This paper describes and attempts to evaluate an alcoholism treatment programme in two Caribbean islands with a multi-racial population of just under a million. The programme, initiated by the author in 1956, combined emetine aversion treatment in a group setting, with milieu therapy and group psychotherapy of a didactic kind aimed at producing conversion (rather than aversion) to uncritical belief in the tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The experiment is focused on the relationship between spirit possession and neuroticism as assessed by psychometric techniques. Twenty subjects who were regular members of a West Indian Pentecostal congregation were interviewed and tested with the EPI and the hysteria scale of the MMPI. Analysis of data indicated that the 10 subjects who were defined as spirit possessed scored significantly higher in both neuroticism (P<0·05) and hysteria (P<0·005) than did the control group. In light of these data and others it was suggested that possession constitutes a culture‐bound neurotic disorder.
Until recently, drinking in public venues has been a relatively neglected area of alcohol research despite the epidemiological significance of problems arising from drinking in licensed establishments and other public venues. In the WHO Project on Public Drinking, expert informants in 12 countries provided detailed information on alcohol consumption, drinking in public settings, the nature and magnitude of problems associated with public drinking, the regulation of public drinking, enforcement and prevention. The most commonly indicated problems associated with drinking in public venues were underage drinking, impaired driving, and alcohol-related violence. Many of the informants in the survey expressed concern that the enforcement of alcohol licensing laws receives very low priority on the political agenda. In general, few countries have developed prevention programs aimed specifically at preventing problems arising from drinking in public venues. Nonetheless the informants identified a wide variety of measures that can be taken to reduce these problems in public drinking environments. These include general alcohol preventive education, alcohol control measures (including restrictions on hours and days of operation), improved enforcement of licensing laws, impaired driving countermeasures, server training and the use of civil law to promote responsible beverage service, and the promotion of low-alcohol-content beverages.
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