---
name: substance-abuse-assessment
description: Use when asked to administer, score, or explain a Substance Abuse Assessment — combined AUDIT (alcohol) and DAST-10 (drug) evaluation — grounded in FormExamples/form-examples.
---

# Substance Abuse Assessment

Substance use disorder evaluation using AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders
Identification Test) and DAST-10 (Drug Abuse Screening Test), with
comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment.

## Scoring

**Instruments:** AUDIT (0–40) + DAST-10 (0–10).

- **AUDIT:** Low risk (0–7), Hazardous (8–15), Harmful (16–19),
  Dependence likely (20–40).
- **DAST-10:** No problems (0), Low level (1–2), Moderate level (3–5),
  Substantial level (6–8), Severe level (9–10).
- **Combined severity:** Low, Moderate, High, Critical (active
  withdrawal/overdose risk).

## What it covers

Demographics; alcohol use (AUDIT); drug use (DAST-10); substance use
history; withdrawal assessment; mental health comorbidities; physical
health impact; social and legal impact; previous treatment history; and
treatment planning and goals.

## Common pitfalls

- **Screening for alcohol or drugs but not both** — the two instruments
  are paired deliberately since polysubstance use is common; screening
  for only one can miss a significant part of the clinical picture.
- **Underestimating withdrawal risk** — the critical-severity category
  explicitly flags active withdrawal/overdose risk; this needs
  proactive screening (not just waiting for symptoms to appear),
  since some withdrawal syndromes (alcohol, benzodiazepines) can be
  medically dangerous.
- **Treating a "Low risk" AUDIT/DAST score as closing the topic
  permanently** — substance use patterns change; periodic re-screening,
  not a one-time assessment, is appropriate especially where risk
  factors are ongoing.

## Learn more

- [FormExamples: substance-abuse-assessment](https://github.com/FormExamples/form-examples/tree/main/forms/substance-abuse-assessment) for the full implementation, clinical references, and worked examples.
- [[mental-health-assessment]], [[post-traumatic-stress-assessment]] for related mental-health assessments with common comorbidity.