Jerry P. Flanzer

In the following viewpoint, Jerry P. Flanzer contends that alcohol abuse has a high correlation with cases of domestic violence. He maintains that most families with alcoholism problems also experience domestic violence, and argues that this is because the use or abuse of alcohol by a batterer can prompt an abusive encounter, can lower the abuser’s inhibitions against becoming violent, and can permit the batterer to rationalize the abuse. Therefore, Flanzer contends, alcohol is responsible for causing domestic violence. Flanzer was the director of Recovery and Family Treatment, Inc., a substance abuse and mental health agency in Alexandria, Virginia, at the time this viewpoint was written. He is now a social science analyst for the National Institute on Drug Abuse/National Institutes of Health.

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