What Are The Subtypes of Alcoholics?

In fact, a functional alcoholic will often be middle-aged, professional, educated, married with a family, and keep up appearances as having their lives in order. NIH reports that around half of all functional alcoholics have been smokers, 30 percent have a family history of alcoholism, and 25 percent have suffered from major depression at some point in their lives. Most likely what a person pictures when the term alcoholic is used, the chronic severe alcoholic subtype only accounts for about 9 percent of the entire US alcoholic population.

Binge drinking accounts for about 90 percent of this group’s total alcohol intake. Students at many colleges and universities encourage one another to drink, sometimes heavily. In the U.S., intermediate familial alcoholics comprise 19 percent of all alcoholics. Unlike young adult alcoholics, young antisocial alcoholics don’t drink socially with peers. Instead, antisocial alcoholics drink alone and typically struggle with other issues. The effort was made to categorize different types of alcoholics, in part, to dispel the myth that there is a typical alcoholic.

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Some alcoholics are very good at hiding the signs and symptoms of their substance use disorder, while others may not even realize that they’re struggling with dependency at all. Many people do not realize that there are different types of alcoholics. While there may not quite be as many different types of alcoholics as there are people, the truth is the signs of alcoholism can vary a great deal from person to person. On the other hand, young antisocial alcoholics are more likely to become aware of their condition because there is evidence their group has the highest treatment-seeking rate among other subtypes. An example of a functional alcoholic is an individual who is able to maintain a certain level of personal and professional success, but likely has an underlying struggle with irresistible cravings brought by alcohol use disorder.

People with acquired inebriety often have histories of physical disorders, particularly dyspepsia (i.e., indigestion), bad nutrition, and exhaustion from unhygienic living conditions or stressful work environments. Conversely, hereditary causes include constitutional conditions, such as distinct neurotic and psychopathic disorders that often are traceable to ancestors.

Types of Alcoholics You Probably Know

We provide integrated treatment for mental health disorders and addiction. Comprising 19% of alcoholics in America, the typical Intermediate Familial alcoholic is middle-aged.Half have a family history of multi-generational alcohol abuse. A third of Functional alcoholics have a multi-generational family history of alcohol abuse. The NESARC is a nationally-representative survey that looks at alcohol, drug, and mental disorders in America. Roughly 5 types of alcoholics 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. Other widespread mental health issues in this category are social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression. Generally speaking, people in the young antisocial category are in their mid-20s and started drinking alcohol at a young age, perhaps 15 or so.

These terms are widely used to describe someone who has an alcohol use problem and for most people, it is considered the correct terminology for alcohol addiction. However, medical professionals and addiction specialists have been moving away from this term for years. Many of those in the grips of alcoholism choose not to seek help, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you or a loved one fall into one of these types of alcoholism, know that there are options. In Southern California, the best resource for individuals and families in crisis is Chapman House Treatment Centers.

Young Antisocial Alcoholics

A study by scientists at the NIAAA, which is part of the National Institutes of Health , analyzed 1,484 survey respondents who https://ecosoberhouse.com/ met certain diagnostic criteria for alcohol addiction. The study included people both in treatment and not seeking treatment.

That’s because they’re able to balance their drinking with their personal and professional life. 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. 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. In steady endogenous symptomatic drinkers, alcoholism is secondary to a major psychiatric disorder. Subtypes of this category include schizoid, schizophrenic, and syphilitic alcoholics.

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Periodic inebriety is characterized by intense drinking or craving for alcohol interspersed with periods of abstinence. For some alcoholics, the drinking periods are determined by internal cues, such as the onset of menses in women.

• Making up just 9% of alcoholics in this country, the Chronic Severe subtype highlights the profound negative impact of both genetics and early initiation of use.
• However, a high-functioning alcoholic may not exhibit any of these common symptoms.
• If the program of action is followed a “daily reprieve” from drinking will occur.
• Members included in this group are also 2.5 times more likely to be male than female.
• The two types also differ with respect to treatment outcome, with type B alcoholics more likely to relapse to heavy drinking.
• However, their family life as a child tends to be rocky, causing high rates of divorce among these individuals.

Ark Behavioral Health offers 100% confidential substance abuse assessment and treatment placement tailored to your individual needs. More than half of those in this group have a family history of alcoholism.

© Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc., Rutgers University Center of Alcohol Studies. No matter what role you choose, with a master’s in health education and promotion online from Walden, you can start tackling some of today’s most pressing health problems—and changing the world. And without proper treatment, alcoholism can continue to ruin your life for years and even decades.

They tend to drink less often than the other types, but binge drink more. Penick EC, Reed MR, Crawley PA, Powell BJ. Differentiation of alcoholics by family history. Despite these significant improvements in recent typology research, the field still faces some challenging issues. For example, perhaps because of the differences in measurement techniques and methodological approaches, typology researchers have not always recognized the similarities between their own work and that of other investigators. And although some theories are likely to endure longer than others, a more fundamental question remains concerning the utility of typologies for theory development and clinical practice. 2Epsilon alcoholism, the fifth species, is not included in this table because Jellinek considered knowledge of that subtype to be too scant to describe in detail. In discussing the general causes and conditions favoring inebriety, Crothers also classified alcoholism as either acquired or hereditary.