In your opinion... is alcoholism a made up disease that can be easily controlled?

Question

If a person uses self control.

Actually, I saw South Park last night and they said that it was a made up disease. My Grandmother is an alcoholic, so no I am not a smug little finger pointer, hushnow. But, you seem like you are probably a very judgemental person.

Answer 1

I don't see it as a disease so much as a form of mental illness. I think, often, it's the result of a depressed person self-medicating.

And no, I don't think it can be easily controlled, but I do think controlling it is not impossible. It takes determination and an iron will.

For some, it takes hitting rock bottom, at which point they finally wake up and see how destructive their behavior has been--not just to them, but to everyone around them.

Answer 2

It is NOT a disease, at least not in the common usage of the word. It is a condition, more like a broken leg than cancer. Alcoholism does cause some changes in brain chemistry that could loosely be considered a "disease".

Dr. Benjamin Rush first called alcoholism a disease, a mental disease, in 1784, and from the mid-1800s through the first World War people were treated in "inebriate asylums" or "sanatoriums". The need to house returning injured vets from the war caused the conversion of many of these sanatoriums and public opinion shifted to the belief that alcoholism was a moral failure.

AA brought back the disease concept, even though they never used the word "disease" in its early literature. The Journal of of the American Medical Association (JAMA) PANNED the Big Book in 1939, saying "...the book has no scientific merit or interest." They reversed their stand on AA and the disease concept in the 1950s after successful lobbying of AA members. But not even Bill Wilson believed it was a disease.

from http://www.talkaboutrecovery.com/group/alt.recovery.from-12-steps/messages/86606.html :
"When AA co-founder Bill Wilson was asked in 1960 about AA's position on
the disease concept, he offered the following response:"We have never
called alcoholism a disease because, technically speaking, it is not a
disease entity. For example, there is no such thing as heart disease.
Instead, there are many separate heart ailments, or combinations of
them. It is something like that with alcoholism. Therefore, we did not
wish to get in wrong with the medical profession by pronouncing
alcoholism a disease entity. Therefore, we always called it an illness,
or a malady - a far safer term for us to use." "

So much about "disease"....what about self control?

Self control, or will power is tricky when it comes to addiction. A person who realizes that they have a problem is exhibiting some self-control.

AA believes that a person is powerless over alcoholism ( http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-powerless.html ), but a Harvard study showed that 80% of those who quit do so on their own. I'm not saying it's easy, I struggled with it for many years. But I believe that was mainly due to my involvement with AA. There I was taught that I could not do it on my own, and I thought since I could not accept the religious beliefs of AA, my choices were only drinking or death (another AA belief).

Answer 3

No, it cannot be controlled with any manner of self discipline. It is a genuine addiction for some people. In fact, it mystifies an alcoholic that there are people who can order a drink and not so much as finish it. I drank from the age of 16 until I was 39, and I could not quite without help. If you're really interested in the subject, go to your library an check out a copy of "Alcoholics Anonymous," It will describe what a drinker goes through far better than I can.

Answer 4

Well.the AMA has called it an "offical" disease....and I doubt that anyone is in a position to quible with them. I'm sure that anyone that has fought alcoholism..or has a friend or relative that has, is thankful it's been classified as a disease due to the financial benefits that classification lends to treatment.
I guess anyone who has just pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and fought the problem with self control might argue it's not a disease..and "If I can do it..so can others!". However..there are documented cases of cancer, and other terminal conditions, "going away" through holistic approaches and religious beliefs..at least there's been no other explanation. If..we accepted those small percentages of unusual and unexplained remissions, as proof it's not a disease, but as something that can be controlled through natural medicines and religoius beliefs...we'd be in a fine state.
So..my opinion is yes..it's a disease and it shouldn't be poo-pooed as not being one just because of the occasional exceptions to the rule.

Certain people should just tend to their fushcias and leave matters of some gravity to those who have enough life experience to form considered opinions.

Answer 5

No i don't beleive alcoholism is a disease. (The fact that the AMA recognizes it as such does not make it a disease. The DSM-IV mentions alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, not alcoholism.)

The fact that a greater number of dollars is available to treatment centers by proclaiming it a disease makes me a little suspect of the motivations of those in the medical community.

Is alcoholism easy to control or overcome? Often not.

I think the term alcoholism is outdated and promotes a stereotype which can make "high bottom" and "low bottom drunks" alike reluctant to acknowledge a problem or seek help. It is also a term which can alienate a person from existing support system of friends and family.

Answer 6

No.. it's an" ism", much like communism,humanism,capitalism..it denotes a system of thinking about a given issue, as communism denotes your perspective on capital, labor and social relationships,the term "alcoholism"describes how one feels about alcohol, its effects and consequences, the self described alcoholic has decided that booze is something that he/she cannot help but indulge in or resist, whereas the problem drinker takes a more responsible stance, simply admitting that for the moment at least ,limits have been passed and changes must be made.

There are of course medical complications from daily drinking, but as many have said before, congestive heart failure is a medical condition, eating a deep fried mars bar is not

Answer 7

The way I see it, it's not a disease, it's a choice. Nobody ties you up and pours liquor down your throat, you know. It's not like it's genetically inherited.
The thing is, these days, people don't have that much self control anymore and they give in easily. I don't think there's an easy cure for alcoholism, that's why so many of them relapse, but you have to develop your personality and be sure of yourself if you don't want to become alcoholic or put an end to your addiction.

Answer 8

Alcoholism is not a madeup disease and like any addiction it cannot be EASILY controlled, but it can be overcome.

Sometimes self control is a term used too lightly by smug little finger pointers who haven't examined their own life very closely.

Are you a smug little finger pointer?

Answer 9

It can be self controlled . My father used to drink every day but can stop two months a year for the religious months.
And he is afraid of liver cirrohisis and stopped it after he was 50 without any help.
Alcoholism is also a social lifestyle thing to do when you are young and earning money.
It is not difficult to stop when you have no income or when you are not interested in meeting your buddies at bar or when you are concious of your health.

Answer 10

No,it is not a disease. It is hard to control for the addict though. Just like any addiction is hard to control. In my opinion all alcoholics recover from self control or choice. To explain, a choice is made to drink and to some people drinking leads to addiction. Even during the addiction alcolism thrives due to a choice being made to drink. When I was in AA I would get into trouble because I said it was a choice and I was chosing AA attendance to help me choose not to drink. After all it is easier not to drink when those around you encourage you not to drink, You choose to drink and you can choose not to drink. You can even choose not to drink by church attendance or AA attendance. Believing God will take away your desire to drink is also a choice. So you can guess I agree with those who have said it is a choice. a pattern I see and I am just an observer and not any kind of professional of any kind and I freely admit I could be wrong, but I see a pattern in wanting to drink and thus not being able to quit drinking becuase that person cannot control it after that first drink. I was one of those people. I could go years without drinking especially for religious reasons, but I also wanted to drink and told myself I could drink responsibly anytime I wanted to. I struggled with it for years wondering why I could go years without drinking but could not seem to control it when I was drinking. I watched other people who could control their drinking and I thought I could. If you never start drinking, you will never be addicted. My wife is 37 years old and never drank. She had a half a glass of wine when she was 14 and did not like it. She does not want to drink because she likes to be in control of her choices.