Alcohol Intoxication And Withdrawal

Preceded by: Clinical clerkship in inpatient medicine / Sanjay Saint. 3rd ed. c2010.

The contributions to this volume clearly indicate the momentum, quality, liveliness and diversity of the research effort being di rected toward deepening our understanding of tqe alcohol withdrawal syndrome. This area of study has gained increasing interest and attention to the point where it seemed reasonable to devote a spe cial section to it at the 30th International Congress for Alcoholism and Drug Dependence in Amsterdam in September, 1972. Our goal was to share our most recent findings and stimulate others to join in the effort. With few exceptions, the papers in this publication present new data. It had been hoped that the volume would appear by the end of 1972. However, the eagerness of many of the contributors to extend their investigations made this target date impossible. Several of the papers were not presented in the section but were presented elsewhere in the Congress. However, because of their particular relevance to the topic they have been included with the generous consent of the authors.

Dr. Milton M. Gross, the editor of these volumes, died on July 29, 1976, after a brief illness. As chairman of the section on Biomedical Research in Alcoholism of the I.C.A.A., he had plan ned and brought to fruition the international "Symposium on Alcohol Intoxication and Withdrawal" which had taken place in Lausanne the month before. He was particularly proud of the distinguished group of scientists he had helped to assemble and was eagerly looking for ward to the publication of these proceedings which he hoped would extend our understanding of the phenomenology of alcoholism. Milton Gross was a most unusual man in the extent and range of his activities and accomplishments. He was a certified psy chiatrist and psychoanalyst, a recognized clinical researcher, the author of more than fifty scientific papers, and the editor of three important volumes on alcohol intoxication and withdrawal. He was extremely active in the scientific world of alcoholism as planner and coordinator of three international conferences, as chairman of the section on Biomedical Research of the I.C.A.A., and as a member of a W.H.O. Task Force on Alcoholism. In addition, he was very active in a variety of scientific and service committees in national and local organizations.

This manual attempts to provide simple, adequate and evidence-based information to health care professionals in primary health care especially in low- and middle-income countries to be able to provide pharmacological treatment to persons with mental disorders. The manual contains basic principles of prescribing followed by chapters on medicines used in psychotic disorders; depressive disorders; bipolar disorders; generalized anxiety and sleep disorders; obsessive compulsive disorders and panic attacks; and alcohol and opioid dependence. The annexes provide information on evidence retrieval, assessment and synthesis and the peer view process.