Medical Perspectives on Alcoholism and Around-the-Clock Psychiatric Services

Views about alcohol abuse as a moral problem or as a specific diagnostic entity contribute little to the development of realistic preventive techniques. It may be more helpful, the author suggests, to consider the abuse of alcohol as one of many possible unsound approaches to coping with human problems which may culminate in a psychiatric emergency. Emergency psychiatric services help to resolve immediate crises; each emergency may also serve as a teaching situation to guide the participants in future preventive efforts.