Addictions belong to the diseases of socio-medical category that affect the individual, his family, but also the overall environment where the difficulty of alcohol addiction is manifested. An alcohol addicted person is individual who generates psychological and physical dependence on it through excessive intake of alcohol. The diagnostic criteria for alcoholism is stated by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). The etiology of alcoholism is manifested thorugh the interaction of biological, psychological and sociocultural aspects that together have an impact on the development of alcohol addiction. It has been confirmed that women have a higher risk of developing diseases related to alcohol and that when women consume smaller measures of alcohol than men, intoxication occurs. Research has proven that traumatic experiences such as sexual and physical abuse during the childhood, divorce or growing up in an unstable family are risk factors for excessive alcohol consumption. At the same time, the existence of a risk factor for the development of addiction does not necessarily mean that it will develop. When it comes to mehtods of treating alcohol addiction, the most important treatment model in Croatia is Hudolin's soical-psychiatric strategy, which is based on psychotherapy, family therapy, pharmacotherapy and the Club of Treated Alcoholics.