Toward the prevention of alcohol use disorders: Overdrinking (unintentional binge drinking) in a community sample

Abstract

Approximately 64,000,000 people in the United States report binge drinking at least once in the past month. Unlike overeating and oversleeping, “overdrinking”—defined as drinking more than a person intends to drink—does not exist in the literature. Terms such as binge and problem drinking do not consider the intent of the drinker. The results of this pilot study suggest that most people drink more than they intend to drink. Moreover, they also report often being surprised that they overdrank. Smartphones may help overdrinkers be less often surprised by overdrinking and may prevent drinkers from developing an alcohol use disorder.