Dipsomania is a term which describes an uncontrollable craving for alcohol. The etymology breaks down as "compulsive thirst," but the term when used in practice is reserved primarily related to the uncontrollable consumption of alcohol. As a result, a dipsomaniac is a person in whom this condition appears in the form of a physical and psychological craving for ethyl alcohol, especially liquor. The more common term in popular usage now appears to be alcoholism.
The term "dipsomania" appears to predate "alcoholism".[1] In European languages, the standard medical term dipsomania is unchanged from one language to the next. A search of MedicineNet[2] for dipsomania returns "dipsomania" (an abnormal craving for alcohol)"; a search of MediLexicon[3] for dipsomania returns "a recurring compulsion to drink alcoholic beverages to excess". Searching for dipsomania on HealthLine[4] returns articles on alcoholism. There appears to be no real difference between the definitions of dipsomania and......

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Title: Dipsomania
Approximate Word Count: 394
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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