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Show Advice on Your Health By Morris FUhbein, Editor, Journal American Medical Association When alcohol Is taken into the body in moderate amounts, it produces pro-duces a sense of warmth. It also . produces a depression of Inhibitory Inhibi-tory activities of the brain. Thus one develops what is called a sense of euphoria or well-being. Dr. E. B. Allen has pointed out that the alcoholic is an individual who la weaker than hia fellow men ln hia emotional development He haa never been able to rely entirely en-tirely upon himself and he turns to alcohol as the escape from bis problems. Ths alcoholic is a person per-son who lives entirely in the prest ent and takes Uttle thought of the future. Dr. Allen mentions two outstanding out-standing types of alcoholics, both of which are composed of inadequate inade-quate personalities: There is the psychopathic alcoholic who is inadequate in-adequate from youth, who starts drinking when young and never accomplisbss anything worthwhile; worth-while; the ether type ia the neurotic neu-rotic alcoholic who ahowa inade-quaciea inade-quaciea in youth, but who generally gen-erally overcompenaatea in business, busi-ness, in the arts or In science. The problem drinker Is the one, according to Dr. Allen, who drinka in response to an inner urge in hia nature, of which he is unaware. un-aware. Thia ia the type of person who drinks to overcome embarrassment embar-rassment and self-consciousness. If hs Is going to make a apeech, he drinka to overcome' his stage fright. If he drinks before going to a dance, he Is suppressing his doubt aa to finding auitable partners. part-ners. If he drinks when he is alone, he drinks because he is sorry for himself. The social drinker drinks because be-cause he feels better and because he thinks it peps blm up, but be Is not the kind of drinker who permits per-mits his drinking to interfere with his business. However, as soon as the social drinker ceases to take food and begins to depend more and more on drink, he becomes a candidate for chronic alcoholism. Since in recent times a great ' many studies hsve been made of the alcoholic, tha evidence Indicates Indi-cates that most chronic alcoholics have enlarged livers, that the liver -. is frsquently damaged and that as a result of this damage, the person per-son has secondary symptoms which are serious. Among these are anemias because be-cause of the breakdown of 'the blood, and neuritis which is brought about by a lack of certain vitamins in food resulting from a lack of food which haa been replaced re-placed by alcohol. Hence the modern mod-ern treatment of alcoholism Involves In-volves suitable nutrition of thess patients to build them up after their deficient diets have broken them dowa. |