How much alcohol is too much? If you take the clinical route, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders can offer insight.
Deciphering alcohol use disorder
According to the manual, if the patient meets two of 11 criteria during a 12-month period, they are considered to have alcohol use disorder (AUD). More broadly, AUD is described by experts as a “drinking compulsively, often to the point of it interfering with their daily life.”
A new study of 5,402 participants between 18 and 64 years old published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism indicates that there are five types of excessive drinking and they are more prevalent at certain ages. In addition, each of the five profiles has its own set of shared symptoms.
The five AUD subtypes
The researchers categorized the AUD profiles into the following groups:
- Alcohol-induced injury: About 25% of the participants in the study fit this profile, which is described as “engaging in risky behavior and getting into dangerous situations that might have caused injury.”
- Highly problematic, low perceived life interference: About 21% of the participants in the study fell under this subset. People in this group said that their drinking didn’t have an adverse effect on their lives, including family, work or social obligations, despite also reporting that they experienced many of the standards AUD symptoms.
- Adverse effects only: About 34% of the participants complained of hangovers or withdrawal symptoms.
- Difficulty cutting back: About 13% of the participants said they struggled or were unable to decrease their alcohol consumption.
- Highly problematic: About 7% of the participants had every symptom of AUD.
AUD by age
Two of the AUD profiles—“highly problematic, low perceived life interference” and “adverse effects only”—were more common among younger adults. On the other end of the spectrum, “alcohol-induced injury” and “difficulty cutting back” were more common as age increased.
