How will you proceed with Mr. Smith? What diagnostics will you perform? What will potentially be part of your treatment plan?

For patients with a potential alcohol intake disorder, it can be sensitive to bring up the topic of alcohol abuse and management. I think since his wife is in the room, I would ask the patient if he feels comfortable and okay with his spouse in the room or if he would like for me to assess him alone? If he reports intake of a "few drinks" that led him to trip over his dog, fall, and obtain stitches on his forehead and his spouse admits to him drinking every night, I would be concerned about alcohol use disorder. I would begin by asking the patient how many drinks he has and how frequently. I would urge him to be honest because the medical decisions will be collaborative and it is to improve his health. Heavy alcohol use is described as binge drinking 5 or more days in the past month (Kranzler & Soyka, 2018). Alcohol use disorder is described as > 2 diagnostic crit