The Treatment of Alcoholism: A Study of Programs and Problems

"If you can't do, teach," Shaw is alleged to have said. In medicine, a variation on this rule might be, "If you can't treat an illness, write a book about it." That is the impression conveyed by the recent torrent of new books on alcoholism. Most have essentially the same message: Alcoholism is a disease (or is it?) of unknown etiology. There is no specific treatment for the illness (if it is an illness), but physicians should do what they can. The present book addresses itself to the question, "Arephysicians doing what they can?" To find out, the Joint Information Service of the American Psychiatric Association and the National Association for Mental Health in 1965 commissioned a field study of alcoholism treatment facilities in the United States to be conducted by six experts in alcoholism. The study began with a questionnaire sent to 56 medical facilities having alcoholism programs.