Alcoholism Research

Excerpt

To the editor: I have read the editorial by Enoch Gordis, "What Is Alcoholism Research?" (Ann Intern Med 85:821-823, 1976), with great interest.

Its main thesis stands in the last sentence, where Dr. Gordis writes that the search for potent therapy will "succeed only if alcoholism is the target, not its familiar consequences." In preceding paragraphs, Dr. Gordis has defined the direction that research on alcoholism should take as concerning itself with loss of control (inability to regulate alcohol intake), craving, tolerance, and physical dependence. He believes that the primary goal of alcoholism research is to understand these four phenomena.