Four men toasting with fresh beer Credit: Mediaphotos/iStock
A new study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry has found that way more Americans struggle with alcoholism than we thought — almost 30 percent of adults have had an alcohol-related problem, although only a fifth of those people sought professional help. (emphasis added)
The new statistic was found using the American Psychiatric Association’s new definition of Alcohol Use Disorder.
Vocativ’s Sarah Kaufman reports:
The third National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions include results from 36,309 face-to-face interviews with Americans between 2012 and 2013, when they were asked a series of questions based on the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. If anyone met two of the manual’s 11 criteria in the last 12 months, they would fall under the diagnose for Alcohol Use Disorder.
The researchers found that the presence of severe Alcohol Use Disorder was especially concentrated among 18- to 29-year-olds.
“Emerging adulthood is becoming an increasingly vulnerable period for Alcohol Use Disorder onset,” the researchers wrote. “[The […]
Having looked at the actual study, versus reading the article, I don’t see the numbers indicated. A problem, yes, but not to the alarmist levels raised in the articles about the study. It also doesn’t make sense based on life experience. A technical question seems to be what the researchers designated as an AUD problem.