The argument of this book is that problem drinking should not be regarded as a disease, but as a learned, behavioural disorder. Since the first edition was published the traditional notion that problem drinking is a disease has regained ground in the USA and elsewhere, in the face of evidence to the contrary. Effective approaches to people with less severe alcohol problems in particular are becoming difficult to sustain because of the changing climate of opinion. The authors aim to fill the gap between popular accounts of the subject and a scientific, medical and psychological understanding of alcohol problems.