Alcohol Use Disorder

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is the current medical term for what most people call alcohol addiction or alcoholism. It comes from the DSM-5, the American diagnostic manual published by the American Psychiatric Association, and is mirrored in the ICD-11, the WHO’s international classification system in effect since 2022.

If you see this term in a medical record, a treatment report, or a referral letter — this is what it means.

What’s behind the term #

Alcohol Use Disorder is the alcohol-specific form of the broader Substance Use Disorder. The key difference from the older terminology: the previous split between “alcohol abuse” and “alcohol dependence” has been dropped. In its place is a single diagnosis with three levels of severity — mild, moderate, and severe — depending on how many of eleven diagnostic criteria are met.

Those criteria include tolerance (the same amount of alcohol producing less and less effect), withdrawal symptomswhen cutting back, repeated failed attempts to reduce consumption, persistent craving, and neglecting important areas of life in favor of drinking. Just two criteria are enough for a diagnosis.

What this means in practice #

The shift to a spectrum model has a real practical upside: early intervention becomes medically meaningful before severe dependence sets in. Someone seeking help at an early stage isn’t overreacting — they’re doing exactly the right thing.

Behind the diagnosis are concrete processes in the brain. Alcohol reshapes the reward system, triggers neuroadaptation, and leaves traces that can remain active long after drinking stops. Relapse is therefore not a moral failure but a biologically well-understood risk.

What about “addiction” and “alcoholic”? #

Neither term is officially medical anymore — but both remain accurate and universally understood in everyday language. We use them throughout this site because they say what they mean. “Alcohol Use Disorder” is what shows up in the doctor’s office. Knowing both doesn’t hurt.

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