Trace the development of explanations for problem drinking from the moral model to the alcohol dependency syndrome.

A. The moral model explained problem drinking as a moral weakness.
1. People have free will and choose to moderate their drinking or not, making those who could not morally weak.
2. This view was the leading explanation until the late 19th century.
B. The medical model replaced the moral model.
1. This model conceptualizes problem drinking as symptomatic of underlying physical problems.
2. The notion of a hereditary component of problem drinking grew from this view, and research has supported that some hereditary component exists for problem drinking.
C. The disease model is a variant of the medical model.
1. The disease model holds that people with problem drinking have the disease of alcoholism.
2. This model arose during the 1930s and remains influential today, forming the basis for Alcoholics Anonymous and many treatment programs.
D. The alcohol dependency syndrome grew out of dissatisfaction with the disease model.
1. The term syndrome suggests a group of related behaviors that accompany alcohol dependence.
2. The concept adds flexibility and the possibility of individual variability in expression of the syndrome.