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Heavy Drinking by Herbert Finagrette 1988

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Heavy Drinking
by Herbert Fingarette
The Myth of Alcoholism as a disease
Univer of Calif Press Berkeley 1988



166 pages
Fingarette flatly rejects the argument that habitual drinking should be a legal defense...he Points out that there is no systemically clear medical definition of what is a disease Christian Science Monitor


The Alcoholic under the right circumstances has the power to control drinking and to change
Times London
Chapters Include
Classic Disease Concept of Alcoholism
Where did we get this idea
Can Alcoholics control their drinking
what causes alcoholism
does treatment work??
New approaches to Heavy Drinking
Understanding Heavy Drinking as a Way of Life
Social Policies to prevent and control Heavy Drinking

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This link has a very complete Review of this book
by Psych Professor at Univ of Virginia

Herbert Fingarette, Radical Revisionist by Stanton Peele

Ruth Engs (ed.): Chpt.6 Controversies book-disease concept of ...

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL CONCERNED from Dr. Milam, revised
( Full Length Rebuttal to Finagarettes Heavy Drinking)
and updated from time to time to reflec
the growing impact of this information packet

Herbert Fingarette is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In addition to Self-Deception (1969), he is the author of The Self in Transformation (1963), On Responsibility (1967), The Meaning of Criminal Insanity (California, 1972), Confucius: The Secular as Sacred (1972), Mental Disabilities and Criminal Responsibility (California 1979), Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease (California 1988), and Death: Philosophical Soundings (1996).

Herbert Fingarette is at the forefront of a social counterrevolution that could redefine how the United States views alcoholism.--Curtis J. Sitomer, Christian Science Monitor

Social and political responses to alcohol problems are neglected and research programmes are misdirected, because the disease model prevails so strongly. Fingarette is having a tough time bringing this truth to the American public, but his book is a triumph of clarity and brevity and must help.--Richard Smith, British Medical Journal, The British Medical Association

[Fingarette] writes with the words and touch of a kind and gentle man. . . . This is a solid book, and one that is sure to create controversy, and if you want to hate it, agree with it or disagree with it, you ought to read it first.--Robert H. Williams, Washington Post

A formidable critique of alcoholism as a disease.--Robert Wright, The New Republic

The message of this book is important and will no doubt elicit violent reactions from both sides of the disease-concept controversy. Although hardly the last word, the book should be read by anyone interested in the broader picture of alcoholism, its treatment and social implications.--Lawrence Miller, Psychology Today

This enlightening and challenging book is a call to compassion for heavy drinkers. . . . Given the brevity of this clearly reasoned and well-researched book, and the ease with which both professionals and laypeople are able to grasp the issues presented, Heavy Drinking will no doubt become a seminal volume in the field of alcohol treatment.--James Alsdurf, Christianity Today

DESCRIPTION

Heavy Drinking informs the general public for the first time how recent research has discredited almost every widely held belief about alcoholism, including the very concept of alcoholism as a single disease with a unique cause. Herbert Fingarette presents constructive approaches to heavy drinking, including new methods of helping heavy drinkers and social policies for preventing heavy drinking and the harms associated with it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Herbert Fingarette, a distinguished professor at the University of California, has been a consultant on alcoholism and addiction to the World Health Organization, and a Fellow of the Stanford Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences. His work has had a significant influence on the U.S. Supreme Court, state supreme courts, and current national policy makers on substance abuse.

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