As a supervisor, you are responsible for confronting the employee. In most agencies, it is the employee relations or human resources specialist who actually prepares or drafts adverse or disciplinary action letters, sober house including those involving a firm choice. A firm choice is a clear warning to an employee who has raised alcohol or drug abuse in connection with a specific performance, conduct, or leave use incident or deficiency.

Social drinking or moderate alcohol consumption for many is pleasurable. After the initial treatment program, the employee may be in follow-up counseling and treatment for an extended period of time, possibly up to a year. This will most likely consist of outpatient counseling, AA meetings, and follow-up sessions with the EAP counselor. The booklet is not intended to cover, in detail, all the various aspects of alcoholism and alcohol abuse but to give you enough information to understand and recognize the problems and know where to go to get assistance. See the Appendix for more detailed information regarding alcoholism.

What is the outlook for people with alcohol use disorder?

As mentioned above, the DSM-5 says an AUD diagnosis requires at least 2 of the 11 symptoms of alcoholism listed above to have occurred within the previous 12 months. The more familiar term “alcoholism” may be used to describe a severe form of AUD, but physicians, researchers, and others in the medical community tend not to use the word. Alcohol is one of the world’s largest risk factors for premature death.

The EAP counselor can help devise a strategy for confronting the employee and advise on techniques of addressing the problems. It is generally a good practice to notify any employee who is being counseled for a performance or conduct problem about the availability of the EAP. However, it is crucial to make a referral to the EAP in the case of an employee with a known alcohol problem. Although you are not diagnosing the problem, you are dealing with employee performance and conduct and, possibly, alcohol-related misconduct such as using, possessing, or being under the influence of alcohol at work. However, in some cases, the employee will be referred by you because you have noted a decline in the employee’s conduct, attendance, or performance and/or seen actual evidence of alcohol use or impairment at work.

How can I prevent alcohol use disorder?

This pressure may come from family, friends, clergy, other health care professionals, law enforcement or judicial authorities, or the employer. For example, a spouse may threaten divorce, or the alcoholic may be arrested for driving under the influence. The alcoholic simply loses his or her ability to limit his or her drinking to socially acceptable times, patterns, and places.

This is available from a range of support groups and professional services. The first step toward recovery is to acknowledge that there is an alcohol dependency problem. Heavy regular drinking can seriously affect a person’s ability to coordinate their muscles and speak properly. The criteria include having a pattern of consumption that leads to considerable impairment or distress. Alcohol dependence can take from a few years to several decades to develop. For some people who are particularly vulnerable, it can happen within months.

Moderate drinking

However, their alcohol use is still self-destructive and dangerous to themselves or others. In addition, enforcing drink driving countermeasures and securing access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment are effective and ethically sound interventions. The most cost-effective interventions are at the focus of WHO-led SAFER initiative aimed at providing support for Member States in reducing the harmful use of alcohol.

• There are several treatment options available for AUD, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
• Psilocybin (aka ‘magic mushrooms’) plus supportive therapy has shown promise in the past for treating other mental health conditions too, such as depression…
• People with alcohol use disorders drink to excess, endangering both themselves and others.
• As far as the Government as an employer is concerned, an employee’s decision to drink is that individual’s personal business.

The DSM is a guide that describes and classifies mental disorders, published and updated regularly by the American Psychiatric Association and used as a tool by medical professionals. In South Africa and Papua New Guinea more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption. Globally, 107 million people are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder. This breakdown can be viewed by gender for any country here; 70 percent globally (75 million) were male relative to 32 million females.