Let's talk about Alcohol again. Comparison between professionals on therapeutic pathways and proposals for the future

Although alcohol is the direct and indirect cause of a very high number of deaths every year, and can lead to serious social and mental consequences in those who abuse it, the social attitude towards it maintains alarming spaces of "availability". Undoubtedly depending on the historical period and the socio-cultural context, alcohol is linked to dietary, pharmacological, intoxicating, ritual, socializing, transgressive meanings; Within this, the current cultural attitude of our country is affected by the fact that it is an important producer of alcohol and by the influence of consumption styles that are increasingly distant from those of the Mediterranean and increasingly close to those of Northern Europe. The age of first use drops, young people and very young people use alcohol by concentrating their consumption at certain times (typically at night, on the premises, with friends) and living practically as abstemious the other days of the week. More and more alcohol appears to be a means of achieving a state of psychophysical alteration, without necessarily having to access illegal drugs; in this context binge drinking represents a growing style of consumption. The problem changes both in time and in its characteristics, varying the methods of consumption, the contexts, the alcohol used, the association with other substances of abuse. The time of the Covid pandemic is highlighting further critical issues, related both to the methods and occasions of consumption, and to the impact and responses of the care system. An intervention system adapted to this liquidity and changeability of the phenomenon must periodically take stock of the situation and that is why "Let's talk about alcohol again". After the seminars we organized in Bergamo and Palermo there is a need to focus attention on some fundamental aspects of the alcoholic's taking care: the methods of approach, the characteristics of patients, the evaluation and taking charge in particular with regard to the definition of the objectives of the treatment path; pharmacological therapies at various stages of treatment; the proactive presence of the Service within the health and rehabilitation networks of the territory; the role and enhancement of self-help. These areas also require comparisons between colleagues in order to confirm and share levels of good practice to be considered essential within the work of a Service; also with this in mind, participants will be involved in a question/answer activity, related to the topics covered, in order to be able to discuss the results of the consultation in the round table at the end of the day. Particular relevance may have the events on the theme of alcology in 2021 (this will be followed by a second webinar in September) because we are at the gates of the new National Alcohol Conference; the latter could be a privileged place to make contributions from training events such as these, especially if they are oriented towards the identification of good practices.