Voice of the Expert

In its second report, issued in August, 1952, the Alcoholism Subcommittee of the World Health Organization's Expert Committee on Mental Health recommends that "physicians be instrumental in establishing groups of Alcoholics Anonymous in their communities." The Subcommittee's report also gives a revised definition of an alcoholic: "Alcoholics are those excessive drinkers whose dependence upon alcohol has attained such a degree that it shows a noticeable mental disturbance or an interference with their bodily and mental health, their interpersonal relations, and their smooth social and economic functioning; or who show the prodromal signs of such developments. They therefore require treatment."