Are you or have you ever been a college binge drinker? Welcome
to alcoholism, a diagnosis your college self could qualify for
under the changes proposed to the next edition of psychiatry’s
diagnostic manual, the DSM-5. As the New York Times noted on
Saturday in an article that rapidly became one of the most
emailed, the DSM-5, short for the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders 5, will have just one diagnosis for
addiction problems, though they will be characterized as either
mild, moderate or severe. Currently, alcohol and other drug
problems come in two flavors. The first, “substance abuse” is a
short-term, self-limiting problem: it encompasses most heavy
drinking in college. The second “substance dependence,” is what
everyone else calls addiction or alcoholism and is typically
chronic and marked by relapses. Fortunately, the new diagnosis
will get rid of the confusing term “dependence” (physically
needing a drug to function isn’t actually addiction) and the
stigmatizing term “abuse.” Unfort