There is no line you either have or have not crossed. What exists is a range, and you can place yourself on it tonight with two things: your weekly units, and the ten-question AUDIT the NHS uses. A score of 8 or more means increasing risk. Twenty or more means some level of dependence is likely. Neither result is a name for you.
Why this page will not call you anything
Most searches on this land on a quiz that ends in a verdict. That framing is the reason a lot of people never check at all, because the only two available outcomes are "you are fine" and a word they cannot say about themselves.
Drinking sits on a continuum. Somebody at the low-risk end and somebody who is physically dependent are not two species. They are two points, and the point you are at today is a fact about this year rather than a fact about your character. The useful question is not what you are. It is what you are at risk of, and what to do about it this week.
Step one, count it honestly
This part decides everything else, and almost everyone gets it wrong downwards. Home measures are bigger than a pub optic, and a glass topped up twice gets remembered as one glass.
[One unit is 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/calculating-alcohol-units/). By NHS reckoning:
- A 175ml glass of 12% wine is 2.1 units.
- A 750ml bottle of 13.5% wine is 10 units.
- A pint of 5.2% beer is 3 units.
The UK guideline is not more than 14 units a week on a regular basis, spread over three or more days. So a bottle of wine most nights is somewhere near 70 units a week, and four pints on a Friday and a Saturday is around 24.
Write down last week. Not a typical week. Last week, with the Tuesday you had forgotten and the two at lunch.
Step two, the score the NHS works from
The AUDIT is a ten-question tool used across UK services. It asks about how much and how often you drink, whether you have found yourself unable to stop once you started, whether you have needed a drink in the morning, whether you have felt guilt, whether you have forgotten things, whether anyone has been injured, and whether anyone has raised concern. A service will run it with you and score it properly, which is worth doing rather than guessing.
The bands are published, and they are the useful part:
| Score | What it means | |---|---| | 0 to 7 | Does not significantly increase lifetime risk | | 8 to 15 | Increasing risk | | 16 to 19 | Higher lifetime risk | | 20 or more | Likely to have at least some level of alcohol dependence |
The shorter AUDIT-C uses the first three questions only. A score of 5 or more on it should trigger the full AUDIT. ([GOV.UK, clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/clinical-guidelines-for-alcohol-treatment/3-identification-and-brief-interventions))
Notice what is not in there. Nowhere does it ask whether you drink in the day, whether you have lost a job, or whether you drink alone. Those are the stereotypes people measure themselves against, and they let a lot of heavy drinkers off the hook for years.
Step three, the question that outranks the score
Before anything else, answer this one. In the mornings after a heavy stretch, do you feel shaky, sweaty or sick, and does a drink settle it?
If the answer is yes, that is a physical dependence question and it changes your next move completely. Stopping suddenly can be dangerous. The NHS is direct about it: ["It can be very dangerous to stop drinking suddenly if you're dependent on alcohol."](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alcohol-misuse/treatment/) Speak to a GP or a free alcohol service before you change anything, and read [how to stop drinking safely](/guides/alcohol/how-to-stop-drinking) first.
Call 999 if you ever get ["severe symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, including: hallucinations, severe tremors, seizures or fits"](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/alcohol-support/).
What each answer points to
**Under 14 units, no morning symptoms, nothing you are hiding.** You are probably here because something else worried you. Keep the count for a fortnight anyway. A number on paper is harder to argue with than a memory.
**8 to 15 on the AUDIT, or regularly over 14 units.** This is the range where small, unglamorous changes still work well: drink-free days written into the week, no drinking at home alone, a hard stop time. Tell one person what you are trying, because a private plan is a plan you can quietly cancel.
**16 to 19.** Worth a GP conversation, and worth being accurate in it. Say the real number. The amount is what decides whether you are offered brief advice, a referral, or medication.
**20 or more, or any morning shakes.** Do not stop on your own first. Ring a GP or self-refer to a free local alcohol service, and say plainly what you drink daily.
The checks the score does not cover
Two people can score the same and be in very different trouble. These questions catch the difference.
- Have you tried to cut down and not managed it, more than once?
- Do you plan your day around when you can drink?
- Does anyone get a different version of the amount than the true one?
- Has drinking cost you something specific this year: money, a morning, a relationship, a promise you did not keep?
- When you imagine a fortnight without it, what is the feeling? Mild inconvenience, or something closer to dread?
Dread is information. It is not a diagnosis, and it is not a reason to panic, but it is the answer most worth taking seriously.
If you already know that stopping at one is the part that defeats you, [why one drink turns into six](/guides/alcohol/why-one-drink-turns-into-six) is about that specific mechanism rather than about totals.
Where to check with a person instead
You do not have to arrive at a conclusion alone. We Are With You offers ["free and confidential support to adults and young people facing challenges with drugs, alcohol and mental health"](https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/help-and-advice/) across England and Scotland, including a webchat if a phone call is too much. Drinkline is 0300 123 1110, weekdays 9am to 8pm and weekends 11am to 4pm. Samaritans is 116 123 at any hour, and you do not have to be in crisis to ring them.
Keeping the count somewhere you cannot edit after the fact helps more than most people expect. That is one of the things [the recovery side of Renovyn](/my-recovery) does. It counts and it reminds. It does not assess you, and it is no substitute for the GP appointment.
Common questions
**Am I an alcoholic if I drink every night?** Drinking every night puts you well over the 14 unit guideline for most measures, which is a risk fact. It is not the same as dependence, which turns on withdrawal symptoms and loss of control rather than frequency. A GP can tell you which one you are looking at in a single conversation, and you do not need to use the word to get help.
**What is a safe amount of alcohol?** The UK guideline is not more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days, which is roughly six pints of average-strength beer or a bottle and a half of wine. That is a low-risk level rather than a no-risk one.
**Can I be dependent without drinking in the morning?** Yes. Morning drinking is a strong signal, not a requirement. Repeated failed attempts to cut down, planning your day around drinking, and needing more than you used to for the same effect all point the same way.
**I scored high but I function fine at work. Does that count?** It counts. Holding a job down is not evidence against a problem, it is evidence that the problem has not reached that part of your life yet. The AUDIT bands were built to catch people well before anything visible goes wrong.
**What happens if I tell a GP the real number?** They ask more questions, and the answer decides the route: brief advice, a referral to a local service, or a medically supported withdrawal if you are physically dependent. It is a routine appointment. Nothing about it obliges you to stop that day.
Sources
- [GOV.UK, UK clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment, identification and brief interventions](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/clinical-guidelines-for-alcohol-treatment/3-identification-and-brief-interventions), for the AUDIT bands and the AUDIT-C threshold of 5.
- [NHS, Calculating alcohol units](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/calculating-alcohol-units/), for one unit being 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol and the drink-by-drink figures.
- [NHS, Alcohol misuse treatment](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alcohol-misuse/treatment/), for the danger of stopping suddenly when dependent.
- [NHS, Alcohol support](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/alcohol-support/), for the withdrawal symptoms that mean calling 999 and the Drinkline hours.
