0. Do you enjoy a drink now and then? 0
1. Do you feel you are a normal drinker? (By normal we mean 2
you drink less than or as much as most people).
2. Have you ever awakened the morning after some drinking the 2
night before and found that you could not remember part of
the evening?
3. Does your spouse, parent, close relative, or significant other 2
ever worry or complain about your drinking?
4. Can you stop drinking without a struggle after one or two 2
drinks?
5. Do you ever feel guilty about your drinking? 1
6. Do friends or relatives think you are a normal drinker? 2
7. Are you able to stop drinking when you want to? 2
8. Have you ever attended a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)? 5
9. Have you ever gotten into physical fights when drinking? 1
10. Has your drinking ever created problems between you and 2
your spouse, parent, significant other, or another relative?
11. Has your wife, husband, family member or significant other 2
ever gone to anyone for help about your drinking?
12. Have you ever lost friends or boyfriends/girlfriends because 2
of your drinking?
13. Have you ever gotten into trouble at school or work because 2
of drinking?
14. Have you ever lost a job because of drinking? 2
15. Have you ever neglected your obligations, your family, or your 2
work for two or more days in a row because you were drinking?
16. Do you drink before noon fairly often? 1
17. Have you ever been told you have liver trouble? Cirrhosis? 2
18. After heavy drinking have you ever had Delirium Tremens 2(D.T.'s) or severe shaking, or heard voices or seen things that really weren't there?
19. Have you ever gone to anyone for help about your drinking? 2
20. Have you ever been in a hospital because of drinking? 5
21. Have you ever been a patient in a psychiatric hospital or on 5
a psychiatric ward of a general hospital where drinking was
part of the problem that resulted in hospitalization?
22. Have you ever been seen at a psychiatric or mental health 2
clinic or gone to any doctor, social worker, or clergyman for
help with any emotional problem, where drinking was part of
the problem?
23. Have you ever been arrested for drunk driving, driving while 2
intoxicated, or driving under the influence of alcoholic
beverages? (IF YES, How many times?___)
24. Have you ever been arrested or taken into custody, even for 2
a few hours, because of other drunken behavior? (IF YES,
How many times?__)
Negative responses to these questions are scored in the alcoholic direction. 5 points for Delirium Tremens 2 points for each arrest
Programs using the above scoring system find it very sensitive at the five-point level, and more people are scored as alcoholic than anticipated. However, it is a screening test and should be sensitive at its lower levels.
In clients in whom a drinking problem is suspected, yet who score 9 points or less (and especially those who score 4 points or less), one may ask seven additional questions:
1. Have you ever consciously stopped drinking for a period of time? 2
2. Can you or could you at any time in your life drink more than 2 other people without showing it?
3. Did either of your parents ever have a problem with drinking, 2 or were you ever concerned about either of their drinking?
4. Have you ever been stopped while driving or been apprehended by 2 a law officer for any reason while your were drinking, yet you did not get arrested or receive a citation, but probably should have?
5. Have you ever gone to a doctor for a medical problem other than 2 liver disease or cirrhosis, that you or the doctor suspected was caused by drinking?
6. Have you ever been dependent upon or ever had recurring problems 2
with using a drug other than alcohol?
7. Did you often have hangovers (feeling bad or sick after drinking) 2
during the first few years of your heavy drinking?
Negative responses to this question are scored in the alcoholic direction
If the answer is yes for both parents, score 4 points
Three additional observations can be helpful, and these are to be answered by the counselor.
8. Does the client display any "red flags" during the taking of 3
the drinking history? (e.g. glibness, avoidance, anger,
defensiveness)?
9. At any time during the interview, did the client say anything 3
like "I can quit anytime", "I don't need it", "I can take it or
leave it", or the like?
10. If there is a blood alcohol level available, does it fulfill 5
any of the following criteria? (for a, b,
a) 100 mg% (.10 gm%) at an office visit or c
b) 150 mg% (.15 gm%) without gross evidence of intoxication
c) 300 mg% (.300 gm%) at any time
Although these ten questions are not part of the standardized MAST, they may be of value to the counselor for clients with doubtful or negative MAST scores. They can provide up to 27 additional points. Clients who are alcoholic will rarely score three points or less on the standard MAST. In these clients, the counselor can usually find other information that indicates that the client may be or is alcoholic. It may be helpful to give the MAST and the Addendum to a family member, such as the spouse, to answer for the client, as though the client were answering truthfully. In such a case the MAST score will be as accurate as if the client answered it honestly. In recording the client's score, the MAST score is listed first, followed by the sum of both the MAST and the Addendum [e.g. 15/22. (MAST/MAST & Addendum)1.
These questions may also be asked of those who score above 9 points on the MAST to additional data. If the client answers "No" to this question, yet the counselor knows that the client has or had a drug problem, 2 points should be scored. This principle also applies to other questions on the MAST and this addendum as well.
Explanation for MAST Addendum Answers by the Client
1. Normal drinkers generally do not consciously stop drinking. Any person who
consciously stops drinking is giving evidence that he/she has found drinking
to be a negative experience. Alcoholics usually stop drinking periodically
towards the middle and advanced stages of their alcoholism. Consciously
stopping drinking usually indicates that the person has some form of
struggle with drinking.
2. This demonstrates tolerance to alcohol (acquired and/or congenital
tolerance). Alcoholics commonly manifest one or both of these.
3. About 67% of alcoholics have a family history of a drinking problem in a
parent. If you are now seeing a person for suspicion of an alcohol problem
who discloses that his/her parent was an "alcohol abuser" or was concerned
about the parent's drinking, or the parent was a heavy drinker, this is
further evidence of either risk or an actual problem. For those people with
both parents having had a drinking problem, there is probably an even higher
risk of being or becoming alcoholic. If the person has some doubt about a
parent's alcoholism, taking the MAST for the parent as though the parent
were answering honestly is usually helpful and can help remove the doubt.
4. This can be called a "near arrest". It commonly occurs in women and VIP
(Very Important Person) drunk drivers, where the law officer often does not
issue a citation because, for example, the woman cries or the VIP uses other
influence.
5. Any person who acknowledges a medical consequence of alcoholism other than
liver disease or cirrhosis should be suspected of having alcoholism.
6. People with drug dependence to one type of drug tend to develop dependence
to other types of psychoactive drugs. Alcoholism is the most common drug
dependence. Thus, having another type of drug dependence places a person at
a higher risk of becoming or being alcoholic.
7. Recovering alcoholics said that they rarely, if ever, experienced a hangover
after heavy drinking during the first few years of their alcoholism,
contrasted to less than 5% of a non-alcoholic population so surveyed.
8. These responses indicate struggle, similar to question #1.
9. These statements or the like also indicate struggle. Normal drinkers do not
make these types of statements. Some alcoholism experts consider this to be
almost diagnostic of alcoholism.
10. These blood alcohol levels are those set forth by the National Council on
Alcoholism's expert committee on the diagnosis of alcoholism. Any one of
these is considered to be a major diagnostic criterion and therefore is
diagnostic of alcoholism.