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Under The Influence: Forward
A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism
Dr. James R. Milam and Katherine Ketcham
Foreword by Mel Schulstad, Co-founder and past-president of the
National Association of Alcoholism Counselors
I am thrilled with this book. It meets a great need. I know that it
will be understood and utilized so that millions of lives can be
saved.
Under The Influence clearly points out that the
accumulated evidence from all the life sciences positively indicates
that physiology, not psychology, determines whether a drinker will
become addicted to alcohol or not. The alcoholic’s genes, enzymes,
hormones, brain and other body chemistries work together to create his
abnormal and unfortunate reaction to alcohol. This concept has not
been and is not now understood or accepted even by the majority of
alcoholism professionals, who seem committed to the misconception that
alcoholism is, at least in part, caused by social, cultural, and
psychological factors and is therefore treatable through mental health
methods such as various psychotherapies and behavior modification
techniques.
In 1970 James R. Milam wrote and self-published The Emergent
Comprehensive Concept of Alcoholism. The book was
enthusiastically welcomed by thousands of readers, both professionals
and laypersons. Many of us said, "Here for the first time is someone
who really knows what alcoholism is all about and who has finally put
it down on paper." Fifty thousand copies of Milam’s Concept, which was
written in a relatively technical and clinical language, have been
sold to date. This was accomplished without benefit of marketing,
advertising, or the sponsorship of a publishing house. The demand for
and acceptance of this new idea has indeed been phenomenal.
In Under The Influence, this original concept has been
expanded, re-tested, and presented in a thoroughly understandable and
fascinating explanation of alcoholism. It has been written with such
clarity that many of the highly complex issues related to alcoholism
become clear for the first time. Indeed, I feel this book is not only
intended to be a textbook for professionals, clinicians, and
academicians, but will also be welcomed and easily understood by the
lay public. The authors have articulated ideas and truths which many
of us have "known" or felt intuitively were underlying the disease
alcoholism. For the first time, these ideas, concepts, and truths have
been expressed with a validity based on research, documentation, and
fifteen years of extensive clinical experience at Alcenas Hospital and
elsewhere.
Thousands of alcoholics are seen every year by
professionals—psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, clergy,
counselors, nurses, and doctors—yet, tragically, they are almost
always misdiagnosed and often harmfully treated. It is my belief that
alcoholism has suffered more malpractice out of ignorance than any
other disease in recent times. Yet it is a disease that strikes our
society so severely that, if unchecked, it could bring our nation to
it’s knees.
It is my prayer and fervent hope that the concepts so clearly and
boldly stated in Under The Influence have emerged at a
time when they can be broadly recognized and accepted. They are truly
ideas whose time has come. It is my further hope and prayer that the
treatment approach described herein will be widely adopted as a basis
for treatment of alcoholism in the future.
Under The Influence will aid and advance by light years
the understanding of alcoholism and the recovery process. The labors
of Milam and Ketcham in researching, documenting, and writing
Under The Influence have placed us all in their debt. Let us
hope that this book will spread light into darkness and bring us
closer to a complete understanding of the disease alcoholism, and
through this new understanding reach millions of our fellow men and
women who today are suffering—and dying—because of society’s
ignorance.
Contact us now at Lakeside-Milam Recovery Centers for FREE Drug & Alcohol evaluations...
Call (800) 231-4303 or email us confidentially
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