The Five Different Types of Alcohol Abuse Profiles

For example, they may display behaviors of impulsiveness, irresponsibility, frequently lying, and having a lack of regard for the safety of others. People in the intermediate familial group tend to share a few things. First, at least one nuclear family member has an alcohol dependency.

Nowadays, however, the word “alcoholic” is increasingly seen as a negative label and people can make a lot of assumptions about the bearer of such a label. This is why healthcare and mental health organizations do not use the term anymore and instead refer to someone with drinking problems as an individual with an alcohol use disorder. Gamma – The alcoholic loses all control when consuming alcohol AND has a severe physical dependence.

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And, because they’re doing well in their careers and other areas of life, many functional alcoholics minimize their substance abuse in their minds. They’re more likely than any other subtype to be employed full-time but have less income than the functional subtype. However, when they do, they usually opt for self-help groups, do older people react differently to alcohol private health care providers or detoxification programs. Intermediate familial alcoholics are more commonly male and have a high probability of suffering from co-occurring mental health conditions and polysubstance abuse. 76% of young antisocial alcoholics are male, did not get a college degree, and work full-time.

If your drinking causes distress or problems in your daily life, you likely would be diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder. An example of a young antisocial alcoholic is someone who has a history of conduct disorder before 15 years old and has numerous issues with unexcused absences at school, lying to parents, fighting, and theft. This group of alcoholics are the most likely to reach out for help through inpatient treatment programs, alcohol can trigger headaches and migraines as well as through 12-Step groups and detox services. Alcoholics who fit into the young adult subtype are most likely to be male, as men are 2.5 times more likely to experience this type of alcoholism than women. Many people who are in this stage of alcoholism may struggle to see that they have a problem due to the fact that their drinking is similar to that of their peers, especially if they’re in college or in the armed services.

The Young Anti-Social Alcoholic

Group members are more likely to be unmarried college students without full-time jobs and drink less frequently than the other groups but are more prone to binge drinking. They’re mostly male and rarely seek help for their alcoholism, but when they do, they usually turn to 12-step programs. According to a 2021 Gallup study, 60% of adults are alcohol drinkers, and 18% sometimes drink too much. While there are many types of alcoholics, people don’t have to be raging alcoholics to have a drinking problem. We’ll look at the different types of alcoholism and how knowing them may help identify problem drinking.

• Nearly eight out of 10 people in this category have immediate family members who struggle with alcoholism, a higher rate than the other groups.
• Delta – Rather than “losing control”, alcoholics at this stage will be unable to refrain from drinking.
• Several studies using this approach indicated that alcoholic subtypes defined by single dimensions could indeed be differentiated in predictable ways on a variety of other dimensions .
• For example, functional subtypes are successful in maintaining employment, having good relationships with others, and keeping up with activities and hobbies that they enjoy.
• This subtype is what’s commonly known as “functional alcoholics.” Accounting for 19.5% of alcoholics, this group is typically middle-aged people who start drinking early but develop alcohol dependence later .

This group of alcoholics is, however, the most likely to reach out for professional help than any other type of alcoholic. More than 14 million American adults struggle with the disease of alcoholism. This disease tears through friends and families at a rate almost unimaginable.

The functional subtype includes people who can hold down regular jobs or complete occupational tasks that are expected of them, and also have stable family relationships. A huge percentage of functional alcoholics work full-time, are well-educated, and have the highest income among any of the subtypes. They also have moderate rates of cigarette smoking and are the least likely to have legal problems among other types of alcoholics. Functional alcoholics typically start drinking at around 18, but do not develop alcohol dependence until they reach 37 years old. People in this subtype begin drinking at roughly 15 years of age, developing a dependency at about 29. Seventy-seven percent have close family members with alcoholism, the highest percentage of any subtype.

The factors that should be considered when categorizing the different types of alcoholics are listed below. Scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism , part of the National Institutes of Health, were able to reveal the 5 types of alcoholics by using these factors in an analysis of individuals with alcohol dependence. Delta – Rather than “losing control”, alcoholics at this stage will be unable to refrain from drinking. During this stage of alcoholism, the person in the delta phase needs alcohol to get through the day. In questioning the value of “compulsory restraint in a retreat for long periods,” Wingfield (1919, p. 42) proposed specific treatments for different types of alcoholics. For pseudodipsomaniacs and true dipsomaniacs, he recommended administering small doses of apomorphine to provide temporary relief of craving and morphia to treat intense depression.

Young Adults

In developmentally cumulative alcoholism, drinking initially is limited and induced by cultural influences. Over the life course, however, the cumulative alcohol consumption is sufficient to produce alcohol dependence. It would seem logical to begin a discussion of the history of typology with E.M. Jellinek’s classic work on the different “species” of alcoholism , which is widely considered to be the first scientific alcoholism typology. Moreover, by studying the evolution of alcoholism typologies, current researchers can place Jellinek’s ideas and subsequent thinking into a broader perspective. If you or a loved one is suffering from alcohol use disorder , it’s important that you seek addiction treatment.

As suggested in the subtypes grouped under this designation, when alcohol dependence develops in such an individual, typically after years of socially approved heavy drinking, it presents in a more benign form. Consequently, Apollonian subtypes include alcoholics who are characterized by later onset, a slower disease course, fewer complications, less psychological impairment, and a better prognosis. In contrast, the god Dionysius viagra and alcohol sildenafil was known for his drunken revelry, sexual abandonment, and physical aggression. When alcohol dependence develops in this type of personality, it can be identified by the subtype characteristics of pathological drinking and drunken comportment. Thus, Dionysian subtypes of alcoholics are characterized by early onset, more severe symptomatology, greater psychological vulnerability, and more personality disturbance.

Intermediate familial subtype

Many people have a stereotypical image of someone labeled as an alcoholic, but new alcoholism research from the NIAAA has laid that notion to rest by proving that not all alcoholics are the same. Alcohol addiction, no matter what type of alcohol you may be, is a deadly disease unless you obtain treatment for it. Continuing to drink will only put you at greater risk for destroying your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Despite sharing the same disease, alcoholics have their own experiences and origins of disease.

With that being said, it is important to be familiar with the different types of alcoholics to allow easy identification and early intervention of alcohol use disorder. The Garden State Treatment Center in northern New Jersey assists all types of alcoholics. Our attentive and caring specialists offer personalized and effective treatment plans. And we address the root causes of our patients’ addictions, allowing them to slowly put their lives back together. People in this category seldom have problems with the law and frequently earn high incomes; it’s the most educated of the five groups. Then, someone who is a chronic severe alcoholic might start an inpatient program.

Nearly 50% experience antisocial personality disorder, the second-highest rate of any subtype. People in the chronic severe subtype are the most likely of any group to experience major depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, and panic disorder. They also may have addictions to cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, and opioids. Those in this subtype typically start drinking early and develop alcohol dependence early . They have a low likelihood of co-occurring mental health conditions and moderate probabilities of other substance abuse disorders. Chronic severe alcoholics are known to experience high rates of co-occurring mental health conditions and polysubstance abuse.

Around 80% of people in the severe chronic subtype have a familial and genetic alcoholism link. Someone who falls under this type of alcoholic is likely to have many physical and lifestyle factors destroyed as a result. Someone who is in the chronic severe subtype will often drink excessively daily. Some of the issues of functional alcoholism include that it can cause physical health problems.

Roughly 50% meet the criteria for a clinical diagnosis of depression, while 20% battle bipolar disorder. Alpha – The person is psychologically dependent upon alcohol to relieve emotional and/or physical pain. No two alcoholics are the same, but it can be helpful to categorize people who struggle with their drinking to understand how to provide them with the support that they need to get well. Von Knorring L, Palm V, Anderson H. Relationship between treatment outcome and subtype of alcoholism in men. Parrella DP, Filstead WJ. Definition of onset in the development of onset-based alcoholism typologies.

Functional subtype

The report made it clear that the recovery community could no longer continue to assume that all people with alcohol problems were the same. It also shifted the focus of the recovery world from focus just people who were hospitalized or receiving some form of addiction treatment. It was clear that there were several sub-types of alcoholics, each suffering from a different form of alcohol dependence. One shocking discovery is that only about 25% of all people who suffered from alcohol addiction would ever seek treatment. If you feel that you may suffer from an alcohol abuse disorder take our am I an alcoholic quiz.

In Southern California, the best resource for individuals and families in crisis is Chapman House Treatment Centers. Located in Orange County, Chapman House has provided premium alcohol, drug, and behavioral health care treatment since 1978. The NESARC is a nationally-representative survey that looks at alcohol, drug, and mental disorders in America. Roughly 1500 respondents from different parts of the country who meet the medical criteria for a diagnosis of Alcohol Use Disorder were included—both receiving and not receiving treatment. But the NIAAA’s National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions indicates that just 25% of alcoholics ever receive any type of treatment. This means most alcoholics – and their subtypes – were never represented in earlier research.