Is Alcoholism Really a Disease?

Question

Best as I understand it, the idea that alcoholism is a "disease" comes from the popular 12-Step methods (such as Alcoholics Anonymous) so lauded for their ability to help sufferers of alcoholism. But also, best as I understand it, 12-Step programs are made up. Support groups with no science back them up and have a ridiculously high failure rates.

So you often get (and I believe this was parodied on South Park once) people living their lives with utter reckless abandon, hurting family members left and right, and blaming their behavior on the horrible "disease" of alcoholism that renders them helpless to change. I've heard people describe their alcoholism as if it's something comparable to cancer or MS, something completely beyond their control for which they must always suffer and for which we ought to feel sorry for.

So I'm curious what you all think about it. Is Alcoholism really a disease?

Answer 1

Wow. It is hard to educate the unwilling, which it seems your initail statements make you sound (I suppose Ignorance is bliss) but I will try.

Do 12 step programs work? If you want them to. How can people achieve years and years of sobriety if they didn't? We must remeber they are not for people who need them, they are for people who WANT them.

Is alcohol a disease? The AMA (American Medical Assosciation) states that it is.
http://www.answers.com/topic/american-medical-association

This is the same group that over 300,000 physician belong to. That seems like a lot of DR.s to me.

Everyone gets an opinion, it's just a shame what a close mind can do to one :~(

Answer 2

I agree with one of the co-founders of AA that alcoholism is not really a disease. The disease concept has been so popularized that in a recent study 80% of the US population believed it to be a disease. However, about the same percentage of doctors believed it was a social/moral problem.

Bill W. introduced the notion of alcoholism as an illness, he said, because it was the only way he could convince skid-row alcoholics to attend AA and clean up.

For me the more practical question is "Does the disease concept help or hinder the alcoholic in overcoming his alcoholism?" My experience is that it helps with advanced alcoholism. Unfortunately, with all but the advanced, I have seen the "disease" used too many times as an excuse for not attempting to clean up. "I drink because I am the victim of a disease."

I recently received my AA 30-year cake and I work with alcoholics and their families.

Answer 3

its a "vice" realy but its discribed as disease because people are affected by it. you can die from it and it can be fatal to others not even involved. sorry but the 12 step program has helped more than has hurt anyone and thats a FACT. Its ment to give a sence of accomplishment with out regrets. unfortunatly its people who dont have the willl to be better that fail and thats is said for anything you set to accomplish. if you are only going through the motions it wont work you need to beleive it to work and have a strong will. also people who are pessimistic dont do well at it either so if its YOU going through the steps you dont have a chance ... your questioning it and doubting it already so its not for everyone. you need to want to quit first not waist time picking out the negatives or comming to unbased conclusions for its failure before you try it.
Its been arround for a long time and thats for a reason.

Answer 4

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 5

They call it a disease not to make excuses for people, but to emphasize how serious it is and how hard it is to overcome -- and also that you can't ever get rid of the underlying condition. People who call it a disease believe that it is impossible for a drunk to ever be in control of alcohol, unless they stay away from it completely.

Drunks feel sorry for themselves, and they make excuses -- any excuse they can think of. That might as well be part of the definition of active alcoholism. Don't listen to them. Instead, ask a recovering alcoholic -- someone who has stopped drinking and is working to stay free of alcohol. They know that they are only one drink away from being overtaken by their disease.

Support groups, 12-step programs and rehab centers have a high relapse rate. Unfortunately, they work better than anything else.

Answer 6

Yes, Alcoholism is a disease & may people suffer from it. It is also hereditory. A disease caused by the unwanted, yet repeated
by the ingestion of large quanities of alcohol. If persay it wasn't a
disease it would not be catorized as such, in a Medical Book!

Hope I answered that correctly for you?
Summer

Answer 7

This theory has been proved and disproved with medicine. I found a really good website for this information. It was too much to post. You should check it out.

Wikipedia-Disease theory of alcoholism

Answer 8

Yes it is a disease. It is generally past down from father to son. Males are more likely to succumb to Alcoholism but females are afflicted also.

Answer 9

Yes, it is as any addiction can become. My father is an alcoholilc and his disease affected my family and I in a myriad of ways.

Answer 10

Hell yea it is, I never went to AA but, I was a candidate for sure, I stopped drinking on my own, a tough nut to crack but, I did it, I am clean for years now, I've done every drug known to man, "ALCOHOL" was by far, THE WORST !