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Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contention? Who hath wounds without cause? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine; at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Alchoholism has a number of dissimilar manifestations as compared with all remaining mental illnesses. Unlike other disorders which have been re-embedded in a psychological and medical context, intemperance retains its unique tie to moral issues. The medieval holdover of regarding the mentally diseased as an inveterate sinner possessed by an evil spirit finds most direct expression in the populace's reaction to the inebriate. Both he and the instruments of his illness — alcohol and its purveyors — have instigated religious-political movements in their opposition.
In this paper we shall first elaborate some of these distinctive aspects of alcoholism which set it apart from other mental diseases. The ideologies of associations organized by non-alcoholics and alcoholics to combat problem drinking will be scrutinized to highlight the peculiar nature of drunkenness. This perusal will be employed as a springboard for the presentation of a prevalent unconscious fantasy of problem drinkers. It is suggested that this fantasy provides at least