alcoholism Definitions and causal factors of alcoholism Alcoholism consists of a repetitive intake of alcoholic beverages to an extent that the drinker is harmed. The harm may be physical or mental; it may also be social or economic. Implicit in the conception of alcoholism as a disease is the idea that the person experiencing repeated or long-lasting injury from his drinking would alter his behaviour if he could. His failure to do so shows that …showed first 75 words of 4068 total…

…showed last 75 words of 4068 total…of their illness. Alcoholism treatment programs connected with businesses and industries, in which the alcoholic must participate if he wants to keep his job, have reported even higher success rates. Forms of frankly compulsory treatment, even if grudgingly endured by alcoholics, seem to have a high rate of effectiveness. Some investigators have suggested that the older the patient and the longer the duration of his alcoholism, the more frequent is the occurrence of "spontaneous" recovery.