ALCOHOLISM MYTHS AND REALITIES

Though Thorburn is eager to dispel a multitude of myths surrounding alcoholism, perhaps his greatest contribution here is explaining the importance of early intervention?and he is not willing to cut any slack: "While we can rarely prevent use, we can proactively intervene at or near the inception by imposing responsibility for misbehaviors and coercing the addict into abstinence." He's not advocating physical action, but strict behavioral guidelines: denying any enabling instances, withholding support and protection for failure to cooperate, abandoning absurd codes of silence, making consequences palpable. To this interceptive end, it's important to understand the biochemical nature of alcoholism, and to be able to interpret signs: euphoria, inflated ego (often masking loss of self-esteem), grandiosity, sense of entitlement, lack of empathy, unreasonable resentments, even destructive acts and being accident prone. Thorburn casts a wide net, because so too does alcoholism itself?rarely appealing, frequently dangerous. He rightly recognizes the need to act quickly, knowing that almost every alcoholic requires external help (as opposed to pure will power), and that interaction is the true course?one never prevents alcoholism, one engages the alcoholic.