The Different Types of Alcoholics

Understanding the Different Types of Alcoholics, the Signs of Alcohol Abuse, and Alcohol Addiction Treatment

Alcoholism can be a complicated and disastrous illness to treat, especially when you consider that every recovering addict requires their own personalized treatment plan in order to succeed. When it comes to treating and identifying an alcoholic, there are generally five different types of alcoholics, each with their own set of signs of alcohol abuse. There are different types of alcoholics, which we'll cover in a minute.

Types of Alcoholics: Young Adult

The first of these five types of alcoholics is the young adult type. The young adult type of alcoholic is by far the most prevalent and commonly observed. Out of all the young alcoholics, the young adult type makes up over thirty percent of them. So what exactly is a young adult type? This type of alcoholism generally starts around age twenty, and is a full fledged addiction by age twenty five. Generally speaking, this specific categorization tends to drink less than other alcoholics, drinking an average of one hundred and forty days out of the year. That being said, when they do drink, it tends to be binge drinking. Binge drinking is one of the major signs of alcohol abuse. It means drinking five or more drinks each time they do decide to drink. On average young adult types drink fourteen drinks each session.

What is perhaps scariest about young adult types is that fewer than nine percent of them ever decide to seek alcohol addiction treatment, meaning the majority of them live lives of quiet desperation.

Types of Alcoholics: Young Antisocial Adult

Similar to young adult types, the young antisocial subtype is generally around twenty five years of age. However, the young antisocial subtype, in addition to being dependant on alcohol, struggles with mental illness and prefers to drink alone. In addition to this, young antisocial alcoholics tend to have other alcoholics in their family. The young antisocial type has the highest average amount of drinks per session, seventeen, and the lowest income of any other alcoholic category type. Because of this, they are more likely to use criminal actions to keep a steady supply of alcohol. While this certainly isn't good news, it does have some benefit. Due to desperation, a much higher percentage, on average thirty five, tend to seek alcohol addiction treatment.

Types of Alcoholics: Functional Alcoholic

So-called functional alcoholics make up approximately twenty percent of all alcoholics. This category is, on average, significantly older than our first two categories, hence the distinction between young adults alcoholics and other categories. Functional alcoholics have an average age of forty one years, and generally drink every other day. The reason this category is referred to as functional alcoholics is due to the income, marriage, and employment statistics of the category. Research shows that almost sixty five percent of the people in this category hold a full-time workload, in addition to the ten percent that is either in school or retired. Almost thirty percent of the people in this category have a college degree or higher, and the average income of this type of alcoholic is sixty thousand a year, by far the highest of any of the types of alcoholics. Interestingly enough, research also shows that nearly fifty percent of this category is married. Unfortunately, on average only seventeen percent of this category of alcoholic will ever seek alcohol addiction treatment.

Types of Alcoholics: Intermediate Familial Alcoholics

Intermediate familial alcoholics are to functional alcoholics, the same way that young antisocial types are to young adult alcoholics. What I mean by this, is that the two groups are similar in all but a few key ways. Like functioning alcoholics, intermediate familial alcoholics have a high employment rate, are generally middle aged, and have a relatively high yearly income. Unlike functional alcoholics, intermediate familial alcoholics are the most likely to be influenced by family members who are also dependant on alcohol. In addition to this, familial alcohols are more likely to suffer from mental illness than similar types of alcoholics. Interestingly, about thirty eight percent of this category is married, while twenty one percent is divorced. This category is also more likely to develop dependencies on drugs in addition to alcohol, and only twenty seven percent seek alcohol addiction treatment on average.

Types of Alcoholics: Chronic Severe Alcoholics

Our last type of alcoholic is the most dangerous, but also the rarest, making up only nine percent of all alcoholics. This category covers adult alcoholics who consume alcohol nearly every day of the year on average, and binge drink on almost half of them. This is also the category in which substance abuse, such as marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs, is most common. In addition, mental illness is much more prevalent in chronic severe types than in any other category, with fifty five percent of chronic severe alcoholics suffering from depression. Unfortunately, this category also has the highest rate of emergency room visits, but thankfully nearly sixty seven percent of all chronic severe alcoholics seek alcohol addiction treatment, by far the highest of any of the types of alcoholics.

 

 

 

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