Alcoholism Alcoholism, chronic and usually progressive illness involving the excessive inappropriate ingestion of ethyl alcohol, whether in the form of familiar alcoholic beverages or as a constituent of other substances. Alcoholism is thought to arise from a combination of a wide range of physiological, psychological, social, and genetic factors. It is characterized by an emotional and often physical dependence on alcohol, and it frequently leads to brain damage or early death. Some 10 percent of the …showed first 75 words of 797 total…

…showed last 75 words of 797 total…for those undergoing other treatment, in many cases helps alcoholics to recover without recourse to formal treatment. Despite these encouraging signs, estimates of the annual number of deaths related to excessive drinking exceed 97,000 in the United States alone. Economic costs related to alcoholism are at least $100 billion a year. Additional data are needed on various societal costs of alcoholism as well as on the costs of various modes of treatment compared with their actual results.