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Do you ever regret how much you drank the night before?
Has anyone told you that you may be drinking too much?
Have you every injured yourself or someone else because you were drinking?
If you have answered yes to any of these questions, your drinking may be risky.
This section is intended to help you evaluate your drinking and your risk of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD). It is only a guide and cannot offer a formal diagnosis, but it can make you more aware and point you in the right direction for getting help.
Drinking too much or when you should abstain can increase your risk of injury and disease.
Excessive drinking also increases your risk of developing an Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). The more severe your condition, the less able you will be to stop drinking, and you may crave alcohol and experience withdrawal when you are not drinking.[i]
People with AUD may ignore other aspects of their lives to focus on drinking. This includes relationships with the people around them, their work, and their responsibilities.
The good news is that even if your AUD is severe, it can be addressed and reversed. People with AUD can return to their normal and productive lives once they have modified their drinking and received appropriate intervention and treatment.[ii]
[i] America Psychiatric Association. Alcohol Use Disorder. Washington, DC: APA. 2024
[ii] Koob, G.F. Alcohol Use Disorder treatment: problems and solutions. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol, 2024. 64:255-275.
If you are concerned about your own or someone else’s drinking, simple screening tools are available to help you assess whether your level of risk.
The most widely used screening tool for risky drinking is the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), developed by the World Health Organization.[i] It helps to screen risk for developing AUD and determine the most appropriate intervention or treatment.
[i] World Health Organization. AUDIT: the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Guidelines for use in primary health care. Geneva: WHO, 2001.
Alcohol Use Disorder, even when it is severe, can be reversed. This requires recognizingyou have a problem, being willing to change, and seeking help in the form of counselling, clinical treatment, or by joining a self-help group.
Many resources are available to help you break the cycle of alcohol dependence.These include WHO’s AUDIT tool and the shorter version AUDIT-C.
A simpler, 3-question version, the AUDIT-C, [ii] can also be used to reliably determine your level of risk. AUDIT-C can be self-administered. You can take the test here.
Your score will help determine your level of risk and the appropriate next steps you can take to make a change. The test does not provide a conclusive diagnosis. Your score on the AUDIT-C is only indicative of whether you are at risk.
It is important to know that AUDIT-C can only help you screen for risk of alcohol dependence, or AUD. It does not tell you about your risk of other health conditions like heart disease, cancer, or liver disease.
If you have questions about other health risks or would like to know more about what your own AUDIT-C score means, always follow up with a qualified health professional.
[ii] Bush, K. et al. The AUDIT Alcohol Consumption Questions (AUDIT-C): an effective brief screening test for problem drinking. Arch Intern Med, 1998.158(16):1789–1795.
There are many available resources to help you address your risk and moderate your drinking.
Which one you choose depends on the severity of your problem and on what works best for you.
The resources listed below can assist you with general information or direct you to groups and organizations that can provide individualized help.
In many countries, prevention and treatment of AUD is part of the psychiatric services offered in hospitals and medical centers. Consulting your health professional is a good way to identify local resources where you can receive assistance and to get a referral.
The resources listed here reflect information compiled and provided by official government and quasi-governmental organizations. They offer a variety of approaches to intervention and treatment, ranging from cognitive behavior therapy and pharmacotherapy to faith-based and abstinence programs. What works best will be different for each individual with AUD.
(Note: This resource is available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. All are on the same site and can help with country-specific resources.)
Additional information and resources for intervention and treatment of AUD:
The resources on this website are not intended as health advice to individuals. People with specific questions about their alcohol consumption are encouraged to consult a healthcare professional. Together, they can determine what is best for that individual, based on individual risk factors, including family history, genetics, and lifestyle. For some people, the better choice may be to not drink at all.
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