Drinking Assessment Quiz
(excerpted from "Almost Alcoholic," copyright 2012, by Robert Doyle, MD, and Joseph Nowinski, PhD)
1. How often do you have a drink containing alcohol?
___Never (0)
___Once a month or less (1)
___Two to four times a month (2)
___Two or three times a week (3)
___Four or more times a week (4)
2. How many drinks containing alcohol do you have on a typical day when you are drinking?
___1 or 2 (0)
___3 or4 (1)
___5 or 6 (2)
___7 to 9 (3)
___10 or more (4)
3. How often do you have six or more drinks on one occasion?
___Never (0)
___Less than once a month (1)
___Monthly (2)
___Two or three times a week (3)
___Four or more times a week (4)
4. How often during the last year have you found that you were not able to stop drinking once you had started?
___Never (0)
___Less than once a month (1)
___Monthly (2)
___Two or three times a week (3)
___Four or more times a week (4)
5. How often during the last year have you failed to do what was normally expected from you because of drinking?
___Never (0)
___Less than once a month (1)
___Monthly (2)
___Two or three times a week (3)
___Four or more times a week (4)
6. How often during the last year have you needed a first drink in the morning to get yourself going after a heavy drinking session?
___Never (0)
___Less than once a month (1)
___Monthly (2)
___Two or three times a week (3)
___Four or more times a week (4)
7. How often during the last year have you had a feeling of guilt or remorse after drinking?
___Never (0)
___Less than once a month (1)
___Monthly (2)
___Two or three times a week (3)
___Four or more times a week (4)
8. How often during the last year have you been unable to remember what happened the night before because you had been drinking?
___Never (0)
___Less than once a month (1)
___Monthly (2)
___Two or three times a week (3)
___Four or more times a week (4)
9. Have you or someone else been injured as a result of your drinking?
___No (0)
___Yes, but not in the last year (2)
___Yes, during the last year (4)
10. Has a relative, a friend, a doctor, or another health care worker expressed concern about your drinking and suggest you cut down?
___No (0)
___Yes, but not in the last year (2)
___Yes, during the last year (4)
YOUR TOTAL SCORE:_______________________
HOW TO ASSESS YOUR SCORE (from the authors):
If we think of drinking as existing along a spectrum that includes the gray zone of almost alcoholic drinking which falls between the two most commonly recognized categories-social drinking and alcoholism--it’s easy to see how your score on the quiz can place you somewhere in our diagram of the drinking world.
Naturally, those who do not drink at all would not occupy a place on this spectrum.
Normal social drinkers include those with scores no higher than 8.
From there we enter that zone that lies between normal social drinking and alcoholism. That zone is fairly wide-in other words, not all almost alcoholics are the same. However, the further into the zone a person goes, the more likely he or she will begin to show symptoms associated with alcohol dependence.
Scores of 30 or higher certainly place a person at risk for these symptoms.
Find out more about the book, "Almost Alcoholic," by visiting the publisher's website.
You can also listen to WCPN's story on "Almost Alcoholic."