 also proposes that diagnoses meeting 2 or 3 criteria would be similar to alcohol abuse while meeting over 4 criteria would be equivalent to alcohol dependence when compared to the DSM-IV.
Learn more: