Talk About Alcohol Misuse: Brief Interventions and Simple Assessments
by Lisa Frederiksen
Because alcoholism is one of the few diseases a person tries to recover from in anonymity, the shame and secrecy that surrounds the disease makes talking about a drinking problem just as difficult. Rarely does a person visit their doctor or talk to a friend about a concern they may have about their drinking. Yet we’re more than happy to talk and ask and talk about other health problems, such as diet or sleep or back problems, acne or stomach pains. We must break this silence with regards to concerns about our own or someone else’s drinking.
Research shows that if a professional (ER doctor, pediatrician, parish priest or teacher) expresses concern and offers information — even just a 5-15 minute conversation — people are often willing to look at their drinking patterns and do something about them once they’re armed with information.
The NIAAA reports that there are nearly 4 times more alcohol abusers than there are alcoholics. In other words, alcohol abuse is the bigger problem. Additionally, the World Health Organization’s AUDIT document reports that all alcoholics go through a period of alcohol abuse, but not all alcohol abusers will become alcoholics. In other words, a person does not have to hit bottom to get help, and those in a position of authority can do a great deal to stop a person’s drinking progression — simply by talking about it.
Here is the CAGE assessment — a simple, 4 question assessment to determine if there might be an alcohol misuse problem:
Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?
Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning (as an “eye opener”) to steady your nerves or get rid of a hangover?
If a person answers “yes” to any one question, they might consider further assessment, either using the NIAAA’s Rethinking Drinking website or the World Health Organization’s Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), a 10 Question, Multiple Choice Test. [I've previously posted the test and an explanation, here.]
And if you are in a position to state your concern, you don’t have to go into detail or have all the answers. Something simple, like the following, is “good enough.” The important thing is to talk about it. [And note...if you are a family member concerned about a loved one's drinking, you might consider expressing your concerns in this manner, as well.]
From what you are saying (or what your answers suggest), it sounds like you may have a problem controlling your drinking. This certainly doesn’t mean you’re necessarily an alcoholic, but you may want to look into it further. I was so surprised, myself, to learn that in just the past decade there has been a great deal of new research and information about alcohol misuse.
If you want to look into it further, I found the NIAAA website, “Rethinking Drinking,” especially informative. It even allows you to anonymously assess your drinking patterns (or those of someone you’re concerned about, for that matter), which can help you better understand what you are dealing with. It even has suggestions for how to cut down or get additional help.
The most important thing to know is that the earlier you get a hold of your drinking, the better it will be for your brain. [To see brain scans that show the impacts of alcohol abuse on the brain, visit one of my earlier posts here.]
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© 2009 Lisa Frederiksen, www.breakingthecycles.com. The information contained in this post may be freely used and copied for education and other non-commercial and non-promotional purposes, provided any use or reproduction of the information be accompanied by an acknowledgement of Lisa Frederiksen, Breaking the Cycles.com, as the source.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Hi,
I do agree with you that people do not talk about problems they’re facing because of alcohol, they talk about other diseases but people should because if the problems are not cured within time they can create long term affects