Edwards Treatment Of Drinking Problems

This book presents state-of-the-art, accessible reviews of the science of alcohol treatment and guidance for the management of clinical situations.

The Treatment of Drinking Problems has become, over the past twenty years, the definitive text in its field. Internationally acclaimed and translated into six languages, it is the most authoritative source book for the treatment of alcohol problems for all professionals who encounter them.

Alcohol can be an item of diet, a medicine, sometimes an element in religious ritual. It is a valued object for the connoisseur, a traded commodity and a symbol of national pride (wine for instance in France, whisky in Scotland). The range of social and medical problems associated with alcohol and the history of related treatment methods (including the temperance movement, prohibition, AA and a range of contemporary approaches) are considered here. Already considered a classic in the field in England, Alcohol has proved to be fascinating reading for drinkers and nondrinkers alike.

This third edition represents the further development of a highly successful clinical text which has been acclaimed internationally. Two new authors bring strong additional expertise to the writing team, and the unique feature of this book remains its ability to address the realities of the clinical world directly while offering an authoritative review of the research literature. Extensively revised throughout, of particular note are completely new chapters covering alcohol as a drug, causes of excessive drinking, drinking problems and the life course, and a new look at both the physical complications associated with alcoholism and the organisation of treatment services. The authors adeptly address the everyday needs of the clinical front-line through presentations which are enlivened through personal clinical experience and illustrated by case vignette. A classic text in its field, this comprehensive and timely new edition will ensure its continued popularity.

Originally published in 1980, the purpose of this book was to aid a process of rethinking alcoholism treatment. Such a process was already underway in many parts of the world at the time. It was hoped that this volume would be useful in the modest role of abetting such a rethinking. Alcoholism treatment was definitely in transition, abandoning old certainties, searching for new syntheses and that is the position this book takes looking for an alternative understanding. The book is divided into six parts: Transition as Challenge; Does Treatment Work?; Towards Better Questions and Better Methodologies; Treatment System as Case For Study; Models in Transition; and Alcohol Agendas. The book also contains one chapter that discusses alcoholism treatment in a developing country, not often addressed at the time but acknowledgement that the problem is a global one.

Alcohol can be an item of diet, a medicine, sometimes an element in religious ritual. It is a valued object for the connoisseur, a traded commodity and a symbol of national pride (wine for instance in France, whisky in Scotland). But at another level it is just a molecule. That molecule is an instrument both of pleasure and of destruction and hence the fundamental ambiguity. The range of social and medical problems associated with alcohol and the history of related treatment methods (including the temperance movement, prohibition, aa and a range of contemporary approaches) are considered here. Griffith Edwards identifies what can be learned from this experience and the accompanying science so as to set more rational and effective policies in the future. What will happen about alcohol is in part embedded in what society will do about dangerous, pleasure giving drugs in general.

The Treatment of Drinking Problems has become the definitive text in the field of alcohol problems. It addresses the frontline realities of clinical practice in an informed and empathetic way, whilst grounding this approach in critical scientific review. Now in its fifth edition, the text has been thoroughly revised and updated with new sections covering interventions for hazardous and harmful drinking, dependent drinking, and the different settings in which alcohol problems are encountered. Clinical vignettes are used throughout the text to bring the discussion to life and to address the frontline realities of clinical practice. This is a highly readable and practical guide for anyone, generalist or specialist, treating or caring for someone with an alcohol problem.