Tea and sympathy not enough

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33775, 22 February 1975, Page 16

Tea and sympathy not enough

Understanding the alcoholic and his or her problems did not merely mean “tea and sympathy,” Professor K. Schwarz, professor of preventive and social medicine at the Christchurch Clinical School, told a seminar on alcoholism yesterday. The short answer to the title of his address. “Is Alcoholism a Preventable Disease?” was yes, said Professor Schwarz, but to prevent it “we have to understand quite a bit about it.” SOCIAL STIGMA Alcoholism had a tremendous amount of social stigma attached to it with people blaming everything they : could for it — the family,; friends, their environment! and many other things. But this social stigma had. in the past, been attached to other diseases, for example tuberculosis, said Professot' Schwarz. He defined a social drinker! as a person who used alcohol simply because it! was an accepted custom, and; added that “it is quite amazing what is the accepted custom in some places.” An excessive drinker was defined as a person who! drank to reduce feelings of) stress, to become more sociable, or who drank more; than was customary in his culture. One of the conclusions of (

a recent Royal Commission I into the sale of liquor was i that the individual Naw Zeallander did not condone I drunkenness — but he I accepted it. “But it must not be ! accepted,” said Professor I Schwarz. “The minimum Inumber of people in New Zealand potentially at risk from alcoholism is 60,000, and these people can be identified if we use the right procedures.

"If we can screen certain people to see if they have certain risk factors which make them susceptible to alcoholism we would be able to help them before the disease develops.”