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Article: Alcoholism.
- Article from:
- HealthFacts
- Article date:
- June 1, 1988
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Center for Medical Consumers, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ALCOHOLISM
When the American Medical Association officially declared alcoholism a chronic and progressive disease in 1956, it was merely rubber-stamping a concept not only central to the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935 but one that dates back at least as far as ancient Rome. Old myths die hard, even within medicine, and the view of alcoholism as a moral weakness still prevents many from receiving the help they so desperately need. Although there have been slow changes, authorities in the alcoholism field reported recently in The New York Times that physicians either fail to recognize the symptoms of alcoholism in their patients or dismiss them when ...