Based on the Commonwealth Harvard Alcohol Research and Teaching Program, this clinically oriented work is designed to give internists and primary care practitioners the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize and care for patients with alcoholism.

I: General Concepts.- 1 The Epidemiology of Alcohol Abuse and the Response of Physicians.- 2 Definition of Alcoholism.- 3 The Etiology and Natural History of Alcoholism.- II: The Clinical Pharmacology of Alcohol.- 4 The Clinical Pharmacology of Alcohol.- III: Primary Care of the Alcoholic Patient.- 5 Early Diagnosis and Screening.- 6 Presenting the Diagnosis: Working with Denial.- 7 Negotiating Treatment and Monitoring Recovery.- 8 The Use of Disulfiram.- 9 Outpatient Treatment of Withdrawal.- 10 Management of the Alcoholic Inpatient.- IV: Resources in the Community and Workplace.- 11 Alcoholics Anonymous.- 12 Employee-Assistance Programs and the Primary Care Practitioner.- V: Pathophysiology and Medical Complications.- 13 The Nervous System.- 14 The Liver.- 15 The Gastrointestinal Tract and Pancreas.- 16 Nutritional Status, Cardiovascular, Hematologic, Reproductive, and Musculoskeletal Systems.- 17 Metabolic and Renal Effects of Alcohol.- 18 Alcoholism and Cancer.- VI: Alcohol and Special Populations.- 19 Alcoholism and the Family.- 20 The Elderly.- 21 Women and Alcohol Abuse.- 22 The Adolescent Drinker.- 23 The Impaired Physician.- 24 The Patient with Mixed-Substance Abuse.- VII: Ethical and Legal Issues.- 25 Ethical and Legal Issues in the Treatment of Alcoholism: Drunk Driving.- Annotated References.