What are the Five Types of Alcoholism?

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), chronic alcohol abuse can damage nearly every organ system in the body, including the liver, heart, and brain. Conditions such as liver cirrhosis, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive impairments are common among individuals with long-standing alcoholism. The Young Adult Alcoholic subtype encompasses individuals typically in their late teens to early 20s, making up the largest portion of those with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). This group is characterized by episodic heavy drinking, often integrated into social activities and perceived as a normative behavior among peers. Despite the high prevalence of alcohol consumption within this subgroup, members do not usually exhibit a daily drinking pattern but rather engage in binge drinking episodes that significantly exceed safe drinking levels.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) publishes that co-occurring mental health disorders and addiction are common, as about 8 million adults in America battled both in 2014. As this review has outlined, throughout the past 150 years, researchers and clinicians have developed numerous typological classifications of alcoholism. These classifications have distinguished alcoholism subtypes https://ecosoberhouse.com/ based on a multitude of defining characteristics, including drinking patterns, consequences of drinking, personality characteristics, and coexisting psychiatric disorders. Despite the variety of determining factors and manifestations of alcoholism and despite the inconsistencies in nomenclature, however, both clinical observation and empirical research indicate that the heterogeneity among alcoholics is not random.

What is a Young Antisocial Alcoholic?

Until the 1960’s, typology theory—including Jellinek’s work—was guided primarily by armchair intuition and clinical observation. With the development of better measurement techniques and research methods, however, empirical research on typologies gained momentum. Several studies using this approach indicated that alcoholic subtypes defined by single dimensions could indeed be differentiated in predictable ways on a variety of other dimensions (see Babor and Dolinsky types of alcoholics 1988). The study also demonstrated, however, that various typological criteria other than gender—such as psychopathology, sex-linked physiological characteristics, and socially defined gender roles—could better explain these differences. This group tends to start drinking at the youngest age (around 15) and also develops an alcohol dependence at the earliest age (around 18). More than 50% of this group have traits of antisocial personality disorder.

They typically start drinking early and quickly become dependent on alcohol, often by their late teens or early 20s. This group is characterized by a high level of antisocial behaviors and a significant prevalence of co-occurring mental health issues like antisocial personality disorder, anxiety, and depression. They are also more likely to use other substances such as cannabis, tobacco, and cocaine. The functional alcoholic subtype accounts for about 19% of alcoholics and includes individuals in their early ‘40s. They start drinking around 18 years old but develop alcohol dependence later in life around the age of 37. This type of alcoholic can balance their personal and professional responsibilities while living with addiction.

What are the 5 Different Types of Alcoholics?

The two subtypes identified in this typology are called type I (milieu-limited) and type II (male-limited) alcoholism. Young adult alcoholics are the biggest subtype of alcoholics in the United States. These drinkers are about 24 years old, and their alcohol dependence started relatively early, around the age of 19. Young adult alcoholics also have low rates of co-occurring substance abuse and mental disorders and low rates of family alcoholism.