Drinking Too Much? Take A Closer Look with Free Screening at RIA

Explore how alcohol affects you or someone you love at free, anonymous screenings to be offered at UB's Research Institute on Addictions on April 6.

Part of the Second Annual National Alcohol Screening Day, the free screenings will be held at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the Clinical Research Center, 1021 Main St.

National Alcohol Screening Day, being held in April as part of Alcohol Awareness Month, is a program of the National Mental Illness Screening Project and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. National Alcohol Screening Day will be held at 2,000 screening sites across the country, including hospitals, alcohol and addiction treatment centers, and colleges.

"For this event, participants will be given the 10-question Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)," according to RIA's Paul R. Stasiewicz, Ph.D. "The AUDIT is a screening instrument that was developed by the World Health Organization and is useful in identifying individuals with alcohol problems. We hope to raise public awareness of alcoholism, alert people to the services we have available, and encourage them to see the consequences of alcohol problems on all aspects of life."

National Alcohol Screening Day is aimed at educating the public about alcohol problems and offering those who may be struggling a way to seek help. Based on the model used for the successful National Depression Screening Day, the program aims to help people in a way that is non-threatening, easily accessible, and offers a direct connection with treatment available in the local community.

Alcohol dependence, also known as alcoholism, is an illness characterized by craving or strong need to drink, loss of control or the inability to stop drinking, physical dependence with withdrawal symptoms, and increasing tolerance for greater amounts of alcohol. Alcohol abuse is a pattern of drinking that can include a failure to fulfill work, home, or school responsibilities, drinking in dangerous situations like driving a car, and continued drinking despite causing or worsening relationship problems.

For more information about National Alcohol Screening Day activities at the Research Institute, call 887-2387 or 887-2585. RIA is a national leader in the study of alcohol and substance abuse prevention, treatment, and policy research.