The Need to Drink “too Much”

Abstract

Factors associated with the need to drink too much alcohol are considered within a biobehavioral frame of reference. The determination of how much is too much is traced to the nteraction of factors that include the nature of alcohol, biological variations in individual responses to alcohol, psychological processes, socio-cultural norms, medical advances affecting the average life span and the perception of alcohol's potential benefits and harms, and major societal and technological changes affecting the liabilities of intoxication. The concept of social dependency is suggested as a way of explaining persistent needs to drink excessively that originate outside the individual and are not impelled by physiological or psychological dependence.