Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire

The SADQ measures how severe alcohol dependence is in people seeking help for alcohol problems. The patient answers 20 questions about a typical recent period of heavy drinking.

The SADQ has 20 items in five sections: physical withdrawal symptoms, affective withdrawal symptoms, craving and relief drinking, typical daily consumption, and how quickly dependence returns after a period of abstinence. Each item is scored 0 to 3, giving a total from 0 to 60. According to the developers' notes, scores of 31 or more indicate severe dependence, 16 to 30 moderate dependence, and below 16 usually only mild physical dependence; from 16, a medically supported detox is usually indicated.

Clinicians use the SADQ once alcohol dependence is likely, for example after a high AUDIT score, to judge its severity and whether a medically supported detox is needed. It is less suitable as a first screen.

The SADQ was developed by Tim Stockwell and colleagues in the United Kingdom. The current version was published in 1983 by Tim Stockwell, David Murphy and Ray Hodgson. It is based on the alcohol dependence syndrome described by Edwards and Gross (1976).

Norms exist for inpatient, outpatient and community services. In the 1983 study, items, sections and total score were stable over time, and scores were modestly but significantly related to the severity of withdrawal. Scores above 30 correspond to clinicians' ratings of severe dependence.

The SADQ is not a diagnosis and does not replace a medical assessment before detox. It was not designed to measure change over time. Several modified versions circulate with different wording and score bands. There is no validated German version.