The more familiar term “alcoholism” may be used to describe a severe form of AUD, but physicians, researchers, and others in the medical community tend not to use the word.
Causes and Risk Factors of Alcohol Use Disorder
Other factors that may play a role in the development of AUD include:
- History of emotional or other trauma
- Mental illnesses and mood disorders, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia
- Social and cultural pressure, including having a partner who drinks regularly (or a parent who does, for adolescents)
- Starting to drink — especially to binge drink — at an early age
- Regularly drinking too much over a long period of time
- Personality disorders, including antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder
Duration of Alcohol Use Disorder
Excessive drinking or an alcohol use disorder can be successfully managed with treatments such as therapy and medication, to help you to modify your behaviors and help your brain adapt to the absence of alcohol.
Relapsing doesn’t mean that treatment has failed, though — it takes time to change behavior. You can work with a health professional to try new treatments that may work better for you.
Receiving treatment improves your chances of recovering from AUD.
Complications of Alcohol Use Disorder
Drinking heavily over long periods of time may lead to changes in how the brain functions, from memory slips to more debilitating conditions. The impact depends on when a person started drinking, how long they’ve been drinking, and how often and how much they drink.
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is a degenerative brain disorder that causes mental confusion, vision problems, lack of coordination, and memory problems, among other symptoms.
- Cardiovascular problems, such as arrhythmias, stroke, high blood pressure, or cardiomyopathy (impaired function of the heart)
- Liver problems, including steatosis (fatty liver), hepatitis, and or cirrhosis (scarring of and permanent damage to the liver)
- Pancreatitis (pancreas inflammation)
- Cancer, including of the mouth, esophagus, throat, liver, breast, and colon
- Increased risk of infections, particularly pneumonia and tuberculosis
- Bone damage, including osteoporosis, as alcohol can interfere in new bone production
- Birth defects in your baby, if you drink while pregnant, due to fetal alcohol syndrome
- Reproductive problems, including erectile dysfunction in men and irregular or missed periods in women
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BIPOC and Alcohol Use Disorder
A number of studies have looked at alcohol use among specific racial and ethnic populations, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
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Resources We Love
NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator
Learn more about AUD from the government organization in charge of studying alcohol use and abuse in Americans. The website offers in-depth information on the treatment for AUD, tips to find a treatment program, and a tool to find specialty programs, therapists, and doctors who are located near you or offer their services via telehealth.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
This peer-run, international fellowship is open to anyone who wants to address a drinking problem. Research has suggested that the program can be successful in helping some people cut back on or eliminate alcohol from their lives. Check out the website to learn more about how AA works, find a chapter near you, and download e-books to help with your journey.
Additional reporting by Joseph Bennington-Castro.
Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking
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- Alcohol Use and Your Health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. October 1, 2020.
- Excessive Alcohol Use. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. September 21, 2020.
- Yang P, Tao R, He C, Liu S, et al. The Risk Factors of the Alcohol Use Disorders —Through Review of Its Comorbidities. Frontiers in Neuroscience. May 2018.
- Genetics of Alcohol Use Disorder. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
- Alcohol Use Disorder. Mayo Clinic. July 11, 2018.
- Alcohol's Effects on the Body. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
- Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction, Treatment and Recovery. National Institute on Drug Abuse. July 2020.
- Treatment for Alcohol Problems: Finding and Getting Help. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 2014.
- Underage Drinking. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
- Schwarzinger M, Pollock B, Hasan OSM, Dufouil C, et al. Contribution of Alcohol Use Disorders to the Burden of Dementia in France 2008–13: A Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study. Lancet Public Health. March 2018.
- Alcohol Alert: Alcohol's Damaging Effects on the Brain. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. October 2004.
- Alcohol and Cancer Risk. National Cancer Institute. September 13, 2018.
- Understanding Alcohol Use Disorders and Their Treatment. American Psychological Association. September 2018.
- Alcohol Use Disorder. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
- Kelly J, Humphreys K, Ferri M. Alcoholics Anonymous and Other 12-Step Programs for Alcohol Use Disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. March 2020.
- Vaeth P, Wang-Schweig M, Caetano R. Drinking, Alcohol Use Disorder, and Treatment Access and Utilization Among U.S. Racial/Ethnic Groups. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. January 2017.
- Delker E, Brown Q, Hasin D. Alcohol Consumption in Demographic Subpopulations. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews. 2016.
- Ransome Y, Carty D, Cogburn C, Williams D. Racial Disparities in the Association Between Alcohol Use Disorders and Health in Black and White Women. Biodemography and Social Biology. 2017.
- Focus On: Chronic Diseases and Conditions Related to Alcohol Use. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 2013.
- Cao Y, Willett W, Rimm E, Stampfer M, et al. Light to Moderate Intake of Alcohol, Drinking Patterns, and Risk of Cancer: Results From Two Prospective US Cohort Studies. BMJ. August 2018.
- Grant B, Goldstein R, Saha T, Chou SP et al. Epidemiology of DSM-5 Alcohol Use Disorder. JAMA Psychiatry. August 2015.
- Alcohol Use Disorder. MedlinePlus. May 10, 2020.
- Dementia Prevention, Intervention, and Care: 2020 Report of the Lancet Commission. The Lancet. August 8, 2020.
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