In the twentieth century, with its high-pressure demands on nervous systems which have not yet become adapted to big business, mass production, telephones, automobiles, high economic standards -- in fact, bigger, faster, and noisier living conditions -- alcohol has come to play an ever-increasing part as a narcotic, rather than a mere social stimulant.

Because so many can use it in moderation, and because of its social aspect, alcohol is seldom thought of as a drug -- not, at least, until it has done its ruinous work on certain organisms that have proved unable to resist it.

I propose in this book to define the alcoholic, to show how he arrived at this condition, and by what method he may rid himself of his habit once and for all.

While aimed primarily at the chronic inebriate, the subject will, I think, be of interest to all who drink, more especially as it may show them where they stand on the line that separates moderation from excess.

Several years' experience in treating chronic alcoholism has shown me that it is perfectly possible to cultivate abstinence under certain conditions.

It is a far easier task than the alcoholic has any idea of, provided that a scientific approach is made to the problem. Vague theories based on undirected will power are ineffective in the long run.

Above all it must be remembered that eradication of the habit and temporary abstinence represent two totally different states of mind.

This book is in no way concerned with the arguments for and against Prohibition, which roar louder and louder throughout the land.

Needless to say, after ten years of the Volstead Act there still seem to be a great many men who are unable to regulate properly their consumption of the liquor they so easily obtain.

Drinking is a manifestation of the wish to escape from reality. The illusory charm of drink comes from the fact that the mental reactions to alcohol are extremely satisfying to certain basic psychological urges.

Let any man reflect on his sensations subsequent to taking a drink and I think he will agree that the resultant feelings consist (1) of calmness, poise, and relaxation; (2) of self-satisfaction, self-confidence, and self-importance.

While the satisfaction of the demands for peace of mind and ego-maximation by alcohol may be legitimate for the average man who can control the use of it, certain individuals, normal in other ways, have an abnormal reaction to drinking. It is too fascinating to them. It poisons their nervous systems.

Those who react in this manner must eliminate drink from their lives or suffer very serious consequences. If they are willing, these people can be shown how to train their minds so that they no longer wish to drink.

They can learn to relax and to satisfy their egos in a manner that is constructive and permanent.

I have taken care to omit from my discussion all moralizing, knowing full well that the uncontrolled drinker is surfeited with it already, however true and justified it may be. He must be aware of all the reasons that his well-meaning friends and relatives have given him in regard to the harm that he is doing himself, to say nothing of his neglected obligations toward others.

Neither is the subject approached from the physiological side. Much authoritative information has already been written upon the destructive effects of alcohol on the bodily tissues.

If these books should not be accessible to the individual seeking such information, a short conversation with a physician will shed sufficient light upon this important phase of the subject to leave no doubt in his mind of the harm that results from persistently subjecting the body to large and continuous doses of alcohol.

The explanation of excessive drinking lies in the field of abnormal psychology rather than in that of physiology or ethics. As a background to almost every case of chronic alcoholism there exists an inner nervous condition akin to the "unreasonable" feelings of anxiety and inferiority suffered by the abnormally nervous.

It is precisely this condition -- of which moderate drinkers and other so-called normal people are fortunately unaware -- that makes hard and persistent drinking (on the part of those who cannot stand it) so incomprehensible.

If friends and relatives wish to be of assistance, they must learn to realize that the nervous person with "imaginary" troubles is just as much in need of help as if he had an acute organic malady.

Indeed, those who have experienced both forms of suffering would prefer to repeat the physical rather than the mental if they had to choose between the two evils.

It is for the former alone, however, that they customarily receive sympathy.

The more the problem is imaginary, unreasonable, illogical, the harder it is to bear, because the individual suffering from it has neither the respect nor the sympathy of the outside world. What is worse, he has lost caste in his own eyes: he criticizes himself mercilessly, so that the resulting state of mind is one of fear and depression often bordering on terror.

While the alcoholic in many cases may not seem to be deserving of pity, he nevertheless to some extent belongs to an unhappy class of neurotics, however much he may keep his mental discomfiture from the outside world or try to pretend to himself that he is free from it.

It does him no good to be told that his troubles are his own fault and that all he has to do to get over them is to stop drinking. Though in a sense this may be true, it is of no help, because he is often motivated by inner forces of which he is unaware and over which, without scientific assistance, he has no sustained control.

The world is gradually coming to understand the importance of caring for the mind as intelligently as it does for the body, and that the pain resulting from a broken spirit should no more be faced courageously alone than that resulting from a broken leg.

Yet what could be more indicative of a broken spirit than the perpetual attempt to escape from reality through excessive drinking ?

Reality must be faced unaided by alcohol or any other drug. For the more. Responsible concerns of life, a state of mind wherein the individual actually doe; not want to drink must be attained.

Such a possibility may seem so remote to a man who has been habitually drinking to excess that its mere suggestion is sufficient to make him shrug his shoulders in contemptuous skepticism, even though he would be free to admit that his present way of life is far from satisfactory.

Yet it has been demonstrated over and over again that, in spite of the desires of the moment, sincere men and women anxious to work faithfully toward the goal of not drinking because they do not want to can create this relatively serene attitude of mind with far less hardship than they probably imagine. 
   
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From the book by Richard R. Peabody, Ph.D.
© (1930) Little, Brown and Co., Boston