The vast majority of human beings living in the developed Eastern aid Western countries regard alcohol as an innocent personal stimulant and a benign social lubricant. The term alcoholism was first used by a Swedish doctor named Magnus Huss in 1849, and the alcoholic is generally regarded as a person who has become dependent on alcohol and who suffers repeated or continual harm from its consumption. While heavy drinking is regarded as a bad habit, alcoholism is considered a disease. The obstacles to the formation of an accurate statistical picture of what is going on among the drinkers of Eastern Europe are formidable. Most alcoholics begin their Hogarthian progress by forming a habit of drinking to counter depressions or to allay fear, which may be clearly focused and local or a diffuse existentialist Angst. Before World War II, the work of combating alcohol abuse was left largely to the charity organizations and the private citizen.