Learning to drink: the influence of impaired psychosexual development.

Recognized factors in the causation of alcoholism are reviewed, including those contributing to increased prevalence in women. Comparisons are drawn between the locking-on of the alcoholic habit in some people and of certain eating disorders in others, to their respective neurotic needs: particularly in adolescence, serious pairing and involution. Current social mores provide little support for the sexually insecure. The hypothesis is examined that a core reason for a common type of problem drinking is the pervasive anxiety gendered by faulty psychosexual development. Demographic data were recorded for 56 men and 15 women with primary alcohol dependence syndrome, 30 patients with eating disorders and 20 control subjects. Each completed the Parental Bonding Instrument, Eysenck Personality Inventory and visual analogue scales concerning mood and socio-sexual confidence in relation to eating or drinking. Between-group differences are discussed and implications considered.