ALCOHOL ADDICTION - PRIVATE TROUBLE OR SOCIAL ISSUE

In this article, I argue that the ineffectiveness of current drug treatment methods is in part attributable to a fundamental misunderstanding by clinicians and addiction researchers about the nature of drug dependence itself. In the debate surrounding whether addiction is a disease or a learned behavior, the inescapably social dimension of the problem under investigation is frequently overlooked. A social-ecological perspective is proposed in which the source of addiction is located at levels that include but also transcend the individual with the problem. It follows that the only interventions likely to succeed long-term are those that look outward from as well as inward toward the user.