Judith W. Cousins: Hi, I am Judith W. Cousins and I am a clinical social worker and I am going to talk about reasons to drink. When we think about drinking and we think about having a problem with drinking, people look at it in a negative way. I am going to talk about what are the positive reasons to drink, why do people drink as well as some of the negative reasons why people drink.

Host: Is drinking a normal activity?

Judith W. Cousins: Drinking can be considered a normal activity. If something that is done in most societies, if not all, people have been drinking for thousands of years and for a number of different reasons and so in that sense it is a normal and expectable activity. I don t consider drinking either good or bad and I consider drinking more in a sense that it is a neutral activity. People drink for a lot of reasons. Some of them have negative consequences, some of them have positive consequences, but in it and of itself, drinking is typically a normal activity in it. I consider a neutral activity.