Alcoholism; the Nutritional Approach PDF
Preview Alcoholism; the Nutritional Approach
Alcoholism: This small, easily read book . . . gives the alcoholic and his physician a §ound basis for a medical approach to one of today's "most complex diseases, Houston Post ; RogerJAVffiams ALCOHOLISM: the Nutritional Approach Alcoholism The Nutritional Approach By Roger Williams J. University ofTexas Press Austin & London International Standard Book Number 0-292-70301-5 Library ofCongress Catalog Card Number 58-59850 Copyright © 1959 by Roger Williams J. All rights reserved Printed in the United States ofAmerica Fifth Paperback Printing, 1978 Printed in U.S.A. To Alcoholics Anonymous Preface Progress in the solution of the highly important problem of alcoholism has been hampered by considerable confusion with respect to ways and means of advance. The attitude of the medical profession is of great interest and is certainly an index to the true state of affairs. Most physicians prefer not to have alcoholics among their patients, for the simple reason that doc- tors are aware oftheir inability to help alcoholicswith their basic problem. Most medical men and laymen consider alcoholism a psychological problem. Many therefore look to psychiatry for help, but here, too, in vain, because few psychiatrists welcome alcoholic pa- vii — Alcoholism: the NutritionalApproach tients. The most consistent advice given alcoholics by the medical profession is "Join Alcoholics Anony- mous." This, in the writer's opinion, is excellent ad- vice, because Alcoholics Anonymous has a most en- viablerecordforeffectivework. This advice when looked at objectively is, however, phenomenal. Isthereaparallelinthecaseofanyother disease, for treatment of which physicians refer sick people to a lay group? Obviously this is a state of af- fairs that would not exist if there were a recognized medical treatmentforthedisease. We believe that through biochemical studies we have discovered important causes of this disease, and that advance toward prevention, if not cure, can be We expected to be rapid. do not wish, however, to overemphasize biochemistry and physiology to the ex- We clusion of psychology. are convinced that people — are not built in separate compartments anatomical, — biochemical, psychological but that they are inte- grated insuch away that alcoholism, for example, has its roots in every aspect of an individual's make-up. In the past sevenyearssince anearliervolume deal- ing with nutrition and alcoholism was published, there have been new discoveries, with a substantial increase in insight into the disease. These I have tried to set forth in the present volume. While there are many worth-while ideas in the earlier volume, it — carried an implication namely that alcoholics might well look forward to a life of moderate drinking which I cannot now endorse. If an alcoholic is able to viii
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