PEOPLE AVOID CONFRONTING ALCOHOLICS

WASHINGTON - Alcoholics cannot count on their employers, physicians, clergy
or members of their own families to intervene and address their drinking
problem, according to a new study.

The national survey, conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates of
Washington, found that a social stigma associated with alcoholism remains,
as does a reluctance to confront the issue.

"The study reveals clear evidence that past efforts to reduce the stigma and
shame of alcoholism by emphasizing that it is a disease with genetic causes
have been only partially successful," said Hart, chief executive of Hart
Research.

Although recovering alcoholics interviewed emphasized the significant role
others played in helping them seek help, the study found that too often such
encounters don't occur.

It documents the tendency of many people, including those in a professional
position to help, to avoid the issue, Hart said.

In the survey, 82 percent of medical doctors said members of their
profession avoid addressing alcoholism in patients. Only 39 percent of
adults with alcoholic family members said the alcoholic's doctor raised the
issue.

Fifty-eight percent of employers said managers avoid confronting employees.
A similar percentage of clergy said their profession did the same. Immediate
family members also reported a reluctance to address the problem.

Half said they denied its existence for at least a few years.

The survey was conducted for the Recovery Institute, a San Francisco-based
nonprofit organization that plans to use it as the basis for a
communications campaign that includes a four-part, public-television series
on alcohol.

The institute was established to reduce the social stigma of alcoholism and
to conduct educational campaigns that label alcohol as a drug and alcoholism
as a disease.

The telephone survey covered 711 adults with a current or recovering
alcoholic in their immediate family, 400 medical doctors, 400 employers, 200
clergy and 200 family and individual counselors and therapists.

The study showed that medical doctors, clergy, employers and family members
were reluctant to confront the problem for similar reasons. They include:
stigma, shame and embarrassment; and lack of information, training and
confidence that treatment would lead to long-term results.

Only 7 percent of medical doctors said they had extensive training on
alcoholism; 32 percent said it was adequate; 42 percent said it was less
than adequate; and 19 percent said they had had no training.

R. Stockton Rush, chairman of The Recovery Institute and a recovering
alcoholic, said alcoholics also are often "very cunning" and not forthcoming
with their doctors.

"So, they don't ferret it out," he said.

Dr. Jordan Cohen, president of the Association of Medical Colleges, said the
profession has long recognized that alcohol abuse and problems related to
alcohol are "a very, very large medical issue that accounts for a great deal
of disease and disability."

He said the issue is dealt with during medical training, but he also noted
that physicians come out of the same culture patients do.

"And the difficulty that the American society has in dealing with alcoholism
and issues related to alcohol abuse, and even social drinking, is brought to
medical school by students," said Cohen, a former dean.