Problems with alcohol continue to exact a great toll on individuals and societies. In the United States, alcohol use is involved in nearly 100,000 deaths annually and plays a major role in numerous medical and social problems. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), which was given responsibility by Congress for fostering research on the prevention and treatment of alcoholism, asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to undertake a study to assess the current state of knowledge about and to identify the most important and promising avenues for research into (a) their causes and consequences, (b) their prevention, and (c) the treatment of those who suffer the ill effects of alcohol abuse info misuse. IOM completed the first phase of this study in 1987, releasing a committee report entitled Causes and Consequences of Alcohol Problems: An Agenda for Research. The present report, which deals with research in the prevention and treatment of alcohol addiction, represents the second and final phase of that effort.

The report is divided into three parts. In the first part, the committee examines the social and personal aspects of alcohol addiction medical treatment problems toward which prevention efforts are directed; delineates the features of a public health orientation that it deems most appropriate for the prevention task; discusses individual vulnerability to alcohol misuse; reviews genetic, developmental, and social learning perspectives on prevention; and indicates how various perspectives both differ from and complement each other. Also examined are relevant initiatives that have been undertaken at the community level in other health-related fields. The committee concludes by making recommendations for promising research opportunities that should be pursued.

Real Estate