Since the conceptualization of the alcohol dependence syndrome (Edwards and Gross, 1976), in which alcohol problems were characterized as lying along a continuum of severity, clinicians and researchers have recognized that continuous scales of alcohol problem severity offer more information than dichotomous diagnostic measures such as alcohol abuse, harmful use, and alcohol dependence. At the lower end of their values, severity scales help to distinguish risk levels among individuals who do not yet meet the clinical criteria for an alcohol use disorder (AUD), identifying those for whom some sort of brief intervention may forestall the development of an AUD. At the upper end of their values, severity scales may help to determine the need for specific types of treatment, and they also offer a metric with which treatment progress and/or AUD progression can be monitored.
