Practical Assessment of Alcohol Use Disorder Using the Alcohol Symptom Checklist

The Alcohol Symptom Checklist mirrors the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5 criteria and supports further assessing patients for an Alcohol Use Disorder if they score seven (7) or more on the AUDIT-C. It promotes patient engagement and enables you to learn more about a patient's relationship to alcohol rather than their level of alcohol use.

In your assessment, you'll discover the number of symptoms and if these symptoms are recurrent for the patient. This process will enable you to determine if symptoms meet the criteria for a Mild Alcohol Use Disorder (2-3 recurrent symptoms), a Moderate Alcohol Use Disorder (4-5 recurrent symptoms), or a Severe Alcohol Use Disorder (> 6 recurrent symptoms).

Based on a study in primary care, Sayre JGIM 2020, the relationship between an Alcohol Use Disorder increases substantially as the score of the AUDIT-C increases in correlation to the number of symptoms on the Alcohol Symptom Checklist