Originally Posted by
Tazman53 
How can one be in the medical proffession and deny hundreds of long term scientific & medical studies that indicate that alcoholism is a disease?
References, please. There is more than sufficient criticism and published work refuting the alcoholic disease model as there is to promote it.
Originally Posted by
Tazman53 Are you beneath having a disease? My God what if you were a diabetic, would you deny all medical and scientific knowledge about diabetes and its treatment and just keeping on downing the sugars and refusing to take insulin?
Diabetes is an interesting and from what I can tell, often quoted example. Unfortunately, it's really not a good example.
First off, it one had Type 1 diabetes, one would be afflicted with an auto-immune disorder that destroyed the insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. Typically, younger individuals (hence the historical term "juvenile diabetes") would suffer the brunt of this condition through a viral infection or other immune response which would identify the islet cells as foreign bodies and destroy them thus rendering them unable to effectively produce insulin and regulate blood glucose.
Type 2 diabetes is different in that one's pancreas still produces insulin normally (abnormally in fact - it can over-produce in order to attempt to compensate for the hyperglycemia) but for a variety of factors - obesity, sedentary lifestyle, high HDL blood cholesterol, etc. - the excess fat a body has interferes with normal glucose/insulin bonding needed to produce cellular energy and individuals are typically insulin-resistant. The gross majority of Type 2 cases stem from lifestyle choices - CHOICES. Insulin sensitivity and Type 2 can certainly occur in some individuals without obvious causes but largely, something or somethings we do throughout our lives causes us to become diabetic due to our CHOICES.
So, unless someone truly believes that getting a cold or the sniffles caused them to live a live of alcohol abuse, Type 1 is out. Likewise, unless they're willing to accept that alcoholism is a disease of choice in the gross majority of people, Type 2 is out. Diabetes is a terrible choice of disease to liken alcoholism to, in my opinion.