Researchers have used two different strategies to determine the relative contributions of genes and shared environment to the development of alcoholism among family members: the adoption study and the twin study. Adoption studies compare the risk to biological relatives with the risk to adoptive relatives of alcoholics. Twin studies compare identical and fraternal pairs of twins reared in the s...

In the past 15 years, my understanding of the nature of alcoholism as a disease has been influenced largely by insight into the mechanisms at work in the Alcoholics Anonymous process. Some years ago I stated that A.A., to succeed, must induce a surrender on the -part of the individual I. More recently, I discussed the idea of compliance acting as a barrier to that real acceptance which a surren...

Using data from a community sample of 586 married couples, levels of spouse concordance for lifetime and current alcohol dependence and heavy drinking were estimated. In addition, marital quality ratings in concordant and discordant couples were compared. Spouse concordance was significant for lifetime alcohol dependence and for both lifetime and current heavy drinking. Marital quality varied a...

In advance of a safety campaign on 17 March 2017, Donald Redelmeier and Allan Detsky call on physicians and clinical colleagues to reduce the chances that patients will drive drunk.

To the Editor In a randomized clinical trial, Dr Foa and colleagues examined prolonged exposure psychotherapy for co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol dependence. Prolonged exposure therapy was studied in relation to supportive counseling, use of naltrexone, and a pill placebo. The article provides an example of how the same findings can be interpreted quite differently...