Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism [Paperback]

Katherine Ketcham (Author), William F. Asbury (Author), Mel Schulstad (Author), Arthur P. Ciaramicoli (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 4, 2000

This invaluable work will contribute much to the battle against our number one disease."
--from the Foreword by George McGovern, former senator and author of Terry: My Daughter's Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a disease. It's time we started treating it like one.

Science has offered undisputed proof that alcoholism is a disease rather than a weakness of character, yet millions of alcoholics continue to suffer due to inappropriate treatment.  Now the co-author of the modern classic Under the Influence has teamed up with prominent alcoholism experts to provide new answers to this national epidemic.

Based on the latest scientific research, Beyond the Influence clearly explains the neurological nature of the disease and reveals why some people drink addictively and others do not.  It also spells out what needs to be done to treat alcoholism, including:
Steps to take for an intervention
How to find the right treatment program
Which psychological approaches work best
Why spirituality is essential to recovery
New insights into relapse prevention
What you should know about diet, exercise, and nontraditional treatments such as acupuncture
Provocative and eye-opening, compelling and compassionate, Beyond the Influence is not only a message of hope for alcoholics--it is a blueprint for saving lives.



BEYOND THE INFLUENCE explains that alcoholism is a disease of the body, not a weakness of character. Drawing on the latest scientific studies, the authors present new research on the central role of genetics and neurotransmitters in addiction. Continuing where the prior book left off, it also includes:

Steps for diagnosis and intervention, plus ways to prevent relapses
Various treatment models, including inpatient and out-patient programs and a review of new drug treatments
The most effective types of psychological counseling
The critical role of nutrition
Non-traditional healing methods for recovery
The importance of a spiritual component to recovery

The authors also critique our nation's alcoholism policies, including education and prevention programs, efforts to curtail college bingeing and underage drinking, and the advertising and marketing strategies of the alcohol industry. -->

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the nearly 20 years since Ketcham coauthored Under the Influence, it has become a classic in identifying and treating alcohol addiction. Now, with new coauthor Asbury (an experienced journalist and "recovered" alcoholic), she restates much of her original material, with additional support from recent scientific research. The authors define alcoholism as "a genetically transmitted neurological disease," not the result of a character defect or moral weakness. They explain in exhaustive detail the effects of "the drug alcohol" on the human body and brain in both alcoholics and nonalcoholics. Clearly and concisely, they offer abundant information on such usually neglected topics as the importance of nutrition and identifying early to middle-stage symptoms of the disease. They also break with conventional wisdom in other ways, encouraging intervention rather than waiting for alcoholics to "hit bottom" and seek help on their own, and they label alcoholics with six years of sobriety as "recovered" rather than continually "recovering." The most surprising statistic here is the relatively small number of people who consume most of the alcohol sold; the authors level a stinging indictment of the "Big Alcohol" industry and its deceptive tactics. The glare of their harsh light also falls on the government (for failing to hold the alcohol industry accountable and for jailing alcoholics rather than getting them into treatment that works), and on doctors (for failing to identify the disease earlier and treat it as a hereditary biochemical disorder that requires medical and nutritional treatment). This book offers a plethora of timely information; a blow to old stigmas, myths and stereotypes; and hope for a future in which many senseless tragedies can be avoided and lives saved. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This informative, levelheaded book draws on pioneering scientific work during the past 10 years to make the case for alcoholism as a disease. It isn't, however, wedded to that concept and deals fairly with other views of alcoholism. Literary quotations lighten the science as the book conveys the expansion of knowledge about how alcohol affects body and mind that the new understanding of the brain and nervous system has spurred. Armed with such understanding, the book points out, for example, why the term drinking and driving is more accurate than drunk driving: a driver doesn't have to be drunk to more easily get into an accident. Other intriguing new understandings include regarding the gene some associate with alcoholism as a disease as a reward gene rather than an alcogene, and responding to the question Is alcohol beneficial to your health? with a resounding in most circumstances, for most people, no. Much remains to be discovered; meanwhile, this valuable book reports current scientific knowledge. William Beatty

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1 edition (April 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553380141
• ISBN-13: 978-0553380149
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Addiction & Recovery > Alcoholism

More About the Author

I've been writing non-fiction books for 30 years. My first book, Under the Influence (co-authored by James Milam, Ph.D.) was published in 1981 and my latest book, "Miss O'Dell" (written with Chris O'Dell) was published in September 2009. My books have been published in sixteen foreign languages and have sold over 1.5 million copies.

In 2000 I began volunteering at the Juvenile Justice Center in Walla Walla, leading educational groups and working individually with adolescents in trouble with alcohol and other drugs. I've worked there ever since, as both a paid employee and volunteer,meeting with young people in detention and on probation.

From October 2001 to October 2003, I wrote a bi-monthly newspaper column for the Walla Walla Union Bulletin titled "Straight Talk About Drugs." I am currently working on a newspaper column about kids, drugs, and parents and hope to start publishing it in the summer of 2010.

In 2003, working with a group of committed parents, I started a parent support group at the Juvenile Justice Center in Walla Walla, which continues to this day. I am also deeply involved in community efforts to develop and expand community-based recovery support services for youth and families. Our grassroots group Trilogy Recovery Community is part of the national recovery movement spearheaded by Faces and Voices of Recovery in Washington, D.C.

I grew up in New Jersey and graduated from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York with a degree in psychology in 1971. I have lived and worked in Boston, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, San Francisco, Seattle, and Ohio. In 1984, I moved to Walla Walla, Washington with my husband, Patrick Spencer, a professor of geology at Whitman College. We have three children -- Robyn, 28, a graduate of Willamette University and Boston University's Speech/Language Pathology master's program; Alison, 26, a graduate of the University of Montana who lives in Denver and works for a real estate development firm; and Benjamin, 24, who will graduate from Whitman College in May 2010 and move to Nashville to work as a Teach for America Corps member. My extended family -- brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, and on it goes -- is a great source of joy. I love roses and having my hands in the dirt; golf (I get worse every year, a lesson in humility for sure); walks; yoga; and photography. Someday I hope to devote more time to taking portraits of children and families.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Reading for Every Alcoholic February 22, 2004

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

As a recovering alcoholic, 59 year old, professsional woman, this book has helped me tremendously. For over 20 years, I blamed my weak will-power for my inability to control my drinking. However,I have been successful in other areas of my life so I knew I did have a lot of self-discipline. This book helped convince me (and accept)that I am one of a minority of people who is genetically unable to drink alcohol moderately. The "brain research" documented in this book convinced me that many of the emotional problems that I experienced periodically in my early recovery were the result of the changes that alcohol had caused in my brain. I was able to expect some of the anxiety, sleep problems, depression, cravings, etc, and since I was prepared for them I was (am) able to deal with them. If you are still drinking or recovering, this book is full of information that will help you.

99 of 109 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Updates a classic of informative literature November 13, 2000

By Dennis Littrell HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Beyond the Influence is an update and an elaboration of Katherine Ketcham and James R. Milam's Under the Influence (1981). Whereas the first book was an emergency crash course in alcoholism, this is the full curriculum.

The main point the authors make is that alcoholism is a disease that anyone who has the susceptible internal chemistry can get, be he saint or sinner, tower of strength or shriveling weakling. It doesn't make any difference. Your personality or moral fiber are irrelevant. We tend to think that alcoholics are somehow immoral or possessed of a character flaw. But, as Ketcham, et al., demonstrate here, there is only one flaw that leads to alcoholism, and that flaw is one of internal chemistry and not of character. Furthermore, despite some pollyannaish delusion to the contrary, there is only one cure and this book makes it clear exactly what that cure is.

The updated material presented here (in the main, a greater appreciation of the power of Alcoholics Anonymous, a more in-depth discussion of the relevant chemistry, an elaboration of the spiritual aspects of recovery, an incisive attack on "The Booze Merchants," a clearer inventory of how alcoholics can be diagnosed before the onset of the latter stages of the disease, and a delineation of how recovery can be achieved) make this a very superior book and for the most part a worthy update. However these additions also make Beyond the Influence less accessible than UTI, which was more direct, and was smaller and weighed less. This last may seem a minor point, but I could pocket the old book while the new one needs to go into my backpack.

Politically speaking, the authors call for greater taxes on liquor; they insist on alcohol being labeled a drug; and they allow that psychotherapy can be (providing that the counselors are educated about the true nature of alcoholism) useful in helping alcoholics recover. They do not directly call for an end to liquor advertising but given the tone of their words, I have little doubt that they would like to see that come about, and I think it might some day. The liquor industry, driven by its need to increase consumption, is increasingly aiming its ads at young people, children even, with its frogs and lizards and other cute spokespersons, and so will someday find itself in the same position that tobacco companies find themselves in today. At least one hopes so. I should add that the authors are not prohibitionists, recognizing that prohibition does not work.

Readers looking for a distinction between hard (distilled) liquor which is typically forty to fifty percent alcohol by volume and beer and wine (six and twelve percent) will not find it here. The authors insist that booze is booze, and no useful distinction can be made. I agree that for alcoholics that is exactly the case; and in fact I always worry about a person who can drink Thunderbird with the same appreciation as say a Beaulieu Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. The truth is however, that beer and wine, regardless of how they are used by alcoholics and so-called "problem drinkers," are in a different class than distilled or fortified liquors because beer and wine are naturally appearing products of fermentation while whiskey, rye, vodka, etc., are the result of human engineering and did not exist in the environment until the rise of modern science. As such they are dangerous not only to alcoholics, but to others as well. As the authors point out, some ethnic groups are more susceptible ("sensitive") to alcohol than others. One of the probable reasons for this is that susceptible peoples have not had a long cultural history of alcohol use, at least not for as long as say the Italians and Greeks, and therefore their inherited chemistry has not had enough time to adjust.

As far as insisting on alcohol being labeled a drug goes, I think that to win such a battle would tend to lose the war since then alcohol would be conjoined with heroin, codeine, cocaine, etc., and a useful distinction would be lost. After all, the percentage of people susceptible to opiate and cocaine addiction is much greater than the ten to fifteen percent that the authors estimate are susceptible to alcohol addiction. Beyond that, the general public will reject the label, and its advocates will lose influence thereby bolstering the position of the liquor industry. Personally I don't believe that beer or table wines should to be called drugs. Wine especially is seen as a food by southern European peoples, and is an important part of a larger cuisine. I think that a careful look at consumption practices will show that drinking to get drunk or to get high can and should be distinguished from drinking as a complement to a meal. (Except for alcoholics!) At any rate, whatever labels are attached, alcohol itself is a food, containing by weight fifty percent more calories than carbohydrates with about seventy-five percent of the caloric value of fat. These are "empty calories" of course, as found in white flour and white sugar.

Anyone who drinks alcohol ought to read this book If everybody did, literately thousands of lives would be saved, and untold millions of hours of misery avoided. If you have any doubt about whether you or someone you love is or could be an alcoholic, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to READ THIS BOOK. If you are as certain as the morning sun that you are NOT an alcoholic and never could be one, then you should especially READ THIS BOOK. If you're right, you can cite chapter and verse like an expert, and if you're wrong, you'll know why and what you can do about it.

62 of 70 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ray of Truth in the Dark World of Ignorance December 9, 2001

By Vladas Mazelis

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Citing the latest hard, cold facts of the most modern scientific discoveries, authors prove beyond the reasonable doubt, and state both loud and clear: Alcoholism is NOT a flaw of character, NOT a weakness of will, but the physiological disease, over which a person, stricken with it, has no control! And it's an equal opportunity disease, striking good people from all walks of life: blue collar workers as well as admirals and generals, senators and congressmen, farmers and sailors, high school dropouts and college professors, beggars and millionaires, idiots, geniuses and our neighbor, everyday common man and woman... (...)

People are different, authors claim and prove in great detail. Some 10 to 15% of us have a gene, which creates different enzymes within our system, which in turn make highly addictive chemicals while processing the ingested alcohol within our bodies. Human brain is uncapable to resist the craving for alcohol, caused by those chamicals, which are never produced by the bodies of non-alcoholics. Therefore, alcoholics are not more guilty of having alcoholism, as cancer patients are guilty of having cancer, or diabetics being ill with diabetis.

The only solution to the disease of alcoholism is professional, medical treatment, followed by warm and sensitive care of the family, support groups, and society. Punishment, consisting of creation of severe stress, humiliation and application of strong mental and spiritual pain won't work, only making condition worse. Much worse! Primitive and superficial psychological counseling won't work, either. Only complex, modern, professional treatment will.

Great reading for anyone affected by or interested in the disease of alcoholism. A must for judges and prosecutors, busy sending ill people into the sewer pipe of industry of "corrections"! And those few members of MADD, who REALLY want to decrease incidents of drunk driving by fighting its causes, not symptoms, by helping alcoholics to get well, not just looking for an outlet of their hate and anger, which are the most destructive and counterproductive of all human emotions.