e latter is a less severe problem; unlike alcoholics, alcohol abusers do not develop physical withdrawal or compulsive alcohol use. However, like alcoholics, their drinking has negative health, economic and social effects. Both alcoholics and alcohol abusers need treatment, although the goals differ. In most cases of alcohol abuse, the goal is to limit drinking, while for alcoholism, it is to stop drinking altogether. Why some people become alcoholics remains a mystery, although most scientists now agree that a combination of genetic and environmental factors increases a person's vulnerability. Based on the results of Swedish adoption studies, some researchers divide alcoholism into two types. Type I, the most common, occurs in both men and women and is associated with adult-onset alcohol dependence. This form, also known as "milieu-limited" alcoholism, appears to be the result of "genetic predisposition and environmental provocation," according to NIAAA's 1991 publication Alcohol Research: Promise for the Decade--that is, the development of alcoholism in these cases is an interaction between inherited predisposition and the person's life situations. Type II, or male-limited, alcoholism, on the other hand, is due mainly to genetics. It occurs only in men, usually with early onset in the teen years, and is more difficult to treat. Type II alcoholics tend to exhibit antisocial, aggressive behavior. A study in a 1992 Journal of Studies on Alcohol (Volume 53, Number 2) suggests there may be a third type similar to Type II but without the antisocial behavior. People often realize a friend or family member has alcoholism through the consequences of drinking, such as arrests for drunk driving or problems at work, including chronic absenteeism. Alcoholics' spouses may demand they leave the house. Later in the disease, they may be hospitalized for liver disease or pancreatitis. Denial of these and other negative effects of alcohol in their lives...
