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Background Notes on Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a major disease in North America, affecting both alcoholics and their families.  The aetiology of alcoholism includes hereditary, cultural, environmental, and psychological factors.  Recovery initially requires surrender of the infantile ego and the formation of a stronger, more adapted one.  Treatment involves empathic acceptance and confrontation to penetrate alcoholics’ and their families’ denial system by means of both group therapy and individual counselling, which includes an educational component.  The solution is essentially ethical if not spiritual in the broad sense of the word.