Different definitions of alcoholism, II: A pilot study of 10 definitions in a treatment setting

The authors have developed the Alcohol Poly-Diagnostic Interview, which permits the operationalization of the 10 leading definitions of alcoholism used in the United States and Europe. In a pilot study of 23 patients in an outpatient alcohol treatment facility, all patients were identified as alcoholic by seven of the diagnostic schemes; the other three diagnostic schemes identified at least 78% of the patients as alcoholic. The authors also found that the Diagnostic Interview Schedule was sensitive to the diagnosis of alcoholism among treated patients. This approach should facilitate further research into the relationship among various definitions of alcoholism and studies of their validity.