Can Psychiatry Help?

The alcoholic behaves in a selfdestructive manner. People often say, "How could he be so stupid?" This raises the question, "Is alcoholism a psychiatric disorder?" One group maintains that compulsive drinking is the outward symptom of a severe personality defect, a psychoneurosis, and that so long as the neurosis remains, it is useless to treat the symptom. Another group feels that is an over-simplification of the problem and that psychiatry is powerless to help the alcoholic who does not wish to be helped. Here, Dr. Alastair MacLeod tells his views on the role of psychiatry in the treatment of alcoholism.