Záhadná molekula. Autor: Griffith Edwards. Nakladatelství Lidové noviny. 2004.
Mýty a skutečnosti o alkoholu
Kniha Griffitha Edwardse zkoumá alkohol ze všech stran, od historie po moderní vědecké poznatky. Zabývá se rolí alkoholu od počátků lidstva, všímá si, jak ho hodnotí a přijímají různé náboženské systémy a jak se vyvíjí názor na alkohol v současné společnosti. V knize se například dozvíme: Proč se různí lidé pod vlivem alkoholu různě chovají? Je alkoholismus nemoc? Co to je "bezpečné" pití? Funguje protialkoholní léčba? Mají Anonymní alkoholici pravdu? Může se alkoholik někdy vrátit k normální konzumaci alkoholu? Jak by měla s touto drogou společnost v budoucnosti zacházet?
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Recenze knihy:
Zdroj:Institute of Alcohol Studies
Alcohol: The ambiguous molecule, Griffith Edwards.
Reviewed by Chris Cook, Professor of the Psychiatry of Alcohol Misuse at the Kent Institute of Medicine & Health Science, University of Kent at Canterbury.
Alcohol is a drug with a long social and cultural history. Too often, its properties as a drug are considered in isolation from this history - or else the history is studied without reference to pharmacology and biochemistry.
There are, of course, few experts who can claim to understand both the medical science, in its biological and social strands, and the social history of this fascinating molecule. Yet, the problems that we face in the UK and internationally, in respect of the use and misuse of beverage alcohol, cannot be understood properly unless we take into account both an historical and a scientific perspective on their causes and their consequences. Only an inclusive and multidisciplinary overview of this kind can do justice to the full complexity of our collective relationship with this "ambiguous molecule". This book provides such an overview.
Griffith Edwards shows an unique familiarity with his subject across diverse areas of interest - including epidemiology, mythology, pathology, medical history, pharmacology, and psychology. He looks at heavy drinking and drunkenness, as well as the choices facing the social drinker. He considers social policy, and treatment of the individual. He does not over emphasise his own significant contributions to this field, but readers will find that they are succinctly and clearly outlined. For example, the alcohol dependence syndrome is described in such a way as to convey a vivid understanding of the day to day experiences of the dependent drinker. Here, as elsewhere, the use of brief case histories helps to bring to life the theoretical material.
The treatment of people with drinking problems is reviewed in such a way as to convey clinical wisdom and human insight, but also so as to inform the reader about important research findings. Especially interesting are the insights in respect of the history of research on the possibility of controlled drinking as a treatment goal for the dependent patient. The role of abstinence, the 12 step philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the place of the disease concept of alcoholism, are also sympathetically but critically reviewed. In a field where controversies continue to rage, we are warned of the need to steer a course between extreme and opposing views. But this is done without compromise, and it is not a naive or superficial overview.
