How Many ‘Problem Drinkers’ Are Actually Undiagnosed Autistic?

Getting a diagnosis helped me understand my drinking in a way identifying as 'alcoholic' never had

When I attend AA meetings, I get the impression that a lot of people are undiagnosed autistic. They talk about not understanding (or caring about) the ‘rules’ of society, and feeling like outsiders in a way that caused them pain, ever since childhood. They talk about ‘overthinking’ and a self-consciousness and social discomfort that is miraculously cured by alcohol. They describe these as their ‘alcoholism’.

[Cough.] Autism.

I’ve never particularly believed in an ‘alcoholic personality’. I’m still not entirely sure I believe in autism. This is just how my brain works, I think. But there are such clear parallels between these categories, and research is emerging to prove my theory draw the dots.

Learning about autism helped me better understand my drinking. How it was as much a method of invoking a more social personality as it was an addiction and as much a form of self-soothing as of self-medicating. My autism diagnosis helped me find peace with my drunken past in a way that the ‘alcoholic’ label never quite managed to, and I suspect this could be the same for many other people.