Should we promote alcohol problems as a continuum? Implications for policy and practice

The highly heterogeneous nature of alcohol use and problems has presented significant challenges to those attempting to understand, treat or prevent what is commonly termed alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, any attempts to capture this complex phenomenon, including the various current criterion of AUD, come with a number of limitations. One particular limitation has been how alcohol problems are represented or
understood in ways which do not capture the broad spectrum of alcohol use and harms and the many potential routes to prevention, treatment, and recovery. One possible response to this has been proposed as more explicitly framing or conceptualizing a continuum model of alcohol use and harms. In this commentary, we attempt to identify the key implications of a continuum model for policy and practice, examining the
historical and current context of alcohol problem classifications and models. We argue a continuum model of alcohol use and problems holds a number of advantages for advancing public health goals, but also some potential limitations, both of which require further examination.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy on 1 March 2023, available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/