The current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a guide produced by the American Psychiatric Association to define and help clinicians identify mental disorders, classifies the severity of AUD as mild, moderate or severe based on the number of positive answers to a questionnaire on symptoms. Questions ask about symptoms over the past year and range from whether you’ve had times when you drank more than you intended to drink, to whether you experienced withdrawal symptoms as the effects of alcohol wore off.  If you answer Yes to having two out of the 11 symptoms listed, you are diagnosed with AUD. The severity of AUD is defined as mild if you have two to three symptoms, moderate if you have four to five symptoms and six or more means you have severe AUD.