Not only is alcohol inexpensive in the UK, but it’s also extremely accessible and woven into the fabric of daily society.
Though many people enjoy a tipple after a long day of work or a few drinks with friends at the pub, they won’t necessarily develop the signs and symptoms of alcoholism.
However, alcohol is a highly addictive substance and poses a range of health complications for any member of the community.
In the past few years, the UK has seen an exponential rise in diagnosable alcohol use disorders.
A UK Government survey shed light on the number of adults exhibiting the signs and symptoms of alcoholism.
Between 2020 and 2021, around 275,896 adults came in contact with an England-based drug and alcohol rehab centre, with 130,490 of this figure entering rehab.
It was worryingly estimated that, of this number, alcoholism accounted for around 28% of those entering treatment formally.
However, while many experiencing the signs and symptoms of alcoholism access treatment, others receive help too late or not at all.
At Rehab 4 Addiction, we offer free advice from a team of non-judgemental professionals, many of whom are in recovery and understand how hard can be to change your relationship with alcohol.
Simply reach out to our 24/7, confidential hotline on 0800 140 4690.
Another official study discovered that in 2020, there were around 20,470 alcohol-related deaths in England.
Moreover, 8,974 deaths of these deaths were due to alcohol-specific conditions, such as alcoholic liver disease, kidney failure, or cardiovascular disease.
Overall, this harrowing figure comprises 14 deaths per 100,000 UK adults.
This represents an 18.6% rise in the number of alcohol-specific deaths in 2019.
In addition to causing loss of life, alcohol addiction places a significant burden on public services such as emergency services and health care.
Many of these statistics come straight from our National Health Service: with 976,425 hospital admissions in 2019 related to alcohol-specific health complications.
This has a knock-on effect on the UK’s economy, with alcohol addiction costing the country around £21 billion per year.
After conducting a deeper dive into these figures, government reports found that of this figure, £11 billion is due to alcohol-related crime, and £3.5 billion goes to the NHS.
£7 billion is attributed to lost productivity through alcohol-related sickness and loss of work.
When it comes to recognising the signs and symptoms of alcoholism, The DSM-5 is among the most trusted clinical resources.
This descriptive text is frequently updated by leading psychiatrists in the field of addiction treatment, and now encompasses diagnostic criteria for over 300 mental illnesses.
The text offers an extensive list of conditions and symptoms that can help mental health professionals reach accurate diagnoses for alcohol use disorders.
At Rehab 4 Addiction, we offer free advice from a team of non-judgemental professionals, many of whom are in recovery and understand how hard can be to change your relationship with alcohol.
Simply reach out to our 24/7, confidential hotline on 0800 140 4690.
In addition to the criteria, information about alcohol addiction is given under the following headings:
At Rehab 4 Addiction, we offer free advice from a team of non-judgemental professionals, many of whom are in recovery and understand how hard can be to change your relationship with alcohol.
Simply reach out to our 24/7, confidential hotline on 0800 140 4690.
Within the clinical manual for substance use disorders, the signs and symptoms of alcoholism are encompassed by 11 criteria.
These characteristics should be consistently referred to when gauging a patient’s relationship with alcohol.
A clinician utilising the DSM-5 to identify the signs and symptoms of alcoholism will categorize their findings in one of four sections.
These are physical dependence (characterise by withdrawal), social issues (tumultuous relationships with others), impaired control (the inability to stop drinking) and risky use (Drinking high quantities or in dangerous scenarios).
While patients aligning with any symptoms are at risk of harbouring an addiction, health professionals will give them a score to indicate their exact severity.
For instance, identifying with 2 or 3 symptoms is often indicative of a mild alcohol use disorder, while any score upwards of 6 indicates a serious problem.
For those who have encountered the DSM-5 in a self-assessment format, it’s important to seek professional guidance if you’ve recognised any of the symptoms.
Reaching out to Rehab 4 Addiction either via email or phone is the first crucial step towards recovery for those experiencing the signs and symptoms of alcoholism.
At Rehab 4 Addiction, we offer free advice from a team of non-judgemental professionals, many of whom are in recovery and understand how hard can be to change your relationship with alcohol.
Simply reach out to our 24/7, confidential hotline on 0800 140 4690.
Of the signs and symptoms, one of the most tangible is noticing how much alcohol someone is drinking: whether this is yourself or a loved one.
To identify what qualified as hazardous amounts, drinking guidelines such as those provided by the NHS are useful tools allowing individuals to recognise problematic alcohol consumption.
According to the NHS guideline, updated in 2013 with The Chief Medical Officer’s advice, men and women should not drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week.
To make this more relatable, 1 unit of alcohol is equal to 10ml of pure alcohol, or half a pint of regular strength beer/one 125ml glass of wine.
However, it’s important to note that the advice not to drink more than 14 units each week aims to minimise, not remove, the risk of developing alcoholism and associated health problems.
Moreover, those already drinking around 14 units of alcohol in one week should spread their intake across 3 or more days to minimise liver damage.
Before 2016, the UK’s drinking texts were last edited in the 1990s and since then, various research has been undertaken to analyse alcohol’s potential health risks.
After taking these studies into account, the NHS made 2 key changes to their drinking guidelines.
Firstly, daily drinking advice was changed to a weekly guide to accommodate those who do not drink each day.
The first of these is a shift from daily drinking advice to weekly guidelines: accommodating the fact that not everyone drinks every day.
As such, following a weekly guideline helps more individuals keep track of their drinking, and know when to look out for the signs and symptoms of alcoholism.
The second major change made to NHS advice is that men and women now share the same low-risk drinking guideline.
Though historically, women have had an elevated risk of sustaining long-term health problems from alcohol, men are more susceptible to sustaining injury-related harm from alcohol.
It’s a widespread phenomenon for alcoholism and a second disorder to co-occur either simultaneously or sequentially.
While having a mental health illness doesn’t always lead to alcohol addiction and vice versa, it’s important to keep their possible co-existence in mind when looking for the signs and symptoms of alcoholism.
Co-occurring disorders, also known as comorbidity and dual diagnoses, can be debilitating and present challenges to someone’s well-being and ability to function normally.
While a variety of combinations have been known to occur, certain mental health conditions are more common among those showing the signs and symptoms.
These include bipolar, anxiety, major depression, and personality disorders.
Moreover, government reports discovered that in 2019, almost half of patients entering formal treatment for AUD had a comorbid mental health need.
As such, individuals starting to recognise the signs and symptoms in a loved one or themselves should take note of psychological indicators.
For those diagnosed with co-occuring disorders, their condition must be treated using an integrative, inpatient programme.
Oftentimes, individuals showing the signs and symptoms of alcoholism and a mental illness will have complex needs and an elevated risk of relapse.
It’s also crucial to seek the help of a professional who can ascertain whether an alcohol addiction preceded a mental illness or vice versa.
Prolonged alcohol use will disrupt the brain’s neurotransmitters and interfere with the hormonal equilibrium.
Both these processes are linked to the onset of most mental health illnesses: particularly anxiety.
Someone showing a few of the signs and symptoms may suddenly show similar signs to psychiatric symptoms.
When drinking heavily, the stress on the brain, (financial, relationship issues, etc.) often contributes to the continuation of alcohol-related issues such as anxiety or despair.
As such, it can be hard to decipher an independently occurring mental illness from an alcohol-induced disorder.
Fortunately, addressing comorbidity and curing the signs and symptoms of alcoholism and related mental illness is entirely possible.
The first step toward recovery is to undergo a formal diagnosis via a process called screening.
To book yours today or find help for a loved one, you can reach out to the team at Rehab 4 Addiction.
Battling the signs and symptoms in their myriad forms can be a lonely process, with recovery seeming inaccessible at times.
Whether you’re questioning your alcohol consumption or fearing for a loved one’s health, there is a range of resources you can utilise.
Whether it’s a self-administered test or a clinically-prescribed questionnaire, every person experiencing the signs and symptoms of alcoholism should use a diagnostic tool.
Screening tools can give clarity to those who are unsure about their relationship with alcohol or indicate the need for further treatment.
Despite this, it’s important not to view the following assessments as a formal diagnosis, but rather as a segway for further treatment.
If you’ve noticed the signs and symptoms in yourself, it’s important to contact a professional straight away.
At Rehab 4 Addiction, we offer free advice from a team of non-judgemental professionals, many of whom are in recovery and understand how hard can be to change your relationship with alcohol.
Simply reach out to our 24/7, confidential hotline on 0800 140 4690.
AUDIT is a 10-item evaluative tool developed by The World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1982 to understand more about AUD and help those in need of treatment.
It was developed to give clinicians a framework to intervene when an individual is engaging in harmful behaviours, and putting themselves or others at risk.
Utilising screening tools such as AUDIT is crucial to provide doctors and psychiatrists with information about alcohol use which may affect someone’s medications or other treatments.
But first and foremost, AUDIT is an effective way to get individuals the professional help that they need but may not have become aware of.
Implemented as either an oral interview or a written questionnaire, AUDIT consists of four questions focusing on consumption frequency, quantity, and social consequences. After completing the interview, subjects will receive a score based on the following criteria:
Drinkers who have reported at least one of the signs and symptoms of alcoholism will likely receive a score of 8 or lower.
This means that they should modify their behaviour and seek professional support.
However, those scoring 8 or more have an elevated risk of long-term health complications due to alcohol and should seek medical attention.
CAGE is a four-question screening tool that clinicians and psychiatrists use to help diagnose an alcohol use disorder.
Concerned individuals experiencing the signs and symptoms might be referred to the CAGE questionnaire as an initial test.
While it isn’t equivalent to a diagnosis, CAGE is a useful indicator of severity.
CAGE consists of four questions that investigate the signs and symptoms in a particular subject.
They create an acronym consisting of Cut-down, Annoyed, Guilty, and Eye-opener.
Individuals taking the CAGE test, whether at home or in a doctor’s office, will experience the same questions:
Each “yes” answer given is equivalent to scoring one point. Therefore, if an individual answers “no” to all four questions, they are given a score of 0 and deemed to have a minimal risk of developing AUD.
However, someone receiving 2 or 3 is advised to seek professional assistance: either in the form of their GP, a hospital, or the Rehab 4 Addiction hotline.
Individuals experiencing many of the signs and symptoms of alcoholism will typically score 3-4.
In these cases, they must seek treatment for their diagnosable AUD as soon as possible.
Used by clinicians to support their decision-making process, the ASAM Criteria is a set of guidelines regarding the referral, treatment, placement, and discharge of patients with AUD.
Those suffering from the signs and symptoms of alcoholism often encounter the ASAM criteria when they choose to seek help from a medical professional.
Once described as the ASAM patient placement criteria, the updated manual comes from a collaboration that began in the 1980s “to define one national set of criteria for providing outcome-oriented and results-based care in the treatment of addiction”.
When used in a clinical environment, the ASAM criteria utilise six key dimensions to determine the severity of someone’s alcohol dependency and decide the next steps of care.
These elements cover all bases: taking into account the emotional, physical, behavioural, and environmental facets of AUD.
During their biopsychosocial assessment, clinicians will cover the 6 ASAM dimensions, before scoring their patient with levels 1, 2, 3, or 4.
This is described as a “risk rating” to help medical professionals develop a personalised course of treatment.
The higher someone’s rating, the more consideration is given when formulating their recovery programme. The levels are as follows:
After their ASAM evaluation, patients are given one of the above levels based on what is deemed best for their unique alcohol addiction.
In almost all cases, patients assigned levels 3 or 4 will undergo treatment for the signs and symptoms of alcoholism at a residential facility.
At Rehab 4 Addiction, we offer free advice from a team of non-judgemental professionals, many of whom are in recovery and understand how hard can be to change your relationship with alcohol.
Simply reach out to our 24/7, confidential hotline on 0800 140 4690.
Unfortunately, adults aren’t the only age group susceptible to developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD).
An increasing number of teens in the UK are accessing alcohol for recreational use: unaware of the damaging long-term impacts the substance can have.
Before confronting the young person in question, the concerned loved ones of an addicted teen should take note of the signs and symptoms of alcoholism.
These will differ from the symptoms associated with problematic adult drinkers, as teenagers are often still within the family sphere.
Teenagers battling diagnosable AUD will often exhibit at least one of the signs and symptoms mentioned in the following list.
Noticing the emotional and physical red flags of alcohol dependence is the first step toward obtaining sustainable treatment for your teen.
After noticing any of the signs and symptoms of alcoholism, it’s essential to seek medical guidance and a comprehensive diagnosis.
Noticing a loved one’s negative pattern of alcohol use is often a worrying discovery to make.
Even if the signs and symptoms are laid bare for all to see, it’s often not obvious to the AUD victim.
They might be trapped in a state of denial: wherein they don’t recognise the signs and symptoms of alcoholism in themselves.
Alternately, they might be aware of their addiction but fear what life without alcohol might look like.
Whether an individual is battling one of these situations, or something completely different, the common denominator is that they refuse to seek treatment.
In these scenarios, the best action for Concerned Significant Others (CSOs) to take is to stage an intervention.
At Rehab 4 Addiction, we offer free advice from a team of non-judgemental professionals, many of whom are in recovery and understand how hard can be to change your relationship with alcohol.
Simply reach out to our 24/7, confidential hotline on 0800 140 4690.
Here at Rehab 4 Addiction, while our team cannot physically check someone into rehab, we can help you plan a formal intervention for your loved one, and put you in touch with a professional interventionist.
An interventionist is a mental health professional trained to facilitate optimal interventions and personalise the process according to each family.
With their help, a group of loved ones (including friends, family, and colleagues) will congregate to communicate with the addicted individual.
In a mediated, clinical environment, a non-confrontational discussion will take place to help the AUD victim come to terms with, and accept help for their addiction.
The friends and family of the addicted person will also communicate how they’ve been affected by the signs and symptoms of alcoholism. Their interventionist.
This will help them rehearse what they’d like to get across, educate them on addictive behaviours, and teach them how to communicate effectively.
Rather than argue with the addicted individual and become confrontational, a professional intervention must guide someone to seek treatment through valid arguments and examples of destructive behaviour.
To keep conversations mindful and participants sympathetically engaged, an intervention framework may be used.
One approach is known for emphasizing the well-being of friends and family close to the AUD victim: Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT Intervention).
Many professional interventionists favour CRAFT for its focus on counselling for the addicted individual and education for the family members.
Here in the UK, those who encounter the signs and symptoms of alcoholism can choose one of two modes of treatment: public or private rehabilitation.
Each type has its own set of positives and negatives and will be the optimal recovery route for different addicted individuals.
Most if not all UK residents will be aware of the NHS and the publicly funded treatment it offers.
As with other medical conditions, the NHS offer rehab programmes for alcohol use disorders.
Undoubtedly the biggest advantage of public treatment for addiction is its budget-friendly nature.
NHS care is free of charge at the point of entry, meaning that those who cannot afford private rehab can access effective treatment.
As outpatient programmes are less costly, it’s often the only form of treatment offered via the NHS.
Though residential care in public-funded rehab centres is offered in severe cases, the unmanageable cost makes them few and far between.
Therefore, the few inpatient programmes on the NHS have extensive waiting lists – a problem now affecting the majority of public-funded treatment.
Post-covid, the NHS has continued to suffer from budget cuts and decreased funding, alongside an increase in patients suffering from the signs and symptoms of alcoholism.
Those experiencing symptoms in their severe form should consider privately funded rehab.
Among its other benefits, taking this route toward recovery removes any waiting times: with clients receiving instant treatment.
In many cases, patients can begin their medicated alcohol detox within 24 hours of reaching out.
Furthermore, unlike underfunded NHS programmes, private clinics usually exclusively offer inpatient care.
At Rehab 4 Addiction, we offer free advice from a team of non-judgemental professionals, many of whom are in recovery and understand how hard can be to change your relationship with alcohol.
Simply reach out to our 24/7, confidential hotline on 0800 140 4690.
Clients will temporarily move into a leading treatment facility and remain there until being discharged.
This style of treatment has long been considered superior by experts treating the signs and symptoms of alcoholism.
This is because, by remaining on-site at their chosen clinic, patients avoid relapse triggers in the outside world and escape from environments/people that can harm their chances of recovery.
Furthermore, treatment participants at a privately found clinic will encounter personalised recovery programmes.
This means each one of their unique needs will be catered for: including the signs and symptoms of alcoholism personal to them.
Despite this, individuals already burdened by the signs and symptoms might also find themselves weighed down by the cost of private care.
Thankfully, a plethora of ways to reduce the financial burden exists: from payment plans to budget rehab centres.
Though high-end alcohol rehab clinics can cost around £8,000 per week of treatment, plenty of more affordable options exist in the UK: many of which are partnered with Rehab 4 Addiction.
The cost of a one-month residency in a mid-range clinic is around £8,000, while budget clinics are priced at about £1,000 per week.
Moreover, many of these clinics have formulated financial aid and various payment plans to make their services more affordable.
To find out more about the payment schemes offered, reach out to one of our friendly team members today.
At Rehab 4 Addiction, we offer free advice from a team of non-judgemental professionals, many of whom are in recovery and understand how hard can be to change your relationship with alcohol.
Simply reach out to our 24/7, confidential hotline on 0800 140 4690.
[1] Local Alcohol Profiles For England and Wales Local Alcohol Profiles for England – Data – OHID (phe.org.uk)
[2] Alcoholics Anonymous https://www.aa.org/
[3] Statistics on Alcohol, England 2021 Part 1: Alcohol-related hospital admissions – NHS Digital
[4] Alcohol-Specific Deaths in the UK: Registered in 2020 Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
[5] Rehab 4 Alcoholism: What is Alcohol Addiction? What is Alcohol Addiction? | Signs, Symptoms & Treatment (rehab4alcoholism.com)
[6] Alcohol Use Disorder: A Comparison Between DSM–IV and DSM–5 Alcohol Use Disorder: A Comparison Between DSM–IV and DSM–5 | National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) (nih.gov)
[7] Neurobiology of Alcohol and the Brain Neurobiology of Alcohol and the Brain – Ashok K Singh – Google Books
[8] Dynamic Pathways to Recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder: Meaning and Methods Dynamic Pathways to Recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder: Meaning and Methods – Google Books
[9] The Addiction Solution: Unravelling the Mysteries of Addiction Through Cutting-Edge Brain Science The Addiction Solution: Unraveling the Mysteries of Addiction through … – David Kipper, Steven Whitney – Google Books
[10] The CAGE questionnaire for alcohol misuse: a review of reliability and validity studies The CAGE questionnaire for alcohol misuse: a review of reliability and validity studies – PubMed (nih.gov)
[11] Adult Substance Misuse Treatment Statistics Adult substance misuse treatment statistics 2019 to 2020: report – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[12] 12 Step Facilitation Therapy https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/projectmatch/match01.pdf
[13] Alcohol consumption: advice on low-risk drinking Alcohol consumption: advice on low-risk drinking – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[14] The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery – Paul Thomas, M.D., Jennifer Margulis, PhD – Google Books
[15] The Risks of Drinking Too Much The risks of drinking too much – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
[16] Health Matters: Harmful Drinking and Alcohol Dependence https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-harmful-drinking-and-alcohol-dependence/health-matters-harmful-drinking-and-alcohol-dependence
