The science of the etiology and treatment of alcohol has made notable progress in recent years. Since the early 1970s there have been growing in-roads made concerning the relevance of hereditary factors in alcoholism. This has led to the presentation of various innovative hypotheses in this field. In conjunction with this there has been much discussion and study of the "alcoholic personality" and its possible characteristics. These may be considered the "longitudinal aspects" linked to the transmission of alcoholism.

The 4th International Symposium of the Psychiatric Research Institute of Tokyo brought together clinicians and scientists from around the world to present their work in the highly complex area of alcoholism and the family. Culled from the symposium, the papers that appear here underscore both the level of sophistication that alcoholism-related research has achieved over the last several decades and the diversity of perspectives apparent on any given component. Divided into 5 parts - Genetic Factors of Alcoholism, Clinical Aspects, Alcoholic Families and Mental Health, Alcoholism and Family Models and Therapeutic Approaches to the Alcoholic Family - the book provides a mix of often divergent views. There are some chapters that highlight biological aspects of the impact of alcoholism on family structure, whereas others demonstrate how cultural and related social factors influence the development and course of alcoholism and how the disorder changes interactions within the family.

The popular image of alcoholism is one of families devastated by violence and torn by dramatic conflict. The authors of this book paint a very different picture, offering powerful evidence that most chronic alcoholics live out their lives in intact, relatively quiet family environments. However, they show that living in an alcoholic family - one in which alcoholism is the central theme around which family life is organized - has profound effects on family members, both drinkers and nondrinkers, and that these effects can be carried from generation to generation in complex ways.