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A doctor's perspective on alcoholism

In an article published in the BMJ, Dr Adrian Raby - a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London - and one of his patients discuss how they dealt with his patient's alcoholism. Health problems caused by excessive alcohol intake are increasing in society. The article highlights the importance of clinicians in all fields of medicine being able to detect problem levels of drinking in their patient and wither intervening to aim to limit the harms associated with excessive alcohol intake or referring patients to specialist services or to voluntary groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. One of the respondents to the article also highlighted the need for doctors to act as good role models for their patients.

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