Alcoholism is the addiction to or dependency upon drinking excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages. Since the late twentieth century it has been considered an addictive disorder. It is characterized by compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcohol, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, relationships, and social standing. Like other drug addictions, alcoholism is medically defined as a treatable disease. The term alcoholism is widely used, and was first coined in 1849 by Magnus Huss, but in medicine the term was replaced by the concepts of "alcohol abuse" and "alcohol dependence" in the 1980s DSM III. (The term alcohol dependence is sometimes used as a synonym for alcoholism, sometimes in a narrower sense.) Similarly in 1979 an expert World Health Organisation committee disfavoured the use of "alcoholism" as a diagnostic entity, preferring the category of "alcohol dependence syndrome". In the 19th and early 20th centuries, alcohol dependence was called dipsomania before the term "alcoholism" replaced it.
Movies
The Lost Weekend (1945) -
The Country Girl (1954) - Bing Crosby.
Days of Wine and Roses (1962) - Jack Lemmon
Tender Mercies (1983) - Robert Duvall
Shattered Spirits (1986) - Martin Sheen.
My Name is Bill W. (1989) - James Woods as Bill W.
When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) - Meg Ryan
Leaving Las Vegas (1995) - Nicolas Cage
28 Days (2000) - Sandra Bullock
Rachel Getting Married (2008) - Anna Hathaway as Kim
Crazy Heart (2009) - Jeff Bridges
When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story (2010) - Winona Ryder as Lois Wilson, wife of Bill W.
Being Flynn (2012) - Robert de Niro
Flight (2012) - Denzel Washington
Documentary
Ryan (2004)
From Wikipedia
