Combining alcohol with certain medications, particularly those with sedative effects, can increase the risk of adverse events, including falls, driving accidents, and fatal overdoses.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
With a brief intervention, you can help patients who drink too much to cut back or quit alcohol use as needed.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Takeaways You can maximize patient choice and outcomes by offering a full menu of evidence-based treatment options. Approaches for treating alcohol use disorder (AUD) include behavioral health treatments, FDA-approved AUD medications, and mutual support groups, or a combination of any of these. Behavioral health treatments for AUD can bring lasting positive change.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
For some patients, alcohol treatment referral may not be a single event but instead part of an ongoing process of engagement. You can help patients surmount barriers to following through on a treatment referral by countering the effects of stigma, conveying that treatment can be effective, and offering a range of choices for care.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as “a problematic pattern of alcohol use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress,” and is diagnosed as mild, moderate, or severe based on the number of symptoms, out of a possible 11, in the past 12 months.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Drinking in Moderation: According to the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture, adults of legal drinking age can choose not to drink or to drink in moderation by limiting intake to 2 drinks or less in a day for men and 1 drink or less in a day for women, when alcohol is consumed. Drinking less is better for health than drinking more.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Alcohol is dually reinforcing because it can both activate the brain’s reward processing system that mediates pleasure and reduce the activity of the brain’s systems that mediate negative emotional states such as stress, anxiety, and emotional pain. Repeated, excessive use of alcohol can lead to the development of addiction, which is associated with reduced reward function and increased activation of brain stress systems. The process of becoming addicted is thus accompanied by a shift in ...| www.niaaa.nih.gov