I’VE had a few people write in to tell me that their alcohol use hasn’t really cut down since the typically holiday increase; that they are having a hard time “catching themselves.”
Today I have attached The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) that is used in clinical settings to determine whether someone is abusing alcohol.

Please think of only the last two months when answering.

Questions 0 1 2 3 4 1. How often do you have a drink containing alcohol? Never Monthly
Or less 2- 4 times a month 2-3 times a week 4 or more times a week 2. How many drinks containing alcohol do you have on a typical day when you are drinking?
1 or 2
3 or 4
5 or 6
7-9
10 or more 3. How often do you have six or more drinks on one occasion? Never Less than
monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily 4. How often during the last two months have you found that you were not able to stop drinking daily once you had started? Never Less than
monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily 5. How often during the last two months have you failed to do what was normally expected of you because of drinking? Never Less than
monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily 6. How often during the last two months have you had a feeling of guilt or remorse after drinking? Never Less than
monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily 7. How often during the last two months have you been unable to remember what happened the night before because of your drinking? Never Less than monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily 8. How often in the last two months have you been unable to remember what happened the night before because of your drinking? Never Less than monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily 9. Have you or someone else been injured because of your drinking? No Yes but not in the last year Yes but not in the last year 10. Has a relative, friend, doctor or other health care worker been concerned about your drinking or suggested you cut down? No Yes but not in the last year Yes but not in the last year To grade this is very simple. On the top box, where it says “Questions”, there are numbers 0-4. Those are points that you will add up.
For example, for the first question,  1. How often do you have a drink containing alcohol?- if the answer is ’monthly or less’, it will be 1 point, if the answer is ‘4 or more times a week’, it will be 4 points. You add up all your points to each question at the end.

The results are as follows

0 to 7 points: Low risk 8 to 15 points: Medium risk 16 to 19 points: High risk 20 to 40 points: Addiction likely  I would love you to all take the test to see where you fall on the spectrum.
Thank you for participating. If you would like me to speak about any topic, please continue to email caitlinvieira@gmail.com If you would like to book a private counselling session with me, please whatsapp or message 623 0433