Substance Abuse: Alcohol Use Disorders

Substance Abuse: Alcohol Use Disorders

Definition

Alcohol consumption occurs along a continuum, with consider-able variability in drinking patterns among individuals. There is no sharp demarcation between “social” or “moderate” drinking and “problem” or “harmful” drinking. It is clear, however, that as average alcohol consumption and frequency of intoxication in-crease, so does the incidence of medical and psychosocial prob-lems.

The most visible group of people affected by alcohol prob-lems are those who have developed a syndrome of alcohol de-pendence and who are commonly referred to as alcoholics. A less prominent group con-sists of those persons who experience problems with their drink-ing but who are not dependent on alcohol. These individuals are variously termed alcohol abusers, problem drinkers and harmful drinkers. These two “worlds” of alcohol problems may require different approaches to diagnosis and clinical management.