Note:

Below you will find a few suggestions for searching this topic. These suggestions aren't the only way to find materials, but they may help to get you started.

Alcoholism

I. Find Background Information in Reference Sources

There are several articles on alcohol, Alcoholism, Genetic Aspects (with a fair amount of historical information), Alcohol-related Disorders, and others. 

You might also check the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders to see how this addiction has been understood from a behavioral/psychiatric perspective.

Steps:

  1. Start with the latest edition,  DSM-V -- Open Section II and click on "Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders" to access "Alcohol Use Disorder".
  2. If you wish, you can search Previous Editions  of the DSM to see how the concept has evolved over time. When was this first classified in the DSM? Has the description changed?

Note: These are pdfs. Open the links and use Ctrl F to search for the term “alcohol”  in the DSM IV manual.  The label has changed over time.

II. Search the Library Catalog for books

To find scientific texts, histories, and “popular” materials (written for non-specialists) along with some primary sources (memoirs, autobiographies) :

Steps:

  • Go to the library catalog.
  • Search the term, alcoholism
  • Under Limit Your Search (left-hand menu) scroll down to select "Genre" and click on the link for "more" to find histories, case studies, fiction, biographies and more.

III. Find current Scholarly Journal Articles (secondary sources)

Databases:

Search tip for PsycInfo:

  1. Type in this entire search string: alcoholic OR "alcohol addiction" OR alcoholism
  2. On the next line, add a term, e.g. history
     

IV. Find articles on alcoholism in current popular* magazines

*"Popular magazines," in this context mean, non-scholarly, written for the general public.

  1. Enter your search terms: alcoholic OR "alcohol addiction" OR alcoholism
  2. Place quotation marks around phrases;
  3. From the list of results, filter to Magazines; and select a time period;
  4. Under Publication Titles, select "more" to select specific magazines.

V. Find more scholarly journal articles about alcoholism published over time.

Historical articles would be primary sources because they show how a condition or disease was understood at the time Question! Was it called something else? Described differently? Try those terms too.