A NEW MEDICAL APPROACH 

For many years medical researchers have been trying to find out why one person becomes an alcoholic, while another, even a person who may drink excessively on occasion, can stop drinking one day and be abstinent for years.

Over the years I have had friends, aquaintances, associates, and colleagues drink to varying degrees. Some died early from over indulgence. Others have drunk excessively and still survive. Others treat drinking so casually that it never became part of their daily pattern.

Yet, during all that time, including seven years working as part of a medical research team at a psychiatric hospital, I never ever ran into a medical researcher who studied the other side of the coin. Why do some people not drink? Perhaps by studying the healthy we may understand what makes others addicted. The neglect of this approach may suggest more clearly than other ways, that perhaps our medical training system doesn't allow medical graduates to see beyond what they are trained to see.

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