The proposed DSM-5 revision (http://www.dsm5.org) of the criteria for alcohol use disorders (AUD)represents a conceptual shift from the biaxial distinction between alcohol abuse and dependence to a unitary construct of AUD varying only in terms of severity. This shift was informed by studies supporting a single underlying latent AUD construct (Borges et al., 2010; Kahler and Strong, 2006: McBride et al., 2011; Saha et al., 2006; Smulewitz et al., 2010) and demonstrating that the DSM-IV abuse and dependence criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) were interspersed in terms of severity (Harford et al., 2009; Ray et al., 2008; Saha et al., 2006), by calls for dimensional as well as categorical representations of AUD (Helzer et al., 2006), and by evidence that abuse did not necessarily precede the incidence of dependence (Grant et al., 2009; Vérgeset al., 2010). In the DSM-5 revision, the criterion of alcohol-related legal problems was dropped because of its low prevalence and poor psychometric properties (Saha et al., 2006), and a new craving criterion was added, consistent with its inclusion in the International Classification of Disease criteria for
