Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism
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By: Katherine Ketcham, William F. Asbury, Mel Schulstad and Arthur P. Ciaramicoli
Format: Paperback
From: Bantam
Pub. Date: March 2000
From: Bantam
Pub. Date: March 2000
Product Details:
Catalog: Book
Release Date: 2000-04-04
Media: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 368
Ean: 9780553380149
Isbn: 0553380141
Catalog: Book
Release Date: 2000-04-04
Media: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 368
Ean: 9780553380149
Isbn: 0553380141
ABOUT THE BOOK
EDITORIAL REVIEW
This invaluable work will contribute much to the battle against our number one disease."
--from the Foreword by George McGovern, former senator and author of Terry: My Daughter's Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a disease. It's time we started treating it like one.
Science has offered undisputed proof that alcoholism is a disease rather than a weakness of character, yet millions of alcoholics continue to suffer due to inappropriate treatment. Now the co-author of the modern classic Under the Influence has teamed up with prominent alcoholism experts to provide new answers to this national epidemic.
Based on the latest scientific research, Beyond the Influence clearly explains the neurological nature of the disease and reveals why some people drink addictively and others do not. It also spells out what needs to be done to treat alcoholism, including:
Steps to take for an intervention
How to find the right treatment program
Which psychological approaches work best
Why spirituality is essential to recovery
New insights into relapse prevention
What you should know about diet, exercise, and nontraditional treatments such as acupuncture
Provocative and eye-opening, compelling and compassionate, Beyond the Influence is not only a message of hope for alcoholics--it is a blueprint for saving lives.
BEYOND THE INFLUENCE explains that alcoholism is a disease of the body, not a weakness of character. Drawing on the latest scientific studies, the authors present new research on the central role of genetics and neurotransmitters in addiction. Continuing where the prior book left off, it also includes:
Steps for diagnosis and intervention, plus ways to prevent relapses
Various treatment models, including inpatient and out-patient programs and a review of new drug treatments
The most effective types of psychological counseling
The critical role of nutrition
Non-traditional healing methods for recovery
The importance of a spiritual component to recovery
The authors also critique our nation's alcoholism policies, including education and prevention programs, efforts to curtail college bingeing and underage drinking, and the advertising and marketing strategies of the alcohol industry. -->
--from the Foreword by George McGovern, former senator and author of Terry: My Daughter's Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a disease. It's time we started treating it like one.
Science has offered undisputed proof that alcoholism is a disease rather than a weakness of character, yet millions of alcoholics continue to suffer due to inappropriate treatment. Now the co-author of the modern classic Under the Influence has teamed up with prominent alcoholism experts to provide new answers to this national epidemic.
Based on the latest scientific research, Beyond the Influence clearly explains the neurological nature of the disease and reveals why some people drink addictively and others do not. It also spells out what needs to be done to treat alcoholism, including:
Steps to take for an intervention
How to find the right treatment program
Which psychological approaches work best
Why spirituality is essential to recovery
New insights into relapse prevention
What you should know about diet, exercise, and nontraditional treatments such as acupuncture
Provocative and eye-opening, compelling and compassionate, Beyond the Influence is not only a message of hope for alcoholics--it is a blueprint for saving lives.
BEYOND THE INFLUENCE explains that alcoholism is a disease of the body, not a weakness of character. Drawing on the latest scientific studies, the authors present new research on the central role of genetics and neurotransmitters in addiction. Continuing where the prior book left off, it also includes:
Steps for diagnosis and intervention, plus ways to prevent relapses
Various treatment models, including inpatient and out-patient programs and a review of new drug treatments
The most effective types of psychological counseling
The critical role of nutrition
Non-traditional healing methods for recovery
The importance of a spiritual component to recovery
The authors also critique our nation's alcoholism policies, including education and prevention programs, efforts to curtail college bingeing and underage drinking, and the advertising and marketing strategies of the alcohol industry. -->
USER REVIEWS
"This is a wonderful book that updates readers on the newest research in dealing with alcoholism. A must for every professional therapist and recovering person to read. "
~ Written on 2008-07-30
~ Written on 2008-07-30
"The authors here perpetuate the confusion that has existed all along about alcoholism, even while claiming science on their side.
Only a born alcoholic can be an alcoholic, is the strong claim on page 5.
But they go on to say that behavioral tests are still the most reliable way to predict alcoholism (p. 112). The problem is that the tests that they administer will create a "positive" for almost anyone who drinks regularly. "Problem drinkers" will certainly score high on these behavioral tests. But the authors are at pains to say that many, if not a majority, of "problem drinkers" are NOT alcoholics (p. 105). In my view, "problem drinkers," with their outrageous misbehaviors, are more likely to be thought of as alcoholics than true born alcoholics who are operating in the "high-function" area between early- and middle-stage alcoholism. Although many "problem drinkers" are alcoholics, not all alcoholics present themselves as "problem drinkers." The tests would mistakenly nail the one group, and also mistakenly miss the other. Are you confused? If you're not, then you haven't been paying attention.
For me, the clarity cited in my review title comes from reading Ketcham's earlier book, "Under the Influence." It was a huge light bulb that came on in reading the descriptions of acetaldehyde in our bodies. In Milam and Ketcham's description, the distinction between the born alcoholic and the non-alcoholic centered on how early (after the first drink) acetaldehyde appeared in the bloodstream, and how long it persisted there. Born alcoholics generated more acetaldehyde in their systems more quickly, and they evacuated it more slowly. If the persistent presence of acetaldehyde in the system (with its attendant metabolic transformations) is the primary thing that leads to alcohol addiction, then that leads to an inescapable conclusion... eventually, anyone that drinks long enough and hard enough will exceed his or her ability to efficiently evacuate acetaldehyde from their system... eventually, if you drink long enough and hard enough, acetaldehyde will be present in your system, and you'll subject yourself to its addiction-causing effects... eventually, you'll become an alcoholic.
This would explain delayed-onset alcoholism. A truly "born" alcoholic could become irretrievably lost after a few short years of problem drinking. But a "problem drinker" who is not born to alcoholism might drink heavily for 20 years, give up without difficulty for a whole year (impossible if you're middle-stage or later), return to 20 years of hard drinking and finally, in retirement, be diagnosed as a late-stage alcoholic. I've seen any number of cases of this long-onset alcoholism, and it's always been puzzling, but the acetaldehyde model explains it quite well.
The inescapable conclusion of reading between the lines of "Under the Influence" was that ANYONE CAN BECOME AN ALCOHOLIC.
That conclusion is supported by the behavioral tests in "Beyond the Influence," but we're still left with the insistent claim that many "problem drinkers" will not become alcoholic, even if they continue heavy drinking throughout their adult lives, and that the distinction is black and white.
So which is it? The only reason I'm not confused is because I believe what I've read in "Under the Influence," and I believe that ANYONE CAN BECOME AN ALCOHOLIC. It may take 40 years for the full symptoms to appear, but if you abuse for long enough they WILL appear, and you WILL be an alcoholic... all you have to do is the acetaldehyde math. It's also clear that if you stay below your acetaldehyde evacuation threshold, you can stay out of trouble, but that the acetaldehyde evacuation threshold isn't that high for most of us (the problem is that we don't have reliable ways of determining our acetaldehyde evacuation threshold). That's what I believe. It's as clear as a bell, which is more than can be said for "Beyond the Influence."
"Beyond the Influence" almost seems like it pre-dates "Under the Influence." It features less science and more behavior. "Beyond the Influence" should have benefited from almost 20 years of hindsight and improved technology. Instead, the lines are fuzzier, not clearer.
Oh, and one last thing. Ketchams's been right all along about one thing. However you got there, if you're an alcoholic, once you're there, it's definitely physiological."
~ Written on 2008-01-09
Only a born alcoholic can be an alcoholic, is the strong claim on page 5.
But they go on to say that behavioral tests are still the most reliable way to predict alcoholism (p. 112). The problem is that the tests that they administer will create a "positive" for almost anyone who drinks regularly. "Problem drinkers" will certainly score high on these behavioral tests. But the authors are at pains to say that many, if not a majority, of "problem drinkers" are NOT alcoholics (p. 105). In my view, "problem drinkers," with their outrageous misbehaviors, are more likely to be thought of as alcoholics than true born alcoholics who are operating in the "high-function" area between early- and middle-stage alcoholism. Although many "problem drinkers" are alcoholics, not all alcoholics present themselves as "problem drinkers." The tests would mistakenly nail the one group, and also mistakenly miss the other. Are you confused? If you're not, then you haven't been paying attention.
For me, the clarity cited in my review title comes from reading Ketcham's earlier book, "Under the Influence." It was a huge light bulb that came on in reading the descriptions of acetaldehyde in our bodies. In Milam and Ketcham's description, the distinction between the born alcoholic and the non-alcoholic centered on how early (after the first drink) acetaldehyde appeared in the bloodstream, and how long it persisted there. Born alcoholics generated more acetaldehyde in their systems more quickly, and they evacuated it more slowly. If the persistent presence of acetaldehyde in the system (with its attendant metabolic transformations) is the primary thing that leads to alcohol addiction, then that leads to an inescapable conclusion... eventually, anyone that drinks long enough and hard enough will exceed his or her ability to efficiently evacuate acetaldehyde from their system... eventually, if you drink long enough and hard enough, acetaldehyde will be present in your system, and you'll subject yourself to its addiction-causing effects... eventually, you'll become an alcoholic.
This would explain delayed-onset alcoholism. A truly "born" alcoholic could become irretrievably lost after a few short years of problem drinking. But a "problem drinker" who is not born to alcoholism might drink heavily for 20 years, give up without difficulty for a whole year (impossible if you're middle-stage or later), return to 20 years of hard drinking and finally, in retirement, be diagnosed as a late-stage alcoholic. I've seen any number of cases of this long-onset alcoholism, and it's always been puzzling, but the acetaldehyde model explains it quite well.
The inescapable conclusion of reading between the lines of "Under the Influence" was that ANYONE CAN BECOME AN ALCOHOLIC.
That conclusion is supported by the behavioral tests in "Beyond the Influence," but we're still left with the insistent claim that many "problem drinkers" will not become alcoholic, even if they continue heavy drinking throughout their adult lives, and that the distinction is black and white.
So which is it? The only reason I'm not confused is because I believe what I've read in "Under the Influence," and I believe that ANYONE CAN BECOME AN ALCOHOLIC. It may take 40 years for the full symptoms to appear, but if you abuse for long enough they WILL appear, and you WILL be an alcoholic... all you have to do is the acetaldehyde math. It's also clear that if you stay below your acetaldehyde evacuation threshold, you can stay out of trouble, but that the acetaldehyde evacuation threshold isn't that high for most of us (the problem is that we don't have reliable ways of determining our acetaldehyde evacuation threshold). That's what I believe. It's as clear as a bell, which is more than can be said for "Beyond the Influence."
"Beyond the Influence" almost seems like it pre-dates "Under the Influence." It features less science and more behavior. "Beyond the Influence" should have benefited from almost 20 years of hindsight and improved technology. Instead, the lines are fuzzier, not clearer.
Oh, and one last thing. Ketchams's been right all along about one thing. However you got there, if you're an alcoholic, once you're there, it's definitely physiological."
~ Written on 2008-01-09
"In Under The Influence Dr. Milam clearly outlines the physiological causes of alcoholism, the progressive nature of the disease, and the solution.
The authors of Beyond the Influence have done a great disservice to anyone struggling with this disease by taking the valid evidence from Under The Influence and tossing in erroneous "causes" of alcoholism. This mishmash of ideas only serves to throw the struggling alcoholic back into the confusion that makes successful recovery nearly impossible.
The brilliance of Under The Influence is this: When the alcoholic understands the true nature of the disease, all the guilt and remorse resulting from the life led "Under The Influence" vanishes. Without the weight of this guilt and remorse recovery is easily attainable. The alcoholic understands that they did not cause their disease any more than they caused their hair color. If only the rest of society would catch up with what Dr. Milam wrote in 1981.
The authors of Beyond the Influence say:
"Alcoholism is caused by biochemical/neurophysiological abnormalities that are passed down from one generation to the next or, in some cases, acquired through heavy or prolonged drinking."
and:
"Over a period of several years and sometimes decades, the social drinker is irreversibly transformed into an alcoholic."
The guilt is back. They are saying the alcoholic caused the disease. This Is A Lie. This lie has killed countless alcoholics and will continue to do so aided by Beyond the Influence.
We live in a culture that has been overcome by the concept of "Fair and Balanced." That in order to discern the truth both sides of an issue must be presented. It is not Fair and Balanced to mix lies in with the truth. The truth stands alone.
It was not necessary to "update" Under The Influence. It is important for anyone concerned about the devastating impact of alcoholism to read Under The Influence. The authors of this "sequel" should have re-read it.
Dr. Milam's first book, The Emergent Comprehensive Concept of Alcoholism, and his more recent position papers can be read or downloaded from his website Alcoholism Again http://www.alcoholismagain.com. "
~ Written on 2007-10-03
The authors of Beyond the Influence have done a great disservice to anyone struggling with this disease by taking the valid evidence from Under The Influence and tossing in erroneous "causes" of alcoholism. This mishmash of ideas only serves to throw the struggling alcoholic back into the confusion that makes successful recovery nearly impossible.
The brilliance of Under The Influence is this: When the alcoholic understands the true nature of the disease, all the guilt and remorse resulting from the life led "Under The Influence" vanishes. Without the weight of this guilt and remorse recovery is easily attainable. The alcoholic understands that they did not cause their disease any more than they caused their hair color. If only the rest of society would catch up with what Dr. Milam wrote in 1981.
The authors of Beyond the Influence say:
"Alcoholism is caused by biochemical/neurophysiological abnormalities that are passed down from one generation to the next or, in some cases, acquired through heavy or prolonged drinking."
and:
"Over a period of several years and sometimes decades, the social drinker is irreversibly transformed into an alcoholic."
The guilt is back. They are saying the alcoholic caused the disease. This Is A Lie. This lie has killed countless alcoholics and will continue to do so aided by Beyond the Influence.
We live in a culture that has been overcome by the concept of "Fair and Balanced." That in order to discern the truth both sides of an issue must be presented. It is not Fair and Balanced to mix lies in with the truth. The truth stands alone.
It was not necessary to "update" Under The Influence. It is important for anyone concerned about the devastating impact of alcoholism to read Under The Influence. The authors of this "sequel" should have re-read it.
Dr. Milam's first book, The Emergent Comprehensive Concept of Alcoholism, and his more recent position papers can be read or downloaded from his website Alcoholism Again http://www.alcoholismagain.com. "
~ Written on 2007-10-03
"This is an awesome book for anyone who wants to really understand the disease of alcoholism. As a recovering alcoholic it helped me through a difficult time. It also helped my family members understand what I was going through. It explains what is going on chemically inside the brain of an alcoholic. It addresses many of the issues we go through. I even bought one for my doctor. "
~ Written on 2007-08-15
~ Written on 2007-08-15
"I was so impressed with the service and the quality of my purchase that I will come here first for all my college books. I am so grateful to have found a place where it is easy and priced right to find my textbooks without any hassle. Thanks Amazon"
~ Written on 2007-08-01
~ Written on 2007-08-01