ABSTRACT
Long-term, excessive intake of alcoholic beverages clearly affects be havior so profoundly that the drinker often seems to others to have literally changed in personality and character. Alcohol consumption can cause people who are normally alert and verbally adept to develop speech that is often illogical, socially inept, disjointed and slurred, and in the later stages even incoherent. The descriptions are legion of indi viduals who in daily life are described as kind and thoughtful, yet under the influence of alcoholic overindulgence become paranoid, nasty, quar relsome, and even violent. Characteristically industrious, dependable, hard-working persons may become indolent, careless, sleepy when drunk. Other persons may react to the effects of alcohol ingestion by changing from a normal mode of shyness to periods of charm, wit, and warmth, but they are in the minority.
