Alcohol Substance Disorder Treatment

Using drugs illegally and drinking too much alcohol can affect your mental health, physical health, and relationships. Some people who misuse alcohol or drugs become addicted. Addiction is a disease of the brain, but it can be treated by being consistent with the treatment regimen for alcohol substance disorder disease.

What causes Alcohol Use Disorder, Substance Use Disorder, or Addiction?
Whether you become addicted to alcohol or other substances can depend on your environment and genetics.
Your environment, including whether you had friends or family who misused drugs or alcohol, can affect your risk of becoming addicted. Children who are abused are more likely to have problems with alcohol, drugs, or tobacco as adults.

Once you start misusing drugs or alcohol, your genetics can play a role in how quickly you become addicted. The chemicals in drugs and alcohol also change the brain and make a person more likely to use them again.

If you can answer yes to at least two of the following questions, you may have an alcohol use disorder.

How is Alcohol Use Disorder diagnosed?

In the past 12 months, have you:

Ended up drinking more or longer than you meant to?
Wanted to cut down on or stop drinking or tried to but found you couldn’t?
Spent a lot of time drinking, being sick from drinking, or experiencing other side effects from drinking?
Wanted to drink so badly you couldn’t think of anything else?
Had trouble at home, work, or school because of drinking or being sick from drinking?
Continued to drink even though it caused problems with friends or family?
Cut back on activities or hobbies that you liked in order to spend time drinking?
Gotten into a dangerous situation as a direct result of your drinking (such as driving while drunk or having unsafe sex)?
Kept drinking despite feeling that it was making you depressed or anxious?
Had a Memory Blackout?
Had to drink a lot more to get the same effect?
Found that when you weren’t drinking, you had withdrawal symptoms, like shakiness, trouble sleeping, or nausea?
If you can answer “yes” to at least two of these questions, talk to your doctor, nurse, or a mental health professional as soon as possible. You may have an alcohol use disorder.

It is possible to misuse alcohol but not have alcohol use disorder, such as by occasional binge drinking. Binge drinking is also harmful to your health. Alcohol use disorders can also be mild, moderate, or severe.