If you are in crisis, call or text 988. In an emergency, call 911.
If you drink heavily every day, do not stop suddenly without medical advice. Alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous and even life-threatening (NIAAA). Talk to a medical provider before you quit.
If you are asking “Am I an alcoholic?” or “Do I have a drinking problem?”, you are not alone. Asking is a good sign. It means you are paying attention to how alcohol fits into your life.
This free quiz can help you look at your drinking more clearly. It uses the 10 questions of the AUDIT, short for Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. The World Health Organization (WHO) created the AUDIT. Doctors and nurses around the world use it to check for risky drinking.
The quiz takes about 2 to 3 minutes. Think about the past year as you answer. When you finish, you will see your score, what it may mean and some next steps.
A quick note on words. Many people search for the word “alcoholic.” Doctors now use the term alcohol use disorder, or AUD. It is a medical condition, not a personal failure, and it can be mild, moderate or severe (NIAAA). A person is always more than their drinking.
Your answers are private. The quiz runs only in your web browser. Nothing you choose is sent to us or saved.
Please read first: This self-check is for education only. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace an evaluation by a licensed professional. Your answers stay in your browser. We do not see, save or send them. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 in an emergency.
Some questions ask how many drinks you have. In the United States, one standard drink has about 14 grams of pure alcohol (NIAAA). That is about:
A large pour or a strong craft beer can count as more than one drink.
Ready? There are 10 questions, one at a time. You can go back and change an answer at any point. Your answers stay on this device and are cleared when you leave or retake the quiz.
For each question, choose the one answer that fits you most closely.
Your result will show here when you finish. Each range below is a general guide, not a diagnosis.
Your answers fall in the lower-risk range. That is good news. Still, no amount of alcohol is completely risk-free. The WHO advises not drinking at all in some cases, such as when you drive or use machines, when you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, or when you take certain medicines.
If you want to learn more about your drinking or ways to cut back, visit Rethinking Drinking from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). If something about your drinking still worries you, trust that feeling. You can talk it through with our team.
Your answers suggest your drinking may be affecting your health or life. The WHO says scores in this range are a good time for advice on cutting back. Many people in this range can make changes with the right information and support.
A good first step is to talk with your doctor about your drinking. If you have tried to cut back and it has been hard, an outpatient program may help. At Southeastern Recovery Center, our intensive outpatient program (IOP) meets three sessions a week, with day or evening options, for about 60 to 90 days. You live at home while you get care.
Your answers suggest your drinking may be affecting your health or life, and your score is in a higher-risk range. The WHO suggests counseling and follow-up for scores in this range, and a fuller evaluation if things don’t improve.
Please talk with a doctor or an addiction professional about what you are going through. Depending on your needs, care may start with our IOP or with our partial hospitalization program (PHP). PHP gives more structure, with treatment most of the day while you live at home.
If you drink heavily every day, do not stop suddenly without medical advice. Withdrawal can be dangerous.
Your score is in the highest range. For scores of 20 or more, the WHO recommends a full evaluation by a specialist. This quiz can’t diagnose you. But your answers are a strong sign that it is time to talk with a professional.
Please do not stop drinking suddenly without medical advice. When a person who has been drinking heavily for a long time stops all at once, withdrawal can be painful or even life-threatening (NIAAA). Medical detox can help you get through it safely.
If you need detox, our team helps you get it through our partner detox facilities. After detox, most people start our PHP, usually for about 30 days, and then step down to IOP. You don’t have to plan all of this alone. We can walk you through it.
Some of your answers point to signs the WHO says are worth a closer look, even when the total score is lower. These include trouble stopping once you start, missing things you were expected to do, needing a drink in the morning, an injury linked to drinking, or someone close to you being worried. It may help to talk with a doctor or our team about what you noticed.
Talk it through with our team: (704) 703-7774
We work with many major insurance plans; call to verify your benefits. Detox/Rehab May Be Fully Covered: check your insurance.
Taking this for someone else? This quiz is meant for you to answer about yourself. If you are worried about a loved one’s drinking or drug use, try our guide for family members instead.
This self-check is for education only. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace an evaluation by a licensed professional. Your answers stay in your browser. We do not see, save or send them. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 in an emergency.
Source: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Self-Report Version, from Babor TF, Higgins-Biddle JC, Saunders JB, Monteiro MG. AUDIT: Guidelines for Use in Primary Care, 2nd ed. World Health Organization, 2001. As a WHO-approved instrument, the AUDIT is in the public domain.
Each answer has a point value. You add them up for a total score from 0 to 40.
The WHO manual groups scores into four zones:
| Total score | Zone | What the WHO suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 7 | Zone I | Alcohol education |
| 8 to 15 | Zone II | Simple advice |
| 16 to 19 | Zone III | Simple advice plus brief counseling and continued monitoring |
| 20 to 40 | Zone IV | Referral to a specialist for diagnostic evaluation and treatment |
The WHO notes that cutoffs can vary a little by country and drink size. A health care provider will also look at your full history, not just a number (WHO AUDIT manual).
The AUDIT is a 10-question screening tool. The WHO first published it in 1989 after a study in six countries (Saunders et al., 1993). Today it is one of the most widely used alcohol screening tools in the world, and it comes in about 40 languages (auditscreen.org).
The questions look at three areas:
A screening tool is like a smoke detector. It tells you when something may need a closer look. It does not tell you exactly what is going on.
Only a licensed professional can diagnose alcohol use disorder. They ask about your health, your history and how drinking affects your life. A high score does not mean something is wrong with you as a person. A low score does not mean you have to ignore a worry. Either way, the most useful next step is an honest talk with someone you trust.
Numbers are only part of the picture. You may also notice changes in your mood, your sleep, your work or your relationships. Some people feel they need more alcohol to get the same effect. Others drink to cope with stress or hard feelings.
To learn more, read what the 10 signs of alcohol use disorder can look like or how long it takes for drinking to become a problem.
You may have heard of the CAGE questions, a short set of four yes-or-no questions. There is also the AUDIT-C, which uses the first three AUDIT questions. These tools can be helpful, but the full 10-question AUDIT looks at more areas of drinking. If you need an official alcohol assessment, for example for a court or a DWI, that is a different process done by a professional. You can read about alcohol assessments in North Carolina.
For many people, cutting back is safe. But if you drink heavily every day, stopping all at once can cause withdrawal. Withdrawal can include trouble sleeping, shakiness, sweating, a racing heart and, in some cases, seizures. People with severe AUD may need medical help to stop safely (NIAAA). Talk to a doctor before you quit.
Substance use disorders are treatable, and people do recover (NIDA). Most people with AUD can benefit from some form of treatment. No single treatment is right for everyone, so care should fit the person (NIAAA).
At Southeastern Recovery Center in Concord, in the Charlotte area, care usually follows these steps:
We also offer naltrexone for alcohol use disorder, as a daily pill or as Vivitrol, a shot given once a month. Naltrexone can help lower cravings and how much a person drinks, and it is used along with counseling, so ask our team if it may be right for you (SAMHSA).
Learn more about our rehab for alcohol and our outpatient rehab in Charlotte.
We work with many major insurance plans; call to verify your benefits.
You can also call the free, confidential SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357, any time, day or night.
No. This quiz is a screening tool for education only. It can show whether your drinking may be risky, but only a licensed professional can diagnose alcohol use disorder. If your score worries you, talk with a doctor or call our team.
The AUDIT is a 10-question alcohol screening tool from the World Health Organization. It asks about how much you drink, signs of dependence and problems linked to drinking. Scores range from 0 to 40. Health care providers around the world use it.
There is no single number that means you have a problem. In the WHO manual, a score of 8 or more suggests risky or harmful drinking. A score of 20 or more means a full evaluation by a specialist is recommended. A professional will look at your whole history, not just your score.
Yes. The quiz runs only in your web browser. We do not see, save or send your answers or your score. Nothing is stored after you leave the page, and we never ask for your name, email or phone number to see results.
It depends on how much and how often you drink. If you drink heavily every day, stopping suddenly can cause withdrawal, which can be dangerous. Talk to a medical provider before you quit. Medical detox can help you stop safely.
You talk with someone on our admissions team. They listen, answer your questions and help you think through options. If treatment makes sense, they explain the next steps and can help check your insurance. There is no pressure to decide anything on the call.
David Stern, MD is the Medical Director at Southeastern Recovery Center. He is board certified in addiction medicine and holds an active North Carolina medical license. He earned his medical degree from Columbia University and has more than 40 years in practice.