TY - JOUR T1 - Doctoring the drinkers JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 815 LP - 815 DO - 10.3399/bjgp08X342769 VL - 58 IS - 556 AU - Mike Fitzpatrick Y1 - 2008/11/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/58/556/815.abstract N2 - ‘Your GP is the first place to turn if you are concerned about your drinking’ — this was the concluding advice of a recent eight-page newspaper supplement devoted to ‘Britain's harmful relationship with alcohol’.1 Once regarded as a manifestation of moral turpitude, excessive drinking has been redefined as a medical condition and doctors have taken the place of evangelical ministers at the head of the modern temperance crusade. The fact that doctors come second only to publicans in terms of occupational risk of death from alcohol-induced cirrhosis of the liver does not seem to have diminished medical authority in this area.2The ascendancy of GPs in dealing with alcohol problems is based on claims for the effectiveness of ‘brief interventions’ in general … ER -