Stating the Obvious About Alcoholics

A Live Science report stresses a major reason why alcoholism is so difficult to treat:

Only 1.2 percent of the nation’s more than 7.4 million adults ages 21 to 64 with an untreated alcohol abuse disorder thought they could be helped by treatment, the report said.

And among those with an untreated alcohol dependence disorder, a more severe condition, only 7.8 percent recognized they needed treatment, according to the report. Alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are considered disorders in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).

The report, released yesterday (April 7), is based on data from national surveys of 67,500 people conducted between 2006 and 2009....