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09:26
Disruption of Frontal Lobe Neural Synchrony During Cognitive Control by Alcohol Intoxication
Published on: February 6, 2019
The trouble with drink: why ideas matter.
1National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK. jean@addictionjournal.org
Addiction (Abingdon, England)
|December 31, 2009
Summary
This paper traces 200 years of evolving alcohol concepts, from vice to disease. It highlights the need for nuanced understanding of alcohol problems, integrating individual and public health perspectives.
Area of Science:
- History of Medicine
- Public Health
- Addiction Studies
Background:
- Examines the historical evolution of concepts surrounding alcohol and its problems over the past two centuries.
- Considers the contemporary relevance of these evolving ideas, especially with upcoming revisions to diagnostic manuals like the ICD and DSM.
Observation:
- Traces the shift in perception from viewing habitual drunkenness as a vice to a disease, a concept originating in the late Enlightenment.
- Identifies a parallel lineage of viewing alcohol or alcohol-related issues as a general cause for concern.
Findings:
- Disease formulations of alcohol problems require vigilance against moralism and social control.
- Highlights the necessity of integrating individual-level alcohol dependence with a public health approach to broader alcohol-related issues.
- Warns against scientific reductionism, emphasizing the need for multidisciplinary analysis in understanding complex alcohol-related problems.
Implications:
- Advocates for global consensus on defining alcohol problems, cautioning against cultural imposition of specific viewpoints.
- Stresses the importance of a dimensional, individual-level understanding of alcohol dependence alongside public health strategies.
- Underscores the need for integrated, multidisciplinary approaches to effectively address the multifaceted nature of alcohol-related issues.
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