Happy Hours

<p><strong>[A] noteworthy examination of women and alcohol delivers compelling personal stories that illuminate previously neglected aspects of this devastating social problem. -- <em>Publishers Weekly</em></strong></p><p><strong>Mixing cutting-edge research with affecting stories of women who struggle with alcohol problems <em>Happy Hours</em> challenges our assumptions and expands our awareness of the role alcohol plays in women's lives.</strong></p><p>In this important book Devon Jersild explores the common cultural forces that influence a woman's drinking--trauma sexual abuse and marital status. Jersild has spoken to treatment specialists doctors therapists and counselors and interviewed women who share their often dramatic stories. Her research findings are a wake-up call to many women who are in the dark about the effect of drinking on their mental and physical health. For example: </p><ul>Women metabolize alcohol differently from men more quickly developing such physical complications as liver disease high blood pressure and hepatitis.</li>Female alcoholics are twice as likely to die as male alcoholics in the same age group</li>A female alcoholic is more likely to suffer from depression anxiety and eating disorders which may not go away even if she stops drinking.</li>An astonishing four million women in the U.S. meet the diagnostic criteria for abuse or dependence.</li></ul><p><em>Happy Hours</em> is not just about alcoholics. It is aimed at any woman who has ever wondered whether she drinks too heavily or too often and at anyone who has a sister mother grandmother child or friend whose drinking has caused them concern.</p>