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fascinating and scholarly vintage text exploring the psychology and sociological implications of heavy drinkers (of alcoholic beverages) entitled PROBLEM DRINKERS: A National Survey, by Don Cahalan. This well-built hardcover with green cloth boards and black endpapers in dust jacket was published by Josey-Bass Inc., Publishers, San Francisco, 1970, stated First Edition, 202 pages. The ISBN is 0-87589-080-6 and the book is Out of Print. This text is part of the Josey-Bass Behavioral Science Series. Description: From the dust jacket, Is heavy drinking a disease or just a bad habit? Are urban dwellers more prone to heavy drinking than rural folk? Does drinking stem from psychological urges or from a need to assimilate the style of one's environment? These are some of the many issues raised in this new book, which uses drinking problems, rather than alcoholism, as its central focus. Problem Drinkers is one of the first studies to concentrate on the noninstitutionalized, adult household population, rather than focusing upon institutionalized 'alcoholics' or skid-row derelicts. This book shows the aggregate prevalence by various demographic characteristics and then the prevalence rates when social-psychological characteristics are taken into account. Finally, conclusions and implications of the study (and of other related studies) for public health, therapy, and behavioral research are presented in detail. Cahalan's discussions emphasize the powerful influence of cultural considerations in problem drinking. The potential advantages of a 'behavior therapy' approach to mitigating problem drinking are discussed in some detail. Further, the findings suggest the importance of putting more public health, educational and therapeutic emphasis upon coping with the problem drinking at the sufferer's early age. The national study shows that the highest rates of almost all types of problem drinking are found among people in their early twenties--and not in the late thirties and forties, as has commonly been supposed. Problem Drinkers in the first nationwide survey ever conducted on the prevalence of alcohol-connected problems. It also reviews recent scientific thinking which brings into question the concept of 'alcoholism' as a disease in classical medical terms. The book is part of a program of longitudinal studies on alcohol behavior, conducted under grants from the National Institute of Mental Health. Contents include: |