Understanding the Five Types of Alcoholics Get Help For Alcohol Addiction

But they started drinking much earlier than young adult alcoholics — usually by the age of 15 or 16. Researchers found that 21.1 percent of alcoholics fall into this category. Their alcoholism usually manifests by the time they are 18 or 19, and more than half come from families with alcoholism. Only 17% of functional alcoholics have ever sought help for their alcohol dependence. Those who do tend to make use of 12-step programs and private health care professionals. Young bingers rarely have a family history of addiction and don’t usually suffer from mental health issues at the same time, Desert Hope experts said – they also rarely seek help for alcohol abuse.

• In the large majority of cases, functional alcoholics seem to have a ‘normal’ life, though, behind the scenes, this can be a very different story.
• The best way to find a successful treatment program is to understand alcohol issues in-depth.
• Similar to the previous type of alcoholic, individuals in this category are often of similar age, around their young to mid-twenties.
• Individuals in this group are about 38 years old and initially started drinking around the age of 16.

Only 9 percent have gone to college, and only 43 percent are employed full time. They drink more heavily than any other type of alcoholic, consuming alcohol 248 days of the year on average and drinking five or more drinks 69 percent of the time. Nearly 32 percent of alcoholics fall into the young adult category, making it the most prevalent subtype in the U.S. The typical young adult alcoholic is about 25 and started drinking at age 19 or 20. Men outnumber women 2.5 times to 1 in this category, and they tend to be single.

Tailoring Treatment f0r Different Types of Alcoholism

Polydrug abuse, and co-occurring disorders combined with alcohol abuse, increases the risk for addiction and can interfere with treatment measures. Around one-third of young antisocial alcoholics will seek treatment for problematic drinking. Half of the people in this subtype have experienced depression, and 20% have bipolar disorder. Other common co-occurring mental health conditions include obsessive-compulsive 5 types of alcoholics disorder (OCD) and generalized anxiety disorder. They tend to participate in groups, medical detox and treatment programs or receive help from a private healthcare provider. Babor and colleagues (1992) based their typology on the assumption that the heterogeneity among alcoholics is attributable to a complex interaction among genetic, biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

With one of the lowest education levels of any subtype and the lowest employment rate, this group drinks more frequently than any other, although their total alcohol intake is less than that of the young antisocial subtype. Sixty-six percent have sought help at some point, making them the group most likely to have done so. They often seek help at self-help groups, rehabilitation programs, and detox programs. https://ecosoberhouse.com/ “When most people think of alcoholics, they think of middle-aged men with a profile similar to our chronic severe subtype,” Moss tells WebMD. “Our data shows that alcoholism is more a disorder of youth than previously suspected.” Data collated by the National Institute On Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 2015 revealed that over 86.4% of those over the age of 18 admitted they had drunk alcohol at some point.

Young Antisocial Alcoholics

You’ll analyze the factors that impact both individual and population health. And you’ll learn how to develop culturally tailored health education programs and measure their efficacy. Likely to be in college, this subtype drinks less frequently than other groups, but they are more prone to binge drink when they do. Few seek treatment, but when they do, they usually choose a 12-step program. New alcoholism research identifies five types of alcoholics and shows that young adults account for more than half of U.S. alcoholics.