Most functional alcoholics are middle-aged (around 41) who started drinking around age 18. Unlike young adult alcoholics, antisocial alcoholics don’t drink socially with peers. Instead, antisocial alcoholics drink alone and typically struggle with co-occurring mental health problems. In the U.S., the young antisocial subtype comprises 21% of all alcoholics. The young antisocial alcoholic subtype starts drinking at 15 and develops an AUD around 18. Most young antisocial alcoholics are also male (about three-quarters of the group).
Young Adult Subtype
Many of these teens and early twenty-somethings are college students in environments that promote excessive social and binge drinking. Since heavy drinking among young people is often seen as a phase, most young adult alcoholics suffer without seeking help. Although you may suspect that you or someone you love may need help with alcohol use disorder, you might not think you need a treatment program to reduce drinking. Some people can quit cold turkey or taper their alcohol consumption without much difficulty. This is more likely if someone engages in alcohol misuse but hasn’t developed a dependence or addiction.
Type II alcoholics often exhibited a reverse personality profile, with low harm avoidance, high novelty seeking, and low reward dependence. This combination of traits also describes people with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) (Cloninger 1987b) and is consistent with findings that type II alcoholics frequently suffer from ASPD (Gilligan et al. 1988). In collecting the study data, the researchers made use of several characteristics of the Swedish social system that allow extensive data collection. In addition, extensive records exist documenting a person’s history of alcohol abuse. Each community has a so-called temperance board that enforces social sanctions for alcohol abuse (e.g., imposes fines) and orders and supervises alcoholism treatment. Thus, temperance board registries document how often a person has been cited or treated for alcohol abuse.
Intermediate Familial Alcoholic
- In 2013, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reported that of those who needed treatment and didn’t receive it, approximately 95.5 percent didn’t feel they needed it.
- The most common treatment options for people with the condition include the following listed below.
- People who fall into the young adult alcoholic subtype also rarely have a family history of alcoholism.
- In some of these studies, the researchers identified two alcoholic subtypes that corresponded to the type I and type II alcoholics in many characteristics but differed with respect to other characteristics.
No two alcoholics are the same, but it can be helpful to categorize people who struggle with their drinking to understand how to provide them with the support that they need to get well. The Recovery Village Atlanta provides robust treatment for those struggling with alcohol misuse. Our facility offers residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and medical detox programming. Reach out today and one of our Recovery Advocates can answer your questions what to do if you have been roofied and guide you through the admissions process. Boca Recovery Center is here to provide the best quality care in the treatment of drug and alcohol addiction.
A special treatment approach, known as dual diagnosis treatment, is required to help people achieve their recovery goals. 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 also have high rates of depression, bipolar disorder, social phobia, and obsessive compulsive disorder. This group also has the highest rates of other substance use disorders, including addiction to cigarettes, marijuana, meth, cocaine, and opioids.
Understanding the 6 Types of Alcoholism
Because alcoholism has been identified as a disease, determining the exact manifestation and severity gives addiction specialists a powerful tool that can shape more personalized and effective treatment. Just 1 out of 4 Intermediate Familial alcoholics ever seek professional treatment. As a group, they have a relatively low rate of dual diagnoses, fewer instances of familial alcoholism, and only rarely seek specialized treatment for their illness. But the NIAAA’s National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions indicates that just 25% of alcoholics ever receive any type of treatment. This means most alcoholics – and their subtypes – were never represented in earlier research. These folks may not have experienced the negative impacts of alcoholism yet, such as job loss, strained relationships or criminal charges.
Second, the adoptees and both their biological and adoptive parents were monitored for alcohol abuse and other related characteristics during their entire lifetimes. Previous studies usually had evaluated the birth parents only up to the time of adoption, when alcoholism and other behaviors may not yet have developed. In addition, those studies frequently lacked information about the birth fathers. Third, the study had used multiple data sources and efficient statistical methods to classify the subjects’ alcohol abuse and determine relevant characteristics of the adoptees’ genetic and environmental backgrounds.
Intermediate Familial Alcoholics
Understanding the various types of alcoholics helps tailor treatment and support to meet their specific needs and get help. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use disorder, please explore our comprehensive resources and inpatient and outpatient treatment options at Caron. If you have it, you should know that you are not alone and you are living with a chronic medical condition that needs proper management and treatment. Some research shows that up to 6.2% of the American population lives with this condition.
With acute alcohol withdrawal, more than 90% find themselves subservient to alcohol, despite the terrible physical and mental symptoms it causes. It’s likely that they continue to meet the demands of their environment and separate their drinking into a second area of their life. They are no less dependent on and addicted to their alcohol, they just hide it well.
