I've often heard people refere to alcoholics and drug addicts as...?

Question

having a "disease". I have trouble seeing it in that way. To me a disease is something that you don't bring on yourself, like cancer, or diabetes. They are addictions, yes, but not diseases. Your opinions?

Answer 1

Addiction is not a disease.

Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Constitution, called alcoholism a disease, but he also thought being black was a disease.

Bill Wilson did not call it a "disease" in the Big Book, and at a conference for clergy in the 60s said he did not believe it was a disease is the strict sense of the word.

It became a disease mostly for medical and insurance reasons. Alcoholics were treated pretty poorly by hospital staff back when AA was getting started. And if the hospitals and doctors wanted to get paid for alcohol treatment, it was to their advantage to classify alcoholism as a disease.

Dr. E.M. Jellinek pushed the disease concept (It was later discovered that a large portion of Jellinek's credentials were non-existent: http://www.peele.net/lib/jellinek.html )

Marty Mann, often touted as the first woman to get sober in AA studied under Jellinek. She went on to form what eventually became the National Council on Alcoholism, using the Yale School of Alcohol Studies under Jellinek to establish scientific legitimacy for the disease concept. Her former occupation was in publicity.

Answer 2

Addiction is not CAUSED by the consumption of the drug (including alcohol, which is a drug)), just as diabetes is not CAUSED by what one eats.

Both are genetically predisposed (that is the "nature" part), AND if certain coping skills are not learned early in life (that is the "nurture" part), then exposure to the substance, be it drugs or sugars or carbs, then the DISEASE will likely manifest.

And although neither diabetes nor addiction can be cured, both can be made manageable by a change in lifestyle or legal chemical intervention.

Answer 3

No one chooses to be addicted to "ANYTHING"! Cigarettes, Booze, Crack, Coke , Mary Jane... what have You! If you have not been there, DO NOT JUDGE! Diabetes and even Cancer are sometimes easier to control! The difference is "no one really cares"! They are all diseases, that is true! Addictions too, Yes,! You do not get Diabetes or Cancer from eating Broccoli! It is all about how you "CHOOSE" to live your life! Only you know!