What Price Alcohol?

Abstract

UNDER this somewhat unconventional title Dr. Robert S. Carroll, founder and medical director of the Highland Hospital, North Carolina, deals with the alcohol problem mainly from the psychiatrist's point of view. The book, which contains a preface by Dr. Adolf Meyer, emeritus professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, is divided into three sections entitled respectively “Why Alcohol?”, “What Price Alcohol?”and “Alcohol or Man?”Recognizing as he does that there is no specific treatment for alcoholism owing to the great variety among the sufferers from this condition, the author advocates the elaborate study of each individual case, laying special stress on the importance of a daily association of the psychiatrist with the patient. He forecasts that the future progress of the campaign against alcoholism will be effected by an alliance of scientific searchers after truth and the avoidance of declamations against strong drink, while he suggests the creation of courses of mental hygiene for all types of schools and publicity sponsored by the State.

What Price Alcohol?

A Practical Discussion of the Causes and Treatment of Alcoholism. By Dr. Robert S. Carroll. Pp. xv + 362. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941.) 12s. 6d, net.