Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism (Paperback)

~ (Author), William F. Asbury (Author), Mel Schulstad (Author), Arthur P. Ciaramicoli (Author) "Terry McGovern wrote these words in her journal when she was forty-three years old..." (more)
Key Phrases: booze merchants, neurophysiological nature, addictive brain, Alcoholics Anonymous, Big Alcohol, Susan West (more...)

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1 edition (April 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553380141
• ISBN-13: 978-0553380149
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,531 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

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.

79 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

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.

50 of 55 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 "reviewer07" (Port Richey, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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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.